Czech Republic

Into the Abyss of the Lignite Clouds

When
5 September 2015 to 25 September 2015

The focus of the expedition and workshops in the landscape around the Most Basin is on current changes in the heavily industrialized landscape, especially with regard to the loss of historical continuity, the transfers of geological layers and social structures, and current discussions about the abolition of territorial limits, as well as the potential for further degradation and exploitation of the landscape by extensive open cast mining.

This expedition is based on the idea that it is necessary, both for art and ecology, to consider the interconnections between people and the landscape, with regard to energy resources, animals, plants, history, and the like.

The domains that artists and ecologists share are not simply the realms of the beautiful, the aesthetic, or of pleasure. This thinking spurs a departure from (and rethinking of) the romantic and utilitarian models to which both art and nature have traditionally been subject. Similar attempts to rethink this subject are also occurring in sociology, biology, and philosophy, as well as in the arts. These issues are relevant everywhere, but they are especially pertinent in the Most Basin, which is a unique area with its uncanny combination of its remaining natural niches, a long history of heavy industrial pollution and open cast mining, and recent efforts for environmental recultivation.

Participants: Gunnhild Enger, Þórunn Eymundardóttir, Tommy Høvik, Kristín Rúnarsdóttir, Vladimír Turner, Robert Vlasák, Martin Zet.

Organisation: Dagmar Šubrtová, Miloš Vojtěchovský, Michal Kindernay.

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Petr Meduna, Ph.D.

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