Theme: Changing the Subject: Edges, Narratives and Encounters
Dates: July 24-29, 2016
Location: Santa Cruz Island, Channel Islands National Park, California
Website: http://www.mappingmeaning.org
E-mail: mappingmeaning@mappingmeaning.org
Mapping Meaning invites women artists, scientists and scholars from all disciplines to participate in a unique summer workshop, “Changing the Subject: Edges, Narratives and Encounters.” Inspired by a photograph from 1918 depicting an all-female survey crew, this biennial gathering provides a forum for women to collectively explore questions of mental, social and environmental ecology.
The 2016 workshop will be held on Santa Cruz Island, a part of Channel Islands National Park in California. Close to the densely populated region of Southern California and yet one of the least visited of all national parks in the United States, the Channel Islands bridge two biogeographical provinces and are home to 145 endemic species. Santa Cruz Island is the largest and most diverse of the eight islands and has been an important site for thousands of years for people, including the Chumash who call the island Limuw ("in the sea").
In ecology, community junctions often have a tendency for increased variety and diversity, and this phenomenon is called the edge effect. Traveler species moving between communities can create lanes along these borders, which in turn promote primary productivity (the transformation of sunlight into carbon-based life) and can have positive cascading effects through all trophic levels. Mapping Meaning 2016 will use this concept as a metaphorical structure from which to pose the following questions:
- How might we as scientists, artists and scholars envision ourselves as a “traveler species” able to promote a kind of primary productivity that cascades through disciplines and encounters?
- In the Three Ecologies Félix Guattari states, “there is at least a risk that there will be no more human history unless humanity undertakes a radical reconsideration of itself.” How might we promote a radical reconsideration of the role humanity plays in a more-than-human world?
Looking to unmake fictitious histories that place the human at the center and where certain cultures dominate, we are looking for proposals that create alternative narratives and encounters. All forms of submissions are encouraged (including presentations, field sessions, performances, film, sound, etc.) Experimental, interactive and field-based approaches are highly sought.
For further details on Mapping Meaning as well as how to apply please visit: http://www.mappingmeaning.org/2016/