Sacha Kagan's News and Blog

Upcoming in February 2012

Sacha Kagan — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 20:51:46 +0000

The month of February will be quite busy:

I will moderate a semi-plenary forum on “Connecting and Catalyzing: Aesthetics + Community + Ecology toward a culture of sustainability” at the “Radius of Art” Conference at the Heinrich Boell Foundation in Berlin, Feb. 8th-9th. (I was part of the organization of that conference, conceiving its thematic window “art towards cultures of sustainability”.) More information on the conference website
In parallel to the conference, the Heinrich Boell Foundation will be publishing, in its “ecology” series, an essay of mine, entitled “Toward global (environ)mental change: Transformative Art and Cultures of Sustainability”. [I will give the download link when available...]
I will speak at the symposium “Science, Sustainability, and the Arts” at the 2012 Meeting of the AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science), in Vancouver on Feb. 17th. More information at this webpage
I will take part in this year’s HERA ‘Matchmaking’ event in Berlin on the 21st (a research fundraising related event)
I will present a paper at the Leuphana Sustainability Summit “Sustainability: Enabling a Transdisciplinary Approach”, at Leuphana University Lueneburg, Feb 29th to March 2nd (conference webpage here). The paper is entitled “Aesthetics of Sustainability: a transdisciplinary approach requires a sensibility to complexity”.

2 articles recently published

Sacha Kagan — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:05:05 +0000

The last two articles I published, are both freely available online. I want to thank the initiators of both publications who originally invited me to contribute an article, i.e. Basarab Nicolescu on the one hand, and Katja Hellkoetter on the other hand

Sacha Kagan. “Aesthetics of Sustainability: A Transdisciplinary Sensibility for Transformative Practices”. Transdisciplinary Journal of Engineering & Science, Vol. 2, pp.70-79 (December, 2011). Available here

Sacha Kagan, “Art and Sustainability: The search for cultures of sustainability is not an easy journey”, in Katja Hellkoetter (Ed.), Europe China Cultural Compass: Orientation for Intercultural Cooperation between China and Europe, Beijing: Goethe Institut, 2011, pp. 258-263 (pp. 209-214 in the Chinese version). Available here

Upcoming talk at the HFBK (Hamburg) on art and sustainability

Sacha Kagan — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 09:01:03 +0000

I’ll be having a talk next Tuesday at Hamburg’s Art School. More info (in German) below. My talk will be in English, though

Hamburg, 22. November 2011, 17 Uhr, BIBLIOTHEK DER HFBK

ART AND SUSTAINABILITY – DIE KUNST DER NACHHALTIGKEIT – Ein Gespräch mit WIEBKE GRONEMEYER und DR. SACHA KAGAN

Die kulturelle Dimension von Nachhaltigkeit bedeutet eine tiefe Veränderung der herrschende Verhältnisse. Kunst muss hier eine zentrale Funktion übernehmen: doch was ist nachhaltige Kunst? Etwa eine Kunst, die nicht nur auf gesellschaftliche Probleme aufmerksam macht, sondern in Gesellschaft eingreifen, bzw. diese sogar verändern möchte? Im Gespräch mit Sacha Kagan erörtert Wiebke Gronemeyer, freie Kuratorin und Autorin in Hamburg, die Bedingungen, Verhältnisse und Strategien nachhaltiger künstlerischer Praxis.

Dr. Sacha Kagan ist Soziologe und Kulturwissenschaftler an der Leuphana Universität, Lüneburg. Sein Hauptinteresse gilt dem disziplinübergreifenden Forschungsbereich von Kunst und Nachhaltigkeit. Des weiteren arbeitet er im Bereich der Soziologie von Kunst
und Kultur und der Kulturökonomie. Kürzlich erschien „Art and Sustainability: Connecting Patterns for a Culture of Complexity“ im Bielefelder transcript Verlag. Seit 2007 koordiniert er die internationale Ebene des Künstler- und Aktivistennetzwerk Cultura21.

Wiebke Gronemeyer arbeitet als freie Kuratorin und Autorin in Hamburg und London. Ihr Interesse gilt vor allem den gesellschaftlichen Bedingungen zeitgenössischer Kunstproduktion und der Art und Weise, wie kuratorische Praxis sich zu diesen verhält. Derzeit promoviert sie über die Methoden der Wissensproduktion in kuratorischer Praxis bei Dr. Andrea Phillips und Prof. Dr. Boris Groys am Goldsmiths College, London.

Mit freundlicher Unterstützung der Karl H. Ditze Stiftung

Bengaluru

Sacha Kagan — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 23:48:05 +0000

I’ll be taking part again in a “Tipping Point” meeting, this time in India. (This is the second time I am taking part in this type of event. The first time was in Potsdam, a few years ago. I was not really convinced by the format, but met some interesting people in the process.) On 11th and 12th November 2011 The “Tipping Point” organization will present “TippingPoint India” in Bengaluru. They are working in partnership with the British Council India and Khoj International Artists’ Association. I’m thankful to Pooja Sood, at KHOJ, for this invitation, and looking forward to the exchanges with Indian artists, scientists and activists.

Reader’s feedback

Sacha Kagan — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 22:39:44 +0000

Ailsa Grieve sent me the following text & pictures, about reading my new book Art and Sustainability: Connecting Patterns for a Culture of Complexity (which is published at transcript Verlag): “hey sacha, just finished your book, it has been my travel companion through portugal spain and now in paris. its brilliant. really illuminating and insightful. well done, I’ve really enjoyed reading it, and like a novel, excited to pick it up again. here are some funny pics of me and the book through europe. i took it hiking so it certainly now looks like it has seen better days. anyway best of luck! my best wishes to you!”

