News/Research

Shannon Jackson at ArtCOP21

21 Jan, 2016

Shannon Jackson at ArtCOP21

Shannon Jackson, UC Berkeley associate vice chancellor for the arts and design and BCNM member, was in Paris for the global climate talks and as an ArtCOP21 speaker. ArtCOP21 was launched in advance of the UN climate talks in Paris and aimed to upend the notion that climate change discussions belong to political offices and boardrooms. Arguing that "climate is culture," ArtCOP21 asks for the "active engagement of citizens worldwide in the urgency, value and opportunities of a transition away from fossil fuels and the embracing of a greener, sustainable future economy."

Shannon sent a fascinating report on the activities and import of creative provocation at ArtCOP21 to Berkeley News.

From the report:

Writer and Berkeley alum Rebecca Solnit described Aronofsky’s work and other events as a “day of phantoms,” where the phantoms of 130 killed on Nov. 13 mingled with the phantoms of those forbidden to march in the weeks after. Nevertheless, the most moving symbol of artistic protest came about in an action without artistic signature. On Nov. 29, 10,000 pairs of empty shoes appeared where the bodies of protesters might have been. They serve as a reminder of bodies taken and of the bodies that remain.

Creative activation provokes reflections that are intimate and gigantic, poignant and ironic, all toward activating a new consciousness about our planet's future.

Read the whole report online.