https://reduceartflights.lttds.org/

The Reduce Art Flights website has had a long-overdue refresh (the first version is from 2008 and originally at reduceartflights.com): it now features a new exhibition history, bibliography and a transcription of the interview with RAF's instigator, the late artist Gustav Metzger (1926–2017).

RAF / Reduce Art Flights is a campaign which upholds that the art world—artists, curators, critics, gallerists, collectors, museum directors, etc.—could or should diminish its use of aeroplanes.

“...it’s a nudge in the ribs as it were to remind people there is a problem and let’s talk about this problem of endless flights here and there. What particularly annoyed me originally was the statement by the organisers of the [2006] Basel art fair that when it comes to taking the fair to Miami, which was planned, everybody could get a 50% reduction on the aeroplane flight. I thought that is just over the top, pumping up the possibility of aeroplane use. So for me, this has very much to do with a rejection of mass transport through the air of course, and through cars and buses, and also a criticism of the art world where everything is out for maximizing everything and in every direction.” — Gustav Metzger

The site is maintained by Latitudes as a resource for the initiative and as a location for future elaborations of its aims.

The website in 2008.

Pages of the exhibition catalogue ‘Greenwashing. Environment: Perils, Promises and Perplexities’, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, edited by Latitudes & Ilaria Bonacossa, published by The Bookmakers Ed., Turin, 2008, ISBN: 978-88-95702-01-8.

→ RELATED CONTENT:

• 'THE LAST MONITOR' AVAILABLE NOW! #5 issue of the 10 Latitudes-edited newspapers for 'The Last Newspaper' exhibition, New Museum 30 October 2010 
• Reduce Art Flights leafleting campaign by Gustav Metzger at the Serpentine Gallery, London 21 October 2009
• Gustav Metzger's RAF / Reduce Art Flights campaign initiative changes URL to www.reduceartflights.lttds.org 28 January 2009
• “Greenwashing update: RAF / Reduce Art Flights. Gustav Metzger interview”, Latitudes blog post, 6 March 2008 
• Exhibition ‘Greenwashing. Environment: Perils, Promises and Perplexities’, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, 2008. 

We are glad to announce that PUBLICS in Helsinki now has all of Latitudes publications available for consultation in their library (with the exception of the monograph "Lara Almarcegui, Projects 1995–2010" which is out of print). Our first publication, "LAND, ART: A Cultural Ecology Handbook" (RSA/Arts Council England, 2006, also out of print), was already available in their library. 

The February 2018 Monthly Cover Story "Paradise, Promises and Perplexities" is now up on www.lttds.org – after this month it will be archived here.

"This month marks ten years since the opening of Greenwashing, curated by Latitudes and Ilaria Bonacossa. Subtitled Environment: Perils, Promises and Perplexities, this exhibition at the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, addressed the melding of corporate agendas and individual ethics in the wake of the exhaustion of traditional environmentalism." Continue reading

Cover Stories' are published on a monthly basis on Latitudes' homepage and feature past, present or forthcoming projects, research, writing, artworks, exhibitions, films, objects or field trips related to our curatorial activities.

—> RELATED CONTENT:

Nottingham Contemporary continues their fantastic programme with an ambitious show centered on art and ecology. Ringing in the new year, 'Rights of Nature. Art and Ecology in the Americas' sets out expose how the "European idea of human mastery of the planet was imposed on the Americas. In contrast, new forms of resistance are inspired by, and linked to, indigenous cultures that see themselves as part of an ecological continuum. 'Rights of Nature...' will deliver a strong focus on the Amazon, the Andes, the Arctic and the Gulf of Mexico and is curated by TJ Demos and Alex Farquharson (Artistic Director, Nottingham Contemporary) with Irene Aristizábal (Head of Exhibitions at Nottingham Contemporary).

One of the chosen press images for the exhibition is Minerva Cuevas' 2007 'Serie Hidrocarburos', which we selected back in 2008 for the cover of the catalogue of the exhibition 'Greenwashing. Environment: Promises, Perils and Perplexities' (29 February–18 May 2008) that we co-curated  with Ilaria Bonacossa at the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo. In Turin, Cuevas' 2004 'Egalité' was displayed alongside another 'Rights of Nature' participant Amy Balkin who is also presenting her ongoing 'Public Smog' (2004–ongoing) project.


The 'Rights of Nature...' opening coincides with a promising day-long conference "drawing from lived and theoretical frameworks that de-privilege the human and recognize the agency of non-human entities", and will include presentations by participating artists Eduardo Abaroa, Minerva Cuevas, Subhankar Banerjee, Mabe Bethônico, Ursula Biemann and The Otolith Group as well as a performative intervention by Amy Balkin.  

