High Tide

HIGH TIDE Project UK 2008-2011

HIGH TIDE Co-curator and exhibiting artist Janette Porter and James Brady

 ...embracing and exploring the tide of change

High Tide is a unique interdisciplinary artist-led initiative which seeks to nurture a culture of sustainability and eco-logical consideration of our lives in a rapidly changing world.

High Tide is endorsed by the UK's Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM).

High Tide is recognised for its contribution to the Institution's vision of 'creativity at the heart of environmental policy and action'

Philosophy

Welcome to HIGH TIDE...

In the pursuit of creating new narratives and exploring new forms to communicate and engage, we ask timely questions about our place within the global ecosystem. Across diverse platforms through art-interventions, workshops, debates and exhibitions we explore shared activity. We endeavour to facilitate inclusive and creative dialogues across communities. These social encounters and cultural exchanges engender a spirit of awareness raising, which aims to address the many challenges that climate change presents. We recognise the importance of research into climatic change, and by developing creative partnerships across disciplines, we seek an integrated engagement in environment and ecology involving non-arts practitioners in the sciences and other fields. High Tide is a nomadic concept that takes its mission from place-to-place working across continents and cultures.

High Tide asserts that the future of our cities, landscapes and communities, and our responses to the environmental and social effects of climate change are not just the responsibility of scientists, politicians, engineers and architects but also emerge from the arts community and as broader participation and involvement from all sections of the wider public as is possible. How we mitigate further effects of climate change and take the necessary adaptive measures should be, inevitably, social and cultural as much as technical and scientific. High Tide has manifested from the union and shared vision of two environmental artist-led initiatives: Gaia Project (led by James Brady) and Living at the Edge (led by Janette Porter and Jane Frost) High Tide is a non-profit organisation.

In the pursuit of creating new narratives and exploring new forms to communicate and engage, we ask timely questions about our place within the global ecosystem.

High Tide is a nomadic concept that takes its mission from place-to-place working across continents and cultures. GLOCAL

HIGH TIDE'S four Elements:

HIGH TIDE aims to develop and support experimental practice, collaboration and innovation across disciplines, and to locate his in the public realm.
HIGH TIDE aims to provide creative engagement at grassroots level, addressing people's concerns in situations where the changing climate has a direct effect on our daily lives.
HIGH TIDE aims to raise awareness and understanding of the fragile ecological balance in our natural environment and our relationship with specific localities.
High Tide aims to offer a positive response to the current socio-political system's failure to engender democratic engagement. By addressing a perceived complacency through interaction, we aim to provide alternative glocal platforms where together we can articulate an independent voice

Projects

2 WHEELS GOOD

8 - 29 April 2011

The Well - bicycle recycling project -2 Roscoe Street, Liverpool, L1 2SX

Photo credits: J Brady J Porter

High Tide is delighted to announce 2 Wheels Good, an eco-recycle-bike exhibition created by The Well bicycle recycling project in Liverpool and launching in collaboration with the Bicycle Film Festival at FACT, 8 - 10 April 2011

For the next few weeks High Tide will be busy with this exciting 'off-site' project and so EDGE space will not be formally open to the public. Instead, you can find us at The Well workshop and on the streets across Liverpool!

From its bizarre 'velocipede' origins the bicycle as we know it has become an integral part of daily life on every continent, its appeal and use spans all supposed 'class' divides offering a simple and ecologically sound mechanism so efficient that it equates to 3000 mpg. With over one Billion cycles worldwide the bicycle has developed to serve humanity's myriad needs and had in turn become as varied in its incarnation as the people themselves. The Indian rickshaw, old butcher's bike, folding shopper, time-trial racer….each character unique and changing.

