[ISEA2011] Panel: Eliz­a­beth Monoian & Robert Ferry (moderators) – Public Art of the Sustainable City

Panel Statement

Chair Per­sons: Eliz­a­beth Monoian & Robert Ferry
Pre­sen­ters: Pa­tri­cia Watts, Nacho Zamora & Glen Lowry

As we en­deavor to ex­tri­cate civ­i­liza­tion from fos­sil fuel de­pen­dence, the ex­is­ten­tial de­bate over the pur­pose of art de­serves re­newed at­ten­tion in the con­text of nat­ural ecol­ogy and human con­sump­tion. Is it pos­si­ble for works of pub­lic art to con­tribute ac­tively to the so­lu­tion to the prob­lems that con­front us? Can in­ter­dis­ci­pli­nary art in­spire, through ex­am­ple, the type of so­cial change re­quired to sig­nif­i­cantly re­duce the neg­a­tive im­pact of human con­sump­tion on the planet? Pa­pers pre­sented will pre­sent ex­am­ples of pro­jects at var­i­ous scales that seek to ad­dress eco­log­i­cal is­sues, be­yond di­dac­tic ex­pres­sion, through the in­cor­po­ra­tion of tech­nol­ogy. This panel dis­cus­sion will ad­dress the con­tin­uum of pub­lic art, clean en­ergy prece­dents, and con­tem­po­rary tech­nolo­gies. Within this frame­work we will out­line and il­lus­trate the po­ten­tial that in­ter­dis­ci­pli­nary teams and com­mu­ni­ties around the world have to ex­pand both the di­a­logue and ac­tual change.

  • Eliz­a­beth Monoian is an interdisciplinary artist and designer who uses the Internet, public spaces, electronic noise, video, and performance. She is currently working on large-scale international public art projects that both address and expose models of environmental sustainability. Elizabeth is the founder and director of Society for Cultural Exchange, a non-profit organization that is developing international exchanges between communities, academics and artists. She is the Principal and Co-Founder of the Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI). LAGI is a worldwide public arts initiative that offers the opportunity for collaborative teams of artists, architects, landscape architects and designers, working with engineers and scientists, to create new ways of thinking about what renewable energy generation looks like. The LAGI project calls on design teams to conceive of large-scale public artworks for specific sites that, in addition to their conceptual beauty, also have the ability to harness clean renewable energy from nature, convert the energy to electrical power, and distribute the power to the utility grid of the city. The project has received featured articles in numerous local and international press outlets, including The New York Times and Dwell Magazine. Her work has screened and exhibited internationally in venues including: The First Biennial of Oran, Algeria; Video’ Appart, International Video Art Biennial, Paris & Dubai; the XXIII Moscow International Film Festival, Moscow, Russia; Anthology Film Archives, NYC; Open Screen Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia; Festival of Actual Kino, Novosibirsk, Russia; The Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland; and the International Media Art Festival at the Armenian Center of Contemporary Experimental Art, Yerevan, Armenia. Elizabeth received an MFA from Carnegie Mellon University and is currently Assistant Professor of Art & Design at Zayed University.   landartgenerator.org  studiedimpact.com/projects.shtml
  • Robert Ferry, RA, LEED AP BD+C, is a USA licensed architect and a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University. His architectural focus is on designing buildings and other public objects that go above and beyond current popular notions of sustainability to achieve complete harmony with their local and global environments and with the people that use them. While based in the UAE, he has consulted on such projects as MASDAR City and ADNOC HQ. He is the designer of less-than-zero-impact or positive-impact buildings that double as a renewable energy power-plants. He is an Ambassador in the UAE for the Living Building Institute. He is the Principal and Co-Founder of the Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI). LAGI is a worldwide public arts initiative that offers the opportunity for collaborative teams of artists, architects, landscape architects and designers, working with engineers and scientists, to create new ways of thinking about what renewable energy generation looks like. The LAGI project calls on design teams to conceive of large-scale public artworks for specific sites that, in addition to their conceptual beauty, also have the ability to harness clean renewable energy from nature, convert the energy to electrical power, and distribute the power to the utility grid of the city. The project has received featured articles in numerous local and international press outlets, including The New York Times and Dwell Magazine.   studiedimpact.com