CURRENT EFFORT

CURRENT EFFORT

Tim Collins and Reiko Goto, environmental artists based in Glasgow, Scotland, have been showcased in a number of notable exhibitions in 2022. Their works explore the relationship between nature and culture.

Exhibitions:

• “Various Small Fires” (Los Angeles, June 25 – July 30, 2022)
  Group exhibition Organized by Newton Harrison.
  With Salma Arastu | Brandon Ballengee | Barbara Benish | Nathalie Blanc | Tim Collins & Reiko Goto | The Harrisons | Jorgge Menna Baretto | Aviva Rahmani | Asa Sonjasdotter | Ruth Wallen | Yankura
  
• “In Search of the Pluriverse” (Rotterdam, May 23 – Aug 7, 2022)
  Curated by Sophie Krier and Eric Wong.
  
• “Visual Natures: The Politics and Culture of Environmentalism in the 20th and 21st Century” (Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology, Mar 29 – Sept 5, 2022)
  Catalogue images from the culminating exhibition of ‘3 Rivers 2nd Nature: Groundworks’, curated by Grant Kester, are displayed

Invited Speakers:

• March 2022: Tim Collins and Reiko Goto were invited speakers at the ‘Listening to the Web of Life’ Conference in conjunction with the exhibition “Helen and Newton Harrison: California Work” at Scripps Institute of Oceanography.

Funding:

• CLIMATE DIALOGUES: Conversations with artists about Climate, Art, and Environmental Change (C•A•E•Ɔ) funded by the Mandate Climate Action Fund: SCAN, ENGAGE, Scotland and Creative Scotland in partnership with Glasgow Sculpture Studios and Scottish artist Union.

Networks:

• Ecotones Network – Bath Spa University

• Creative Landscape Futures Network – University of Aberdeen

Ongoing Artwork and Writing in Studio:

• Exhibition Development: “Horse Landscape and Empathy: Becoming More Than Human”
• Writing: “Art, Environment Modernism: The Precipice”
  Examining the ways global climate change encourages artists, curators and commissioning bodies to think, work and respond in ways that challenge extant theories, practices and critical responses.
• Developmental sound instrument – Plein Air 2.0: Spirit in the Air, New performative tools for the exposition of climate and environmental change. Working with Chris Malcolm, Blair Thompson and Jim Watt.

Features and Recognition:

• Featured members on the Ecoartspace website (May 2022)with an overview of their work by curator Patricia Watts.
  

2021

October: The University of Glasgow organized The Dear Green Bothy – Programmable Nature: Conversations with Artists in response to the 2021 COP-26 meeting in Glasgow.

• Tim Barker, Professor of Media Technology and Aesthetics at the University of Glasgow, conducted an interview with Tim Collins and Reiko Goto as part of this event.
• Website: https://deargreenbothy.gla.ac.uk/event/programmable-nature-conversations-with-artists/

2020 Fall/Winter Research Update:.

• Three residency proposals underway, with one already submitted.
• A proposal to work with musicians has recently failed.
• In discussions about touring Plein Air.
• Waiting for a decision on a book proposal with Routledge.
• A chapter is under review that focuses on ‘Ecocide’, where the ideas of legal theorist Polly Higgins are applied to a real-world arts/ecology example.

Key Areas of Focus:

• ENVIRONMENTAL ARTWORKING:
  Art can be recognized through its similarity to works considered as art in terms of form, content, or concept, or through its unique engagement with meaning and value beyond the practical. Art is a constantly evolving field of human inquiry that resists any finite definition and constantly pushes the boundaries of what is considered art. Artists working in environmental conditions often have a different perspective on the world, reinterpreting history and imagining new futures.
  
• The PRECIPICE / CLIMATE
  The precipice refers to the point where the narratives of a safe and stable environment and unlimited growth through science and industry are being challenged by the global environmental crisis, which cannot be resolved through the technical solutions of modernism. The artist is interested in exploring what this cliff edge represents as a social-ecological construct and how art will change as we move closer to it. The theories and practices of modernism and its postmodern variations are becoming increasingly unstable as the edge of the plateau begins to crumble. Possible responses to this situation include an integration of aesthetics and epistemology (following Cazeaux, 2017) and new forms of artworking that exist in the world alongside other disciplines without relying on their problem-solving frameworks (following Roberts, 2017). Artworking encompasses the inquiry, process, method, and outcome of artistic creation and cannot be defined by one overarching idea that applies to all forms of artworking.
  
  
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