This exhibition will celebrate our friend the bicycle in a very human fashion, through image, document, action and interaction. Visitors are invited to pop into The Well bicycle recycling project to learn about the history of the world’s most efficient transportation device, to engage in our programme of events, talks, film screenings and bike-fix workshops or to view our evolving exhibition of bicycles and bicycle related artwork, video and real-time collaborative art-bike construction from within the working project itself. Most importantly please come and add your stories, photos, poems or drawings to our 'people's wall' of bikes, a growing document of our friend and sometime nemesis the bicycle.

The exhibition opens on the 7 April at 6pm with a talk on the history of the bicycle by a local cycle historian, bike powered interactive video tour of Liverpool dereliction by artist James Loftus, exhibited art bicycles from No 2 bikes and bicycle related artworks, poetry and limited-edition posters from artists across the country. This is followed by an evening critical mass ride through the city returning to The Well for a 'bike-thru cinema' until well into the night. Throughout April at The Well there will be free evening 'Bike Talks' on Thursdays and free 'Bike Fix' workshops every Saturday afternoon.

Supported by FACT, Liverpool, Sponsored by Barefoot Wine

Environmental Photographer of the Year (EPOTY) exhibition at EDGEspace February - March 2011

Exhibition of Waters Edge photographic entries of Summer Solstice 2011

Photo credits: J Brady J Porter

At Water's Edge

22 February - 19 March 2011

Photo credit: J Porter

High Tide on the Big Screen, Clayton Square, Liverpool UK

A HIGH TIDE project for the London 2012 Discovering Places Campaign.

The Environmental Photographer of the Year is an international show case for the very best in environmental photography. The stunning winning photographs come together to form the most outstanding collection of environmental, social and natural photographs in the world. High Tide is delighted to be hosting this exhibition at EDGE space in partnership with CIWEM.

At Water's Edge is an prestigious exhibition of images selected from the 2009 and 2010 Environmental Photographer of the Year submissions. Curated by High Tide in partnership with Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM), this exhibition uses these amazing and poignant images to continue exploring High Tide's core theme of 'water' and water's significance to all life on Earth.

Photo credit: P Taylor

Dry Earth, entry for EPOTY, Janette Porter

Liverpool Eco-Culture Fair at HIGH TIDE’s gallery EDGEspace Including HIGH TIDES’s Manifesto for Change

25-26 March 2011

Photo credit: J Porter

John Davies: Two Rivers

20 January - 16 February 2011

This documentary landscape exhibition of large-scale photographs of river environments celebrates the launch of the EDGEspace. It features the River Mersey from where it forms beneath the M60 in Stockport following its course to Liverpool's tidal estuary and the River Taff from its source in the Brecon Beacons to Cardiff Bay.

Photo credit: J Porter

EDGESpace page

Conceived and curated by High Tide, EDGEspace is a unique cultural venue promoting 'Experimental Dialogues for Generating Eco-culture'. 

EDGE space plays a key role in the High Tide 'Giving Back' initiative, providing local creative groups with an accessible and affordable venue to hire for workshops, rehearsals and meetings etc. with the aim of supporting and promoting progression of a more sustainable creative community within the city.

EDGEspace,34 Slater Street, Liverpool, Merseyside, L1 4BX

HIGH TIDE announces the launch of EDGE space a new venue for eco-culture in the North West

of England!

Opening to the public on 21 January 2011, EDGE space is a unique cultural venue in Liverpool, promoting Experimental Dialogues for Generating Eco-culture. Located on Slater Street in the Rope walks district of the city centre, EDGE space will be the hub of creative activity around ethical, environmental and ecological issues.

EDGE space, 34 Slater Street, Liverpool, L1 4BX (open: Tuesday - Saturday, 12.00 - 18.00)

We are delighted to launch the opening of EDGE space with an exclusive exhibition by internationally acclaimed landscape photographer and artist John Davies.

Liverpool Biennial 2010, International Festival of Contemporary Art

18 September - 2 October 2010

Manchester, Exchange Square                                              Liverpool, Clayton Square

The public response to Water's Edge (read below). We received hundreds of photos from across the nation from sunrise to sunset, (4.36am to 11.00pm) on the Summer Solstice. The photos truly capture the diverse character of our landscape and environment, from beaches to fountains, swans to dragonflies, castles to beaches, and joggers to surfers!

