Bridgepoint, Rye, the new multi-genre creative arts centre currently under construction, is delighted to present Climate Art, an interdisciplinary public art platform focused on climate change.
Set up by two friends – UCL Lecturer Dzmitry Suslau and V&A international initiatives manager Jevgenija Ravcova in 2020 – Climate Art aims to bring together community groups, artists, and researchers in joint action against the climate crisis. The team at Climate Art have built their practice so that there is a greater understanding of “public art” as a form of meaningful engagement with a diverse public, and the residency at Bridgepoint, Rye provided three multidisciplinary practitioners (working across architecture, biology, and film) with a platform to create new works which will be shown in public space on the shore in Rye and at Bridgepoint.
The three-month residency time frame allowed the three residents Joseph Williams, Mo Langmuir, and Alistair Debling to immerse themselves in the town of Rye’s life and work collaboratively with its residents. This residency programme will culminate with a launch and press event on Thursday, June 24, during which works will be unveiled at both Bridgepoint, Rye and at the Rye Harbour Nature Reserve. One of the programme highlights will be Joseph’s temporary installation at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve. Designed and assembled by the artist in consultation with a leading engineering firm AKT II, this eight-metre-tall sculpture will showcase the remarkable architectural potential of bamboo.
During the residency, the artists invited to participate were asked to explore the broad themes of transience, ephemerality, and perishability. The much-visited ruin of Camber Castle – a decommissioned Tudor artillery fortification served as the metaphor for the residency’s key themes.
Climate Art curator Dzmitry Suslau says, “At Climate Art, we are delighted that our first residency programme attracted such a diverse group of practitioners with knowledge spanning biology, architecture and film. Working with communities in Rye, they demonstrated the importance of breaking down disciplinary boundaries that may hold the key to our understanding of the all-pervading issue of climate change.”
David Kowitz– founder and executive producer of Bridgepoint, Rye says, “We are excited by Climate Arts mission of enabling talented young artists to be inspired by and to draw attention to the urgent issues of climate change and sustainability. It was an honour to host their inaugural residency programme at Bridgepoint, Rye where we are dedicated to providing a supportive and stimulating environment for artists to create innovative work, whilst taking inspiration from the local community and natural world.”
This immersive and boundary–pushing art press event takes place at Bridgepoint, Rye on Thursday 24th June from 6:30pm to 8:30pm, with one of the works by Joseph Williams being unveiled at Rye Nature Reserve and will herald the emergence of both Climate Art’s residency programme and a new centre of artistic excellence as an important location on the national arts map. Bridgepoint will run multi-genre artist residences to nurture and develop creative ideas from inception to launch.
The pop-up press launch on June 24 heralds the start of the capital building project for this exciting new creative hub and is privately funded by founders David and Sarah Kowitz.
The exhibition is open to the public June 26 – July 25. The first weekend opening hours are 10am-5pm. Throughout July it will be open on Saturdays and Sundays 12 noon-5pm. During the week, the gallery will be open by appointment, email: info@climateart.org.uk. The Beacon at Rye Harbour is accessible 24 hrs.
Source: Bridgepoint
Image Credits: James Harris / Climate Art .
Great to see these issues being explored and communicated through the Arts at Rye. Congratulations and thanks to all involved.
For the interested reader, the Royal Society of Medicine is running an open series of webinars on the topic: “The Health Emergency of Climate Change”, aimed for our audience of health professionals while being accessible for the wider public –
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1yY3WBVbNWBM3TI_bR0CWAIfbUo1C1s4
A ‘live illustrator’ aims to capture the key concepts and messages for our next webinar in the series, 18:00 on Tues 6th July – “Planetary Health through the lens of the pandemic”
https://www.rsm.ac.uk/events/rsm-studios/2020-21/cep39/
We hope that the launch for Climate Art in Rye this evening has been a success, and that many will be inspired and motivated by these works over the month ahead.
As an ordinary Rye man born and bred most of this goes over my head, the one bit I do recognise is entitled Coastguards which is in fact an RNLI lifeboat, hopefully Rye Harbour Lifeboat.
For your information Her Majesty’s Coastguards are a government agency and the RNLI is a registered charity manned by volunteers
A small detail but one very close to the hearts in Rye Harbour.
Tony Edwards, former operations manager Rye Harbour Lifeboat Station
The Beacon is really lovely and the yellow flowers that inspired it’s colour were blooming around it on the day we visited. I hope it will stand there for more than one month and not be a “single use” object.
I agree with Amanda. It is like a gorgeous resting yellow moth, with an equally short life.