Published October 19, 2012
by iris_author
Call for entries open to february 28th, 2013
The Coal Prize Art and Environment rewards each year a project by a contemporary artist involved in environmental issues. Its goals are to promote and support the vital role which art and creation play in raising awareness, supporting concrete solutions and encouraging a culture of ecology. The winner is selected out of ten short-listed by a jury of well-known specialists in art, research, ecology and sustainable development.
The 2013 Coal Prize will reward entries that focus on adaptation issues. The award of the 2013 Coal Prize will take place in spring 2013 at Le Laboratoire, a private art center specializing in the blending of art and science.
The prize carries an award of 10 000 euros. Launched in 2010 by the French organization Coal, the coalition for art and sustainable development, the Coal Prize is supported by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication, theFrench Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Development, the National Centre of Fine Arts (CNAP), Le Laboratoire, PwC and a private benefactor.
SCHEDULE
Application deadline: February 28th, 2013
The Coal Prize will be awarded in spring 2013
THEMA : ADAPTATION
Adaptation, a term used in biology as well as in art, is the adjustment of an entity, a representation, an individual, a system, or an organization, to the changes in their natural and cultural environments. At a global level and in relation to the theory of evolution by natural selection as defined by Darwin, the adaptation capacity of a species explains the conditions for their survival or their disappearance. Climate change has affected the lives of many species in the past, resulting in five major mass extinctions. Today, climate change and the depletion of our ecosystems is accelerating with innumerable consequences which once again, pose a threat to the extinction of the diversity of the life forms with which our species has co-evolved for over millions of years.
In our society do we have the means and tools to adapt to these profound changes? International summits give birth to disagreements or commitments in minimal time. This is incompatible with the urgency of the issues at stake and with society facing the economic crisis, employment and short-term are priorities. How do we reconcile adaptation, expectation, change and resilience? How do we reverse the principles that structure the relationship of western man to his environment? Adapting to the scale of his needs rather than his capabilities. What are the values that govern our resource, food, social, political and economic choices? Who are the people that hold the keys to this adaptation? Ecologists, town planners, farmers, industrialists, lawyers, artists? What role can social networking, collaborative innovation, creativity and biomimicry play in order to encourage adaptation? With social inequalities dramatically on the rise, will this create a great cast who may or may not adapt? Will safe havens, sanctuaries and abundance of unspoilt nature be the new ghettos of the privileged classes of tomorrow? Will they leave those countries most affected behind or will they be united on a national and international scale, with the progress of climate justice, world governance and social ecology?
Adaptation: This word is at the heart of contemporary thought and strategies used by nations, cities, businesses, and communities in order to cope with climate change. It is the subject of a movement, of appropriation, of adaptation by artistic creation. It is the term we have selected for the 2013 COAL Art and Environment Prize
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Posted in: Opportunities
