THE ecological crisis, climate change and hyper-capitalism are the focus of an arts festival connecting Glasgow with New York, Tokyo and Bologna.
Unfix, which began in Scotland in 2015 and now has sister events across the world, begins on June 11 and runs for 17 days online.
For the first time all four cities have synchronised their programmes to create an international showcase of work responding to the human impact on the planet.
As a result of being moved online, this year’s festival will bring together artists from the UK, United States, Italy, Japan, Germany, Mexico and beyond.
Through a series of films, virtual exhibitions, performances, workshops, sound walks and in-conversation events, they will explore the human relationship to the natural world and how it has changed throughout the pandemic.
The programme is split into on-demand content released at 5pm daily and available to catch up through to the end of the festival and over 40 live events. Festival passes are available on a pay-what-you-can basis and provide access to over 70 events.
Scottish artists featured include sound artist and musician Ruaridh Law (above), whose Sea of Cogs is a series of short films focussing on those who have lost work during the pandemic, the link between work and identity and hopes for the future. Dougie Strang, whose vast body of work is inspired by the natural and cultural ecology of Scotland’s wild places, will invite audiences to take part in a daily practice titled Still Find Joy and will also host a special book launch event, Dispatches from the Dark Mountain. Carrie Fertig, recipient of the Unfix festival residency at The Barn in Aberdeen will present Plummet, a thousand-piece glass icicle installation and sound performance which warns about the human impact on the world.
International names appearing at the festival include Australian Audrey Newton who will host a reading and listening experience, Italian independent artist and cultural and social activist Caterina Moroni who will present Bloom and Doom, a video documentary combining performances and installations led by young people as they look to communicate the emergency of climate breakdown and Chicago’s Degenerate Art Ensemble, known for large-scale dance and theatre projects, who will stage The Invitation, a meditation on the human relationship to the natural world.
The festival comes to a close on June 27 with Edinburgh-based artist Iryna Zamuruieva, who will convene a “pig mourning ceremony” for the 100 million pigs that have died because of the African Swine Fever (ASF) pandemic. Underground, indie supergroup, VIDIV, a collaboration of Glasgow-based sound and performance artists, will reflect on human mortality.
Bringing the virtual curtain down will be Japanese Butoh dancer and choreographer Atsushi Takenouchi, who will perform Skin live from his home in Italy.
Unfix director, Paul Michael Henry, said the arts provided a way of imagining an alternative future.
“Capitalism and our treatment of the planet as a resource started out as ideas, and it’s now obvious that they are inadequate and point towards climate change and disaster,” he said.
“The arts and communal exploration through culture offer vital ways to dream otherwise, and to imagine a different future. Unfix aims to provide a melting pot for work concerned with ecological crisis, climate change, hyper-capitalism and all the things that might help to address them: love, care, imagination, joy and dissent.”
Visit unfixfestival.com
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