Part of our interest in the #OpenCurating research we are currently carrying out is to look at how museums and curatorial departments are engaging in new ways with their audiences and the means through which "open" initiatives are being promoted and implemented in exhibition-making and via other types of programming.

The Indianapolis Museum of Art has created two really dynamic initiatives which promote transparency throughout the museum's operations: a real-time statistics "Dashboard" including data such as the museum's energy consumption, works of art currently on display, the value of the museum's endowment, their operating expenses, average time of visits to the website, etc. 

The tool was implemented in 2008 and is the brainchild of museum director Maxwell L. Anderson, an active advocate of implementing new media technologies to advance public interest in art. 



The data can be compared to previous years (stats for 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011), filtered by museum departments (Buildings, Education, Conservation, Curatorial, Finance...) as well as by topics (Art, Greening the IMA, Attendance...). 



However admirable this tool is, the curatorial dashboard falls rather short on the depth of information, only offering statistics for the "number of acquisitions" and the "number of works with gaps in WWII-Era Provenance". They do not reveal full data sets of their departmental operational budget, for instance. This might show there is still some resistance to really open up  to show other kind of costs (shipping, insurance, exhibition display, fees paid to artists (or not?)...) or even interesting insights such as (air)miles travelled by the curatorial staff, or the amount of paper used for their publications, just to mention a few. 

Some of these topics (how to articulate institutions and organisations complex needs in seeming transparent, responsible and benevolent) were addressed in Latitudes' 2008 exhibition "Greenwashing. Environment: Perils, Promises and Perplexities" (Archive Books, 2008) and in its catalogue essay "Shades of Green: a conversation between the curators", as well as in the essay by Stephanie Smith "'Alas for the dreams of a Dreamer!': Art Museums and Sustainability" included in the Latitudes-edited publication "Land, Art: A Cultural Ecology Handbook' (RSA, 2006).

A second initiative we find quite relevant is the "Deaccessioning database", which classifies pieces that have been deaccessioned at the museum since 2007 (following IMA's policy, see pdf here), explaining provenance, the reasons for its deaccession, listing the recipient and the day of sale, etc.
Take for instance "Houses in the Snow", a 1929 canvas by Maurice de Vlaminck sold via Sotheby's in 2009 for $173700; or the 1889 suite of prints "Les Misères Humaines" by Gaugin, which were transferred to the Musée de Pont-Aven in 2009. Fascinating and revealing, isn't it?

En el número 20 de la revista italiana MOUSSE la crítica y comisaria Cecilia Alemani entrevista al grupo de artistas neoyorkinos The Bruce High Quality Foundation, quienes hacen referencia a dos proyectos en los que Latitudes colaboró con el grupo: la oficina temporal que crearon para nuestra participación el festival 'NO SOUL FOR SALE' que tuvo lugar el pasado Junio en X Initiative en Nueva York y la obra exposición colectiva 'Greenwashing. Environment: Perils, Promises and Perplexities' en la Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo en Febrero–Mayo 2008.

Fotos de nuestra oficina durante el festival 'NO SOUL FOR SALE' aquí.
Fotos de la exposición colectiva 'Greenwashing...' aquí.

Photo: Latitudes, Barcelona.

The Reduce Art Flights (28.02.2008, Turin) leafleting campaign has been included in the exhibition 'Gustav Metzger, Decades 1959–2009' at the Serpentine Gallery in London (on view until 8 November 2009). 

The leaflet was produced in the occasion of the Latitudes-curated exhibition 'Greenwashing. Environment: Perils, Promises and Perplexities' that took place between February and May 2008 at the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Turin, Italy. 

For the occasion, the invitation mailing was accompanied by the pamphlet encouraging visitors to arrange alternative travel to the exhibition.

For further info check http://www.reduceartflights.lttds.org

Milan-based Kult Magazine has published an article on art and ecology in their October issue written by art critic and curator Daniele Perra. In the section, Perra interviews curator Francesco Manacorda (curator of the exhibition 'Radical Nature: Art and Architecture for a Changing Planet 1969-2009' on view at the Barbican Art Gallery, London, until 18 October), as well as English artist Simon Starling and selects a few ongoing exhibitions and events that analyse the relationship between art and nature.

In page 88 (see detail above) Perra mentioned Latitudes' ecology-related projects such as the 'Greenwashing. Environment: Perils, Promises and Perplexities...' exhibition at the Fondazione Sandretto in Turin in 2008, the guest-edition of UOVO #14 in 2007 and the publication 'Land, Art: A Cultural Ecology Handbook' in 2006, to introduce our participation in the forthcoming The Wånas Foundation seminar on Art and Ecology taking place on the 21 October in Knislinge, Sweden and in the symposium organised by Hinterland Projects on 26th November titled 'The evolving relationships between artists, the changing climate and new responsibilities'.

[Above: Detail of page 88 of the magazine. With thanks to Daniele Perra]