‘Turning the Tide’ > Creative Actions for Uncharted Climate Emergencies. ARTIST IN RESIDENCE (Gdańsk, Poland) 06/24
‘Turning the Tide (TTT) is an ambitious artistic intervention and trans-disciplinary dialogue designed to creatively respond to the specific threat of the climate crisis on waterfront cities. The project aims to engage local residents, amplifying unheard voices, and increasing awareness of climate issues in cities located on waterfronts. Through a collaborative effort across four cities, TTT utilises cultural planning methodology, working with socially engaged artists to lead an international experiment exploring the potential contributions of artists and local communities to the narrative on climate change and climate justice. The TTT project involves 5 partners – Intercult (Sweden), Artit (Greece), Wiener Bildungsakademie (Austria), DEAR HUNTER (Netherlands) and the Urban Culture Institute (Poland) in collaboration with Fablevision Scotland and River//Cities network’
Mission Statement: Our mission is to harness the power of art and culture as dynamic forces in addressing climate change and fostering sustainable communities. We envision a world where artistic expression and cultural engagement are central to understanding and tackling environmental challenges. Our project aims to empower local communities, amplify diverse voices, and foster innovative solutions to the problems posed by climate change, with a focus on waterfront communities uniquely affected by these global issues.
During June 2024 I will be resident in Gdańsk, Poland, working on the following artists moving image commission:
EDGELAND (working title) is an ecopoetic moving image piece, recorded entirely on location, that is hypnotic and deeply personal in turns. The durational piece offers a portrait of an urban edgeland impacted by social history and rising waters that threaten to ‘… reshape cities, economies, coastlines and entire global regions within our lifetimes” (Scott Kulp quoted in ‘Poland’s beaches are threatened by global warming, warns sea researcher’ by Ludwika Tomala)
Comprising of intimate close-ups and sweeping vistas, the site-specific film provides an exploration of ‘place’ by embodying both the micro and the macro, the vernacular and the industrial. Stories captured on the wind (through found-sound & interview), and histories caught by migratory tides, form a framework that’s underpinned by the social architecture of a global democratic movement that originated in Gdańsk with Solidarnoś, or Solidarity. The roots of which embody a powerful potential (to this very day) in terms of propagating the democratic seeds of collective action.
The proposed artists film will operate on multiple levels simultaneously by disseminating climate-based information related to the Polish Gdańsk delta, and its associated precarity in relationship to higher river levels, severe rainfall and the potential for the water table to become salinated (for example in Reagan Park, where 30 percent of all municipal water for the city is sourced) whilst connecting with local community groups & diverse voices.
Ultimately the rhythm of the piece will be tidal in nature, allowing for the development of first-person lived experiences within the context of locations such as the historic Gdańsk Shipyard and the European Solidarity Centre.
