Workshop Opening ©EAAFP Foundation
Participants making bird-like hand gestures ©EAAFP Foundation
On September 14th, 2022, <Bird Meets Arts> online international workshop was completed. This workshop concluded the <Bird Meets Arts> series, with the workshop focused on discussing the role and possibilities of art as means to strengthen the conservation of migratory waterbirds and their habitats. Four environmental artists from Ro Korea, Australia and Hong Kong, as well as Vivian Fu from the EAAFP Secretariat, participated as speakers to share their experiences and ideas.
<Bird Meets Arts> is a cooperative project between YSFAC (Yeonsu Foundation for Arts and Culture) and EAAFP Foundation. The programme aims to raise awareness of the importance of migratory waterbirds, their habitats and nature conservation through environmental arts. In 2022, <Bird Meets Arts> included a series of educational talks and workshops, a wetland cleaning activity, participatory artwork and exhibition, and an international workshop.
The presentations by the four speakers ©EAAFP Foundation
The first speaker is Korean visual artist, Mr. Yang Kura, who talked about his career as an environmental artist using marine debris driftwood and introduced 2022 <Bird Meets Arts> project. Followed by an Australian musician, Mr. Anthony Albrecht of Bowerbird Collective shared findings and insight from his recent studies on the impact of art on nature conservation with their previous music art pieces.
Clara Cheung and Gum Cheng from Art Together based in Hong Kong presented their experiences of curating the Fishpond Art Festival which links local fishing communities to the general public on the tradition of aquaculture. They talked about how environmental art inspired people to their linkage with nature and local culture. The last speaker, Vivian Fu, Communications Officer of the EAAFP Secretariat, introduced World Migratory Bird Day as a global opportunity to link art to different environmental issues, and reach the general public in different parts of the world.
This workshop has formed the basis of an environmental art network that connects countries within the EAA Flyway. Coming up, a report containing the contents of this workshop will be published in Korean and English.
4th Education program: YSFAC X EAAFP PROJECT 2022 Bird Meets Arts 4th Education Program – Eaaflyway
3rd Education program: YSFAC X EAAFP PROJECT 2022 Bird Meets Arts 3rd Education Program – Eaaflyway
2nd Education program: YSFAC X EAAFP PROJECT 2022 Bird Meets Arts 2nd Education Program – Eaaflyway
Promotion of Event
Theme: Role and Possibilities of Art as means to strengthen the conservation of Migratory waterbirds and their habitats and environment.
Date: 14th September 2022 (Wednesday)
Registration Deadline: 14th September 2022
Tool: ZOOM
Registration link: https://bit.ly/3BirqKc
Target Audience: Artists interested in environmental art and conservation
Important notice
- We are using ZOOM for the workshop.
- Please download the ZOOM App (https://zoom.us/download) prior to the workshop.
- We provide simultaneous interpretation (English to Korean, Korean to English)
- How to use ZOOM
Speakers
Yang Kura (Ro Korea) visual artist who participated in 2022 education programs and exhibition
Yangkura is a visual artist born and working in the Republic of Korea and presents works that reflect the present era by reinterpreting discarded objects or images that are not carefully seen in everyday life. Through this work, he naturally became interested in the ecosystem and the environment, and he is trying to present problems and get answers variously in the way of art. In addition, he considers cooperation with environmental organizations, science, and technology part as important, and he is researching and studying the ways from the sea around Korean Peninsula to the Pacific Ocean and showing artworks in various ways.
YangKura will share with the audience the 2022 <Bird Meets Arts> project.
Anthony Albrecht (Australia) Member of Bowerbird Collective who participated
With a passion for making classical music accessible and relevant in the 21st century, cellist Anthony Albrecht began producing concerts shortly after graduating from The Juilliard School in 2014. With an international performance career, he has developed a reputation as an impresario of world-class events characterised by generosity, outreach and connection to issues of social justice, conservation and sustainability. Anthony co-founded the Bowerbird Collective in 2017 with violinist Simone Slattery, with the goal of bringing audiences closer to nature through the arts. They have performed more than 200 concerts throughout Australia and internationally featuring their multimedia, conservation-themed projects, as well as several online productions in collaboration with the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership. Anthony is a Ph.D. Candidate at Charles Darwin University, supervised by Professor Stephen Garnett, studying the impact of environmental art on audience attitudes and behavior.
Since 2017 the Bowerbird Collective, an Australian-based arts organization, has sought to develop a new genre of nature performance. Using a multimedia presentation style to tell conservation stories, these classically trained musicians have since collaborated with a number of international conservation organizations to activate their audiences emotionally. Anthony Albrecht, co-