We made a special selection of the photos and created a Water's Edge film exclusively for the London 2012 Discovering Places campaign. The films were screened over the 2012 Open Weekend (23 -25 July) in 19 cities across the UK on the BBC Big Screens / 2012 Live Sites.

With thanks to Hi-Impact for technical support, Funded by the Environment Agency. Supported by the BBC Big Screens.

Water's Edge is part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad.

WATER'S EDGE

A nationwide call to action!

a HIGH TIDE project created for the launch of Discovering Places over the London 2012 Open Weekend

Monday 21st June 2010 is the Summer Solstice. We want you to go to your nearest water's edge and take a photograph - whether it's the sea, a lake, a river, a canal, a pond… or even a puddle!

You can be creative too! Make a sculpture out of twigs or write a message in the sand! Whatever you do, try to capture that special moment in your natural environment.

Your challenge is to help us set a World Record for the most photos taken and collected from and on the Longest Day!

Photos must be taken on21st June and sent to us by text or email by 5pm on 28th June.

To submit your photo:

Text your photo - starting your message with WATER then the time and location to81333(texts charged at standard rate)

Email your photo -water@mybigscreen.co.ukincluding the time and location

All selected photos will be broadcast nationwide across the BBC Big Screens / London 2012 Live Sites network during the London 2012 Open Weekend 23-25 July 2010.

Please visit www.mybigscreen.co.uk for Terms and Conditions of Participation.

Water's Edge is funded by the Environment Agency and supported by London 2012 and the BBC.

Discovering Places is a London 2012 campaign to inspire communities across the UK to discover their local environment - with all its hidden places, extraordinary spaces and the stories they have to tell. Water's Edge will be part of the Launch of Discovering Places which will take place through a programme of activity on the London 2012 Open Weekend 23 - 25 July 2010.

The London 2012 Open Weekend is an annual UK-wide celebration counting down to the Olympic and Paralympic Games. For more information on BBC Big Screens

Space between, an exhibition curated by HIGH TIDE at The International Gallery TAO (The Arts Organisation) Slater Street Liverpool, UK

18 September-2 October 2010

Contributing artists

Bardy & Carter, John Davies, Helen Grove White, Philip Jeck, Kultivator, Anne Lydiate, Anna Mandlesonn, David Nash, Janette Porter, Tim Pugh, and Elizabeth Willow

Photo credit: J Porter

September 2010

Presents High Tides’ Manifesto for Change…

Photo credit: J Porter

STRANDLINE: Martin Mere WWT, Lancashire, UK

9 - 10 April 2010

Artist in Action Friday 9th and Saturday 10th April

Sessions running from 10.30am - 3.30pm each day

What's happening?

Gordon MacLellan (Creeping Toad), lead artist with the Strandline project, will be working as a visiting artist at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust Reserve at Martin Mere. During these days, Gordon will be inviting visitors to the Reserve to think about the implications of 'rising sea levels' for both themselves and for the wild animals and birds of the Lancashire coastlands.

Visitors will be encouraged to record their ideas as words and images on hangings of wood and watery plastics, and to contribute to a larger artwork that Gordon will be creating over the two days. Visitors will also have the opportunity to add their own page to Gordon's Book of Changing Seas.

The Martin Mere days are co-commissioned and supported by HIGH TIDE.

