Nurturing forests and increasing biodiversity is the primary theme of the Old Growth Resurrection, Regeneration, Intervention project that will be coming to North Bay this month.
Village Media will be a sponsor
Several artists are involved with the Broken Forests Endangered Boreal Art and Environment tour through northern Ontario Old Growth country, which culminates at the Finding Art, Animism and Alchemy and Old Growth conference at Nipissing University and the Canadian Ecology Centre Aug. 20-23.
The site-specific contemporary artworks at High Park in Toronto are organic, found-art and low-impact artworks by creators from Brazil and Canada. They focus thematically on reconnecting artists and arts audiences to Old Growth trees and their habitats.
A variety of shows and performances are meant to shift the public gaze back to endangered wilderness and forests and perhaps nudge “extraction” industries to do their parts to nurture biodiverse forests, according to a news release.
Co-curators, Dermot Wilson and James Fowler, have invited nine artists; collectives to install very short-term ecologically respectful artworks that will “shift the gaze” of park visitors.
The hope is to regenerate interest in the well-being of the forests, honour the people who have devoted their lives to saving these old trees and intervene or record interventions that focus public attention upon issues of concern to environmentalists.
"The international Broken Forests Group has been working since 2018 to create art projects, exhibitions, performance festivals and arts symposia to help shed light upon the wonders of nature and how we can all contribute to regenerating the forests near us.<' adds the release.
They have completed Art and the Environment tours in Northern Ontario (2021) and Poland (2018) and will be visiting forests in Brazil in 2023.
