We Have A Situation! March 23, 2013

We have a situation!, is a series of live, trans-border, online-offline participatory performances addressing current cross-cultural European issues. Four "situations" will be created in four countries - France, Netherlands, UK and Austria - with the final public performance addressing a particular matter of concern. For the London Situation the focus will be on electronic waste.

Please join us for the Final Networked Performance - Sat 23 March 2013, 2PM

The final networked performative event will take place at Furtherfield Gallery. The event will be streamed live through the UpStage platform with an online discussion between Furtherfield Gallery and kunstGarten Graz (AT) at the end of the event.

ABOUT THE LONDON SITUATION: Working with Electronic Waste

Media artist Tom Keene (Furtherfield) has been setting up the "situation" for the arrival of Helen Varley Jamieson (We Have a Situation! lead artist) and the other partners. Tom will work with Bright Sparks, a local recycling/fixing/making project, situated in the middle of a housing estate in Islington, not far from where Furtherfield Gallery is located, on researching the topic. Bright Sparks has been working with local people to re-use, repair and recycle electronics & furniture.
The underlying theme that we are planning to explore through the London Situation and that has certainly strong resonance everywhere in Europe as well as worldwide, tackles current issues around the social & economic relationships with material things, and how these alternative counter-economies are evolving alongside the materialistic obsolescence of capitalist consumption.
New EU regulations will soon require member states to collect 45 tonnes of e-waste for every 100 tonnes of electronic goods put on sale during the previous three years, with a target of 4kg of e-waste per person. That's about 2 million tonnes of e-waste to be collected every year - out of a total of 8 million tonnes generated annually in the EU. Who will be doing this collecting? Who will pay for it? Where and how will the e-waste be recycled? And what happens to the 8 million tonnes not collected for recycling?

ABOUT THE PROJECT

We have a situation! is a collaboration between four European arts organisations - APO33 (FR), Furtherfield (UK), MAD emergent art centre (NL), and Schaumbad Freies Atelierhaus Graz (AT) - and two individuals, Helen Varley Jamieson and Martin Eisenbarth. It is funded by the European Cultural Foundation.

FIND OUT MORE
+ For more information about the London Situation and to get involved please contact Alessandra (Furtherfield).
+ More information about this project:
http://www.furtherfield.org/programmes/event/london-situation
http://www.wehaveasituation.net/
http://www.wehaveasituation.net/?page_id=243

Location
Furtherfield Gallery
McKenzie Pavilion, Finsbury Park
London N4 2NQ
T: +44 (0)20 8802 2827
E: info@furtherfield.org
Visiting information