Martin Mere WWT- Burscough, Lancashire L40 0TA

Photo credit: The Creeping toad

Mersey Basin Campaign

MERSEY BASIN (an exhibition)

Liverpool John Moores University: Art & Design Academy Gallery, 1 - 19 March

2010

Participating artists:

Agata Alcaniz / James Brady & Stuart Carter / Jane Frost / Gordon MacLellan /Janette Porter / Tim Pugh / Scott Thurston & Elizabeth Willow / Robyn Woolston

David Haley presentation at High Tide Exhibition, Liverpool School of Art and Creative Industries, LJMU

Lecture events: Dave Pritchard (CIWEM/Arts & Environment Network) / Philip Woodworth (NOC)

Professor Philip Woodworth Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory, lecture at High Tide Exhibition, Liverpool School of Art and Creative Industries LJMU

Photo credits: J Brady and J Porter

Mersey Basin Project FACT, Liverpool UK

2009-2010

Context

'We need information on extreme sea levels because of development pressures in flood risk areas and the increased flood risk related to climate change'

- Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory, NERC, Annual Report 2007-08

There is unequivocal scientific evidence which suggests that global mean sea levels are rising as a consequence of global warming. However the complexity of predicting sea level rise and the inherent uncertainty involved in this activity means there is little consensus amongst the global scientific community as to actually what extent sea levels will rise over the coming decades.

The High Tide project is informed by the research of scientists at the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory and Liverpool John Moores University. It is a mutual privilege for us to work together, as we have a united interest in embracing this 'uncertainty' by exploring and predicting possible future scenarios of our changing 'littoral' coastline environments.

Liverpool Bay and the Mersey Estuary have some of the highest tides and most extensive inter-tidal environments in Europe...

'Concern about the consequences of future climatic change and their impact on our environment and life support systems is now almost universal. Even if scepticism persists about the reality of 'greenhouse warming', the inevitability of climatic change cannot be denied - climate varies naturally on all timescales and every aspect of the world we see around us changes in response to these variations.

Although they are global, the way the variations are expressed and their regional impact are highly differentiated. This makes it of exceptional importance to understand, at a regional level, the way our environment has changed in the past, and to use this knowledge realistically in any consideration of the potential effects of future climatic change.

Nowhere is this more important than in a region like the Mersey Basin where the combination of a large population, a highly developed modern infrastructure and low-lying, naturally dynamic coastal zone makes planning for a future where environmental conditions are likely to change quite dramatically a major and complex responsibility.

The past does not provide simple analogues for a future world, but it is the only source of evidence we have for what has actually happened and for what may happen in response to climate changes on the timescales and of the magnitude of those predicted for the next century.'

- Oldfield, F. (1999) Section One: The Background Setting. Ecology and Landscape Development: A History of the Mersey Basin.

The Exhibition, FACT Liverpool UK, Climate for Change

Exhibiting artists: Àgata Alcañiz/James Brady/Stuart Carter/David Haley/Gordon MacLellan/Jacqueline McCormick/Janette Porter/Tim Pugh/Scott Thurston//Robyn Woolston

Mersey Basin is the inaugural High Tide project. Taking place across the region during Liverpool's Year of the Environment 2009 and beyond into 2010, it manifests as a series of exclusive artists' commissions and experimental interdisciplinary collaborations.

The Mersey Basin Project artist collective is speculating on climate change scenarios for the future of Merseyside. The proposition: after the cumulative effects of sea level rise, storm surges and coastal erosion, our landscape would change dramatically as the River Mersey floods large areas of lowland, currently home to tens of thousands of people. Can we imagine futures where we have successfully and sustainably adapted to this climate change? FACT - Climate for Change

High Tide was successfully launched in 2009 at FACT's Climate for Change exhibition. As resident artists we engaged in a critical dialogue with scientists and artists at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory (POL)and University of Michigan. This public context gave us an opportunity to interact with communities.

Our collective activity and engagement in the Climate for Change exhibition manifested as the Office for Environmental Democracy (OfED) in FACT gallery 1. This was co-ordinated and directed by James Brady and Janette Porter. The OfED was a historical homage to Joseph Beuys' Office for Direct Democracy at Documenta V in Kassel, Germany, 1972.

The OfED functioned as a sub-residency space for artists - an informal meeting place for artists and public to interact - a space for research, debate, exchange of ideas, social/cultural networking - a point of engagement and information resourcing.

