13th Annual Subtle Technologies Festival: The Place Where Art and Science Meet
Toronto June 3-6, 2010
Call for Submissions - Investigating Sustainability
Deadline for Submissions: January 9, 2010
It will be nearly half a century since Rachel Carson’s book “Silent Spring”, just over five since Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth”, and less than three years since Anya Hindmarch’s “I’m not a plastic bag” eco-bag hit the shelves. The grassroots sustainability movement has taken hold fostering a green life style. This may be a victory of ideology, yet at the same time, it has matured into a new social norm that suspiciously smells of capitalism. The replacements are still a chain in consumption. Ecological compact fluorescent light bulbs contain mercury, and biofuels have an impact beyond ethanol production. If sustainability is narrowly defined as a closed system that produces what it consumes, by all means, the boundary conditions leave us hanging, looking for more. What can this more, be?
For this year’s Subtle Technologies Festival, we wish to explore sustainability through a critical multidisciplinary lens. We invite investigations of the role that decentralization, diversity and societal power dynamics plays in our attempts at maintaining a sustainable future. Where does the death of languages, cultures and peoples fit into the sustainability discussion? We look forward to critical discussions that explore multiple meanings of sustainability in this state of ecological and global health. We will be discussing the science and technology behind sustainable practices and design as well as the science behind some of the events and circumstances that have driven us to seek sustainable solutions. What role does the artist play in bringing forth new layers of understandings in this discussion? As in previous years, we invite submissions from various practices. For 12 years, Subtle Technologies has provided a forum where participants share their projects, theories and technologies around an annual theme. Subtle Technologies is also a place where artists, scientists, and other innovators inspire, inform and generate new concepts and tools.
Specifically, this year we are looking for proposals for presentations for our symposium (presentations are from 30 to 45 minutes long) , works for our exhibitions, video and film submissions for screenings, workshops and partners for collaborations. Some example areas of exploration in sustainability include: political and historical perspectives, design and architectural practices, global warming, climate change refugees, agriculture, water and other resource management, cultural preservation, material science, alternative energy systems, corporate responsibility, co-operatives and microfinance, biodiversity conservation, preservation of indigenous knowledge, and the culture of consumption.
Submissions can be made via the Subtle Technologies website.
