“…you are already a symbiotic being entangled with other symbiotic beings. The problem with ecological awareness and action isn’t that it’s horribly difficult. It’s that it’s too easy. You are breathing air, your bacterial microbiome is humming away, evolution is silently unfolding in the background. Somewhere, a bird is singing and clouds pass overhead…You don’t have to be ecological. Because you are ecological.” [Timothy Morton, All Art is Ecological]
Coventry Art Show is the homegrown, access-led fringe inspired by British Art Show 10, which opens in Coventry on 1st October – and is happening all across the city.
Talking Birds’ programme for the Coventry Art Show explores/investigates/interrogates the British Art Show’s ‘States of Nature’ theme inspired by ecological philosopher Timothy Morton’s writing about entanglement, interconnection and symbiosis – alongside Talking Birds’ own Regenerative Creative Practice.
As part of this, we are hosting a States of Nature Artists’ Residency, walkshop and book club (details and booking below).
Book Club
Taking an extract of a Timothy Morton text, this will be a relaxed and social reading evening/book club, with no reading in advance required. Participants will read the extracts together and then discuss them. We have quite often offered this kind of event as part of our Third Friday events – they are friendly, welcoming, low pressure and the discussion is always rich and thought-provoking.
Places are free, but limited – booking (see form below) essential. Refreshments will be provided.
Venue: The Nest
Date: Wed 18th November 6.30-8.30pm
Walkshop
A nature connection ambulatory workshop aimed at helping participants to re-place themselves within the urban ecosystem, rewild their thinking, and collectively generate some practically regenerative ‘notes to self’. Materials and refreshments provided.
Places are free, but limited – booking (see form below) essential.
Venue: meet at The Nest
Date: Sat 21st November 10am-1pm
States of Nature Artists’ Residency Sharing
Venue: The Nest
Date: Wed 9th/Thurs 10th December – details tbc
Booking Form
If you wish to attend both the Book Club and the Walkshop, please submit a booking form for each.
More about States of Nature in the British Art Show
States of Nature is inspired by ecological philosopher Timothy Morton’s call for a greater awareness of our relationship with the environment: an understanding that all life forms are fundamentally interconnected within a vast, complex network of being. This theme brings together artists whose work embraces the natural world in its abundance, beauty, and complexity. Animals, plants, air and water are highlighted as part of our shared living history, foregrounding ways of coexisting that challenge the human-centric and invite us to imagine a new relationship with the planet.
This States of Nature strand is one of the British Art Show 10 themes designed by Ekow Eshun, the curator of that exhibition. You can read more about the strands, the artists and the tour here.
These events are part of The Coventry Art Show which has been collaboratively organised by the Coventry Art Forum and is supported by an Arts Council England National Lottery Project Grant.