A corresponding artists' journal (designed by Agata Alcañiz) was published on the occasion of our public event evenings at FACT. The Journal from the Office for Environmental Democracy was published in two volumes.

Freely distributed amongst visitors and artists at FACT, the journal functioned as an alternative platform for the dissemination and sharing of artists' research materials. The intention of the journal was to broaden our critical engagement within the FACT Climate for Change programme.

Climate for Change, (C4C) Exhibition, FACT Liverpool UK

2009

High Tide (Mersey 2099) our lives, our land, re-imagined, re-shaped: ‘In our small country we have to act now as if we were about to be attacked by a powerful enemy. We have first to make sure our defences against climate change are in place before the attack begins. The most vulnerable places are the cities close to the sea level now, and among them… Liverpool.’ – JAMES LOVELOCK, The Revenge of Gaia (2006) Geographic location: Merseyside (Mersey Basin) Period:

2009/2010 As a natural progression on from the success of the URBAN/ECOLOGY project which took place during Liverpool Biennial Independents 2008, Gaia Project and Living at the Edge (L@tE) in partnership present High Tide (Mersey 2099); a major new inter-disciplinary art/science climate change project, taking place during Liverpool’s ‘Year of the Environment 2009’ and beyond into 2010.

Live Skype trans-Atlantic/science debate Professors John Marshall and Joe Trumpey, Ann Arbor, University of Michigan during Climate for Change Exhibition.

Project directors: James Brady (Gaia Project), Janette Porter (L@tE)

Artists: Àgata Alcañiz/James Brady/David Haley/Jacqueline McCormick/Gordon McLellan/Janette Porter/Tim Pugh/Stuart Thurston/Elizabeth Willow/Robyn Woolston and visiting artist Jane Frost

Science partners: Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory, School of Biological & Earth Sciences, and Liverpool John Moores University School of Biological & Environmental Science

Project partners: University of Michigan USA, MIRIAD (Manchester Institute for Research and Innovation in Art and Design), Landlife (National Wildflower Centre), FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology), CIWEM (Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management), University of Salford, Littoral and Liverpool City Region Resurgence

Funder: Environment Agency

Project brief:

High Tide (Mersey 2099) suggests a view 90 years into the future. The proposition is that after the accumulative effects of sea level rise, storm surges and coastal erosion – as a result of climate change – the landscape and coastline of Merseyside could change dramatically and the River Mersey may permanently flood large areas of lowland, currently home to tens of thousands of people. The landscape and everyday life of local communities will be changed and redefined by natural forces beyond our control. This project aims to explore ideas as much about whom we are and our spirit as individuals and communities in the face of the challenges that climate change brings, as it is about our relationship to the landscape and natural environment. Together, eleven UK based artists will interpret and explore the theme High Tide in collaboration with two leading UK environmental scientists, and their academic teams. High Tide (Mersey 2099) is a conceptual platform through which the artists and scientists can engage in a unique dialogue with the objective of developing collaborative practices. It is envisaged that a new inter-disciplinary ‘knowledge-base’ will be generated as a result of this project. The ‘corridor of biodiversity’ that is the Mersey Basin floodplain will be the primary geographical context of the project. Through collaborative work (in diverse forms) the artists and scientists will speculate, predictand conceive possible future scenarios for the existence of life in Merseyside, where the land meets water. With a particular focus on direct engagement with local communities, the artists in particular will work in public spaces, natural habitats, and places where material cultures are manifest and shared – responding to the psychogeography and the spirit of place and people. These points of public ‘grass-roots’ engagement will be catalysts for enlightenment and raising awareness of key issues in the climate change phenomenon. A programme of site-specific interventions, events, artwork sand mini exhibitions (as generated through the project) will be co-ordinated to take place across the city of Liverpool and the wider region of Merseyside in 2009/10. Although geographically scattered, these artworks will be strategically connected by the concept of an expanded notion of the ‘exhibition’ and united under the common ethos and High Tide theme.