Thanks Ailsa !

ESA RN Sociology of the Arts

Sacha Kagan — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 09:54:08 +0000

At the 10th Conference of the ESA (European Sociological Association) a few days ago, I was elected Member of the Board of the ESA Research Network Sociology of the Arts. It was a very pleasant surprise, and I’m looking forward to working with the other members of the board toward the next ESA Arts Conference (in September 2012) to be organized by Tasos Zembylas and his colleagues at the Institute for Music Sociology, in Vienna.

Upcoming in September 2011

Sacha Kagan — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 13:32:55 +0000

I will be participating in the European Sociological Association (ESA) 10th Conference: “Social Relations in Turbulent Times”, in Geneva, on September 7th-10th 2011. I’ll be presenting two papers there:
- “Connecting Patterns: Sustainability and the Culture of Complexity” (as part of the ‘Sociology of Culture’ Research Network),
- “Some roles of artists and inter-/trans-disciplinary projects in the emergence of sustainable creative cities” (as part of the ‘Sustainable City and the Arts’ Research Stream).
More info: Conference website

I will also be giving a speech on “Gardens and aesthetics of sustainability” at the Cultura21 Forum: “The Cultivation of Ecology/-ies: gardens and complexity in rural and urban areas”, Studio Kunst und Landschaft, Hude (Oldenburg), September 23th-25th 2011.
More info: on Cultura21′s website ; In Deutsch: Hier

Can artists change China?

Sacha Kagan — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 17:11:39 +0000

In the framework of an evening which I’m coordinating on June 16th 2011 at the Leuphana University Lueneburg, with a host of partner organizations (including the International Federation for Human Rights – FIDH), around the arrest of Ai Weiwei and the question: “Can artists change China?”, next to a film screening and a panel debate with prominent guest participants, I will be giving a lecture about the engagements of contemporary artists for sustainability in China. Fore more information, click here.

Intervention in Nancy (France)

Sacha Kagan — Fri, 27 May 2011 18:57:33 +0000

Aesthetics of Sustainability: Fostering a sensibility to complexity

At the ICN Business School, Nancy (France) – in the framework of the “Chaire Arts & Sustainable Enterprise”

June 8th 2011 – 13:00 to 15:00

The guest speech will be summarizing a few of the topics analyzed in Sacha Kagan’s upcoming book: Art and Sustainability: Connecting Patterns for a Culture of Complexity, transcript Verlag, 2011.
More especially, the focus will be on artistic thinking and practices based on a sensibility to complexity.
Following this presentation, a systems thinking game called “triangles” (designed by Linda Booth-Sweeney and Dennis Meadows) will be played with the participants. The game will allow participants to glimpse at an embodied cognition of complex systems.

Advance praise for the book

Sacha Kagan — Sun, 15 May 2011 18:21:50 +0000

Advance praise in English, French and German, for the book Art and Sustainability: Connecting Patterns for a Culture of Complexity (coming out in July):

“Selten hat jemand die entscheidenden zukunftsweisenden Ansätze Systemtheorie, Phänomenologie und Autoökopoiese so gut miteinander in Beziehung gesetzt wie Sacha Kagan in seinem neuen Buch. Auch seine Kritik am Holismus bei der gleichzeitigen Würdigung dieses Ansatzes ist sehr gelungen. Es wäre zu wünschen, dass dieser in erster Linie angelsächsische Diskurs durch Sacha Kagans Arbeit stärker Eingang in die deutschsprachige akademische Welt findet und im Zuge dessen auch von einer breiteren Öffentlichkeit wahrgenommen wird. Denn Nachhaltigkeit als kulturelles Problem zu begreifen und die Kultur der Nicht-Nachhaltigkeit zu durchschauen ist eine Aufgabe, die alle angeht.”
Lara Mallien, Chefredaktion Zeitschrift »Oya«

“L’approche de Sacha Kagan des questions que soulèvent les différentes formes d’accompagnement ou de traduction des questions de l’écologie et du développement durable dans le domaine de l’art est remarquable, non seulement pour l’ampleur des aspects pris en considération mais surtout pour l’attachement remarquable dont témoigne l’auteur pour une pensée de la complexité, telle qu’elle a été développée notamment par Edgar Morin. Il y a là un véritable effort pour renouveler la réflexion sur l’activité artistique dans ce domaine aujourd’hui.”
Prof. Dr. Jacques Leenhardt, Directeur d’Études à l’École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (Paris) et Président d’Honneur de l’Association Internationale des Critiques d’Art (AICA).

“The field of ecological arts has awaited this seminal work for some time. Grounded in a deep understanding of complexity and the potential for transdisciplinarity, this book liberates art to be meaningful again.”
Dr. David Haley, Ecological Artist and Senior Research Fellow at MIRIAD, Manchester Metropolitan University

“Probably the best book out there on topic. We are all desperate for really brilliant writing about art, culture and the real environmental issues most of us are so concerned with. Kagan’s book implies there’s light on the intellectual horizon.”
Aviva Rahmani, Ecological Artist (Vinalhaven, Maine, and NYC, USA)

“Kagan is presenting a broad panorama of theoretical approaches as well as artistic schools and projects while he manages to link, contextualize and relate these approaches and projects in consistent ways. As a result the book is relevant for scientists and academics as well as for artists and art managers.”
Prof. Dr. Hans Dieleman (Universidad Autónoma de la Ciudad de México), extract from “Art and Sustainability – a short impression of the book” – on the eco/art/scot/land blog (28.03.2011).

Links: Book page on the publisher’s website / Order page on the publisher’s website (The book is available from the publisher and from amazon.de since July 1st – shipping worldwide ; however, it will be available from the US distributor and from amazon.com only from Nov. 30)