The British Council and The Korea Foundation (KF) invited applications for a creative commission which integrates art, science and digital technology and responds to climate change. This commission is a part of the cultural programme for P4G Seoul Summit held in Seoul in May 2021 and the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) taking place in Glasgow in Nov 2021. Among high-quality innovative project proposals, ‘The Gathering Moss’ jointly submitted by Art Center Nabi, Watershed and Bang & Lee has been selected for the commission and its project outline is as below;
[Project Overview]
As a digital platform, The Gathering Moss invites global audiences to explore and experience artistic ideas on climate change. Taking the form of an online ‘world’, it’s landscape is populated with creative outputs generated by young people during an exciting Creative Camp delivered by Art Center Nabi, Watershed and Bang & Lee. The ultimate aim of The Gathering Moss is to share collective ideas that work to propel the environmental movement and stimulate actions to protect our planet.
Creative Camp
The online Creative Camp supported 18-25 year old creators in Korea and the UK. It aimed to amplify their voices through supporting, shaping and sharing their ideas on the climate crisis. Art Center Nabi and Watershed recruited 5 young artist teams, 3 from Korea and 3 from the UK, and bring them together in a 5-day Camp with a wider group of artists, technologists and environmental scientists. The participants created 5 brand new experimental works, on themes such as microplastics, responsibilities, global heating, distraction and love. These works are showcased within The Gathering Moss.
Bang & Lee Art Showcase
In connection with The Gathering Moss, the digital platform, Bang & Lee showcased a media-based work titled as ActZero Noji in Seogwipo, Jeju. Noji is selected as a symbol of the most vulnerable place to climate change and marine ecosystem destruction. The work, which focuses on sustainable materials, renewable energy and local biodiversity connects virtual and physical space suggesting collective action and participation.
[Partners]
Art Center Nabi
Art Center Nabi aims to act as an intermediary that transforms the cultural desires into vital activities. Our goal is formed around the idea of humanizing technology that technology is fully integrated with human cultural life to open a new space for creative practices. This can be achieved only after the fruitful collaboration and understanding among science technology, humanities, and arts. Thus, Art Center Nabi maintains the following three ideas; being a 'critique' of contemporary culture independent from technological benefits; possessing 'creativity' which opens people’s mind to regard a new perspective and enables a new form of expression; creating 'community’ where these ideas are shared and the new world is dreamed of. Art Center Nabi is at the center of this new culture, where artistic sensibility is combined with the technological possibility to bring out the power of change and creativity.
Watershed
Watershed champions engagement, imagination and ingenuity, working locally, nationally and globally from our home in Bristol, UK. Our building houses an independent cinema, the Pervasive Media Studio, a café and bar. Pervasive Media Studio is a partnership between Watershed, UWE Bristol and the University of Bristol. It is a world-leading research lab and offers free space to a thriving community of around 160 artists, technologists, start ups, researchers and industry exploring work at the intersection of art, technology and society.
Bang & Lee
Bang & Lee is a Korean artist duo based in Seoul, South Korea. Their projects include assemblage, interactive light sculptures, computer-generated montage, and large-scale installations to explore various aspects of contemporary life such as networked societies, effects of technology, and forms of collaboration and friendship. They conduct extensive research while developing their works and incorporate references to geopolitics, history, culture, and literature into their immersive environments that engage visitors as active participants. Their works have been exhibited at Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Germany, MAXXI Rome, Italy, La Friche Belle de Mai Marseilles, France, MoCA Shanghai, China, Nam June Paik Art Center Yongin, Korea, Seoul Museum of Art, Arko Art Center, Art Center Nabi, Alternative Space Loop, Total Museum of Art Seoul, Korea, Digital Art Center, Taipei, Taiwan, Nafasi Art Space, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