Photo credit: J Brady

Janette Porter, Climate for Change, Hale Shore, Merseyside UK, in collaboration with Dr Jason Kirkby, Liverpool John Moores University School of Biological & Environmental Science

Photo credit: N Dawson

James Brady, Climate for Change, Palimpsest for Change: The Marker, Merseyside UK

The Gathering Storm C4C, FACT, UK

8 December 2009 - 21 February 2010

in collaboration with Aviva Rahmani, US based artist and activist at the 15^thUnited Nations Climate Change Conference, Copenhagen, Denmark (8-18 December 2009)

Following our successful residency during the Climate for Change exhibition at FACT earlier this year, we return once again with our nomadic Office for Environmental Democracy. This time, direct from Copenhagen, we bring you an exclusive view of the dramatic political events as they unfold during the hugely anticipated 15th United Nations Climate Change Conference - COP15.

Acting as the official High Tide COP15 envoy, distinguished ecological artist activist Aviva Rahmani will be immersing herself in the burgeoning eco-political activism in the city and sharing her experiences with us via the High Tide blog. Why not get involved and join in dialogue with her? Log-on to share your views here https://high-tide-cop15.blogspot.com/

This is the gathering storm…

Also look out for our exclusive MANIFESTO FOR CHANGE 'community voices' project at FACT!

Photo credit: J Porter

High Tide activities at C4C, FACT

High Tide Tea Party

May 2009

Contributing artist

Janette Porter/Elizabeth Willow Presenting Let Them Eat Cake and Tidal Actions Living at the Edge 07-09

Photo credits: J Brady J Porter

Janette Porter presents Art Cargo, Associated British Ports, Garston Docks Liverpool, 2008, Living at the Edge

Photo credits: J Porter

James Brady presenting Gaia Project

Transatlantic Skype discussion –Art and Science

Photo credits: J Porter

Professors John Marshall and Joe Trumpey, Ann Arbor, University of Michigan

Photo credits: J Porter

Dr Jason Kirkby and PhD student LJMU, lab work at High Tide Climate for Change FACT

Photo credit J Porter

Artist/Scientist debate at C4C

Photo credit: J Porter

Visiting artist Jane Frost

HALEY: Trees of Grace - Walk the Talk to Forest

October/November 2009

Ecological artist, David Haley https://theplacecollective.org/portfolio/david-hayley/ presents six eco-art walks in the city of Liverpool to join parks, gardens and wild places as a forest for sustainable living.

The walks contribute to a yearlong project to plant trees in ecologically meaningful ways to absorb CO2, reduce flooding, decrease air pollution, promote biodiversity, provide food, habitat and building materials, generate freshwater, offer medicines, adapt to climate change and inspire through their beauty.

• 27 October 2009, 10.30 AM to 1.30 PM: St James's Gardens to Wavertree Park

• 17 November 2009, 1.30 PM to 3.30 PM: Princes Park to Dingle Promenade

Future walks scheduled for spring/summer 2010: St Michael's to Sefton Park / Greenbank Park to Smithdown Health Park / Toxteth Park Cemetery to Princes Park / Newsham Park to Kensington Gardens

Watch this space for dates and booking information!

Agata ALCANIZ, Environmental Performance - High Tide – Manchester City Centre

7th November 2009

_________________________________________________________________

International Day of Climate Actions

24 October 2009

BRADY & PORTER: High Tide Action 350

UK-based environmental artists James Brady and Janette Porter took action for 350 minutes' with the high tide of the River Mersey UK. The change of the tide was the focus of the artists' simultaneous art performances at two specific sites on both sides of the river. On site, Brady and Porter engaged with the inter-tidal locations.

