Last (Chance) 2021 / COP26 Exhibition

by Robyn Woolston in Glasgow, Glasgow City, United Kingdom

We did it
On 28th October 2021 we successfully raised £2,225 with 73 supporters in 14 days

To fund the room hire, install, Artists Talk, social engagements & associated costs related to an Environmental Art exhibition during COP26.

by Robyn Woolston in Glasgow, Glasgow City, United Kingdom

 New stretch target

If I exceed my original target I will be able to document the exhibition professionally and create an additional artists bookwork/newspaper/pamphlet that embodies the contributions from the Engagement Wall.  


WHO AM I?

I'm an artist who makes work about the environment and our impact upon the planet. Often working in non-gallery spaces, across community settings and within archives or sites of listed significance.

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Image credit: 'Strangers in a Strange Land' (2013) / Diasec print. Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool

My practice creates frameworks for climate-based reflection; focussing upon developing structures for ecological and emotional recovery via public realm interventions, socially engaged practice and site-specific responses. Previous installations have included 132,000 plastic knives and forks, 7500 ice-cream containers, 45,000 carrier bags, a selection of trees from Ash to Silver Birch as well as a reproduction Las Vegas sign.

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Image credit: 'Habitus' (2013 - ongoing), Edge Hill University

WHAT AM I HOPING TO ACHIEVE? 

  • I would like to cover the costs of the room hire, transportation, installation, printing costs (info panels/postcards), plus deliver an Artists Talk and create engagement opportunities during my retrospective exhibition. 
  • 'Last (Chance)' (2021) will bring together a selection of sculptural and photographic works created over the past 10yrs as well as generating an 'engagement wall' to capture the thoughts and feelings of the visiting public during the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties in Glasgow. 
  • The works will be shown in conjunction with 3 additional floors of internationally exhibiting artists as well as a pop-up community radio station.
  • Should I be lucky enough to generate more than my target amount, I will document the exhibition and combine the collated comments from the engagement wall into a new artwork/artists bookwork/newspaper. 


WHERE IS THE EXHIBITION BEING HELD?

I have been offered the ground floor of the Pipe Factory in Glasgow. A space built by William White and Sons in 1877, as a clay smoking pipe factory. At the height of demand, the factory produced up to 14,000 clay pipes a day and had a workforce of 500. It closed its doors in 1955. The future of the building is now safely in the hands of a Community Interest Company named the Friends of The Pipe Factory. The Friends aim to evolve a cultural hub rooted within Calton and The Barras:

'We envisage a dynamic building and programme that will generate opportunities for young people, communities and creatives through the arts, heritage, architecture and design.'

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CAN ART REALLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE? 

Art provides a powerful tool in terms of consciousness-raising, agitating, re-framing and addressing both the impacts and the outputs of human behaviour. It allows us to question how we can live in ‘full presence and be useful while this is happening’ (Joanna Macy) by channelling our emotional responses into a desire for radical, social and environmental change.

Find out more here: Climate Collapse and the Role of Art

Image credit: ‘Straining Every Sinew’ / Environmental Banner series (2020) / Friction Arts, Birmingham

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'The climate crisis is already here and needs to be tackled with the same urgency as the pandemic.' // Professor Karl Williams, director of the Centre for Waste Management at the University of Central Lancashire. Quote taken from: "Green promises are ‘peanuts in the face of catastrophe’ – Cop26 is our last chance to tackle the climate crisis" via The Independent.

WHAT IS COP26?

The UK will host the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties in Glasgow on 31 October – 12 November 2021. The COP26 summit will bring parties together to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

COP26: UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties

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