Photo Credit: P Taylor

Janette Porter, 350 Waves, Hale shore, Merseyside, UK, 2009  

In association with 350.org

HALEY: a Creation Myth for 350 Futures

2009

A 'polemic' by ecological artist David Haley in Liverpool city centre. As the themes of Global Warming, Climate Change move to 'centre stage', what is the role for culture and the arts? How may arts practice contribute to the discourse and how is arts practice being changed by this discourse? In association with 350.org. Join the global movement!

THURSTON & WILLOW: Treading Water a perambulatory poem in Otterspool Park – Liverpool

12 July 2009

Composed and conceived by poet Scott Thurston, Treading Water explores the prehistory, geology, human and natural history of Otterspool Park in order to imagine distant times, images and stories. Staged as a series of posts throughout the park, the piece unfolds as a poem sequence accompanied by dramatic and visual interventions created by Elizabeth Willow.

Janette Porter, Thrashing the Tide, Baltic Sea, Öland,land, Sweden

February 2009

Artist Residency with Kultivator, Dyesatad, Sweden

Photo credit: R Porter Chambers

Janette Porter, Thrashing the Tide

HIGH TIDE Mersey Basin Environmental Conference, Liverpool UK

September 2009

We were delighted to have the opportunity to promote the work and philosophy of High Tide on a publicity stand at the Mersey Basin Campaign 'Environment' conference.

Photo credit: J. Porter

High Tide & Marin MARITIME RESEARCH INSTITUTE NETHERLANDS

Walk & Talk meeting

2009

Photo credit: J Porter

MARIN at the Albert Dock Liverpool WALK TALK with High Tide

Photo credit: J Brady

J Porter, The Dockers Steps, Stories of Steps, MARIN, Stories of Steps 2009

Manchester Future Fest: Manchester Town Hall

17th December 2009

At the kind invitation of Oxfam, James Brady (High Tide curator) and David Haley

(ecological artist) promote the work of High Tide at the Manchester Future Fest event.

19th November 2009

Oxfam North West: Climate Voices

High Tide co-curator Janette Porter says a few words at the Oxfam NW 'Climate Voices' meeting...

FACT UNsustainable UNconference

9th May 2009

High Tide presents at the UNsustainable Unconference

9 May Gallery 1 & The Box
12pm

An unconference is a participant driven face-to-face conference that sets its own agenda on the day and facilitates inclusive debate.

The UNsustainable UNconference comes out of FACT's response to Liverpool's Year of the Environment and the urgent need to establish a forum to advance the ecology and dialogue around the sustainability of society. Held alongside our first project that explores this question, Climate for Change, the UNconference invites communities of interest who have been engaged in this project and others who are operating through self-organising networks and alternative models of both capital and cultural production.

During the course of the debate the participants will generate a Manifesto for Change; drafted by multiple authors, looking at envisaging and identifying the principles to adhere to, to live in a more sustainable world - a People's Plan rather than a Master Plan.

There will be invited experts, consultants who are participating in civic discourse on social change and climate change, and all are invited to contribute.

BRING YOUR LAPTOPS - BLOGGING, WIKI-ING, SHARING AND GEEKING ENCOURAGED!

Twitter tags: To submit content for the Manifesto for Change, use: #manifesto for change To microblog generally for the event use: #climate for change

Coming to the UNconference?

This is a wiki! You write it and you edit it. Use the edit button at the bottom right corner of the page to include your name in the speakers/attendance list and include any ideas for sessions you may want to lead. Sessions will be divided into 30 minute blocks and you can arrange this however you see fit. Some people might use the projector to talk about an issue, others will just talk for 10 mins about what's on their mind. Your audience signs up to your session on the day. If you're not sure whether you'll talk about something and just want to come and listen, simply write your name down, including any information you're happy to share. If you're having trouble with this, please contact Leon Seth who will be happy to edit this page on your behalf. Alternatively, if you're not sure and want to have a go, then we suggest you copy the entire code for one of the participants, paste it and edit the content for your own details :)

Heather Corcoran (FACT, Curator of Climate for Change)
- Fixed gear cycling, open source programming, squatting and skipping - the practical basics of four sustainable subcultures (or I could just choose one to outline depending on interest!)
- The Liverpool Wiki -
Andy Miah(Professor in Ethics and Emerging Technologies, University of the West of Scotland & FACT Fellow)
- Digital Divide, Digital Literacy - Is Web 2.0 doing better? What more action must we take? (cf. Pirate Bay, Spotify, Wordpress, Twitter, iPhone)
- Health 2.0 - how can we make health care more sustainable?
Adrian McEwen- local Arduino hacker, geek and Internet of Things consultant
- Not sure I'll have time to prepare a talk, but could cover things like:
- Co-working and hackspaces - New ways of working and the embryonic movement to build one here in Liverpool
- Hardware hacking and the Maker ethic - “If you can't open it, you don't own it”
Michael King (Consultant and researcher)
- Interested in the connection between real and virtual communities and how they support each other. Interested in how communities can be used as an enabler of energy and ghg reduction and other sustainability improvements. What would this look like in practice?
- Part of the background to this is from personal carbon trading project work for last few years with the RSA
- Further back I did lot of work around the 'business case' for sustainability. Could talk to that if interested:
- Will have no slides and less than zero prep!
Andrew Williams (Local geek, developer, and user group organiser)
- User groups and their ability to foster new groups and projects.
Stefan Szczelkun (Climate for Change artist)
- Author of three of the Survival Scrap books series - DIY manuals for autonomous living first published in the early 1970s
Nina Edge (FACT Artist on the Cultural Leadership Programme)
- Liverpool artist renowned for her projects involving local communities and the debate around regeneration
Janette Porter & James Brady (local environmental, artists)
- Artists working around environmental and social issues and members of the Gaia Project & L@tE. An informal talk about the experience of developing the early research phase of their 'High Tide: Mersey 2099' project.
Daniel Barrett (Environmental Scientist)
- Redesigning how we think and organise our lives in response to climate change
- Developing practical responses to climate change to ensure our towns and cities are sustainable places to live in
Ian and Minako Jackson- artinliverpool.com Liverpool art bloggers / documenters / snappers
- Maybe we'll just blog / photo / podcast it - more observing than debating.

350 Bikes

2009

Janette Porter, in collaboration with a South Liverpool School, 350.org and Sustrans ride to school event get your bike fixed for free

Photo credits:J Porter

International Day of Climate Action 2009

BRADY & PORTER: High Tide Action 350

Photo credit: N Dawson

Photo credit: P Taylor

Janette Porter, 350 Waves, Hale shore, Merseyside, UK, 2009.  In association with 350.org

David HALEY: a Creation Myth for 350 Futures

2009

In Summary

During the life of High Tide 2008-2011

High Tide was endorsed by

CIWEM (Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management)

The High Tide project artists

UK Àgata Alcañiz, James Brady, John Davies, Jane Frost, David Haley, Philip Jeck, Anne Lydiat, Jacqueline McCormick, Gordon McLellan, Anna Mendelssohn, David Nash, Janette Porter, Tim Pugh, Scott Thurston, Helen Grove White, Elizabeth Willow, Robyn Woolston,

USA Aviva Rahmani

Sweden Kultivator

High Tide Project partners

350.org,Barefoot Wine, Cheshire Dance, CIWEM (Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management), Eden Project, English Nature, FACT(Foundation for Art and Creative Technology),Gaia Project, Landlife (National Wildflower Centre), Kultivator, Liverpool City Region Resurgence, Mersey Basin Campaign, MIRIAD (Manchester Institute for Research and Innovation in Art and Design, Sustrans, The Arts Organisation (TAO),The Green Party, University of Michigan USA, University of Salford, Littoral, Liverpool Biennial Independents, Living at the Edge (L@tE).

Copyright of the work and photography the artists

Contact details

Janette Porter Janetteporteruk@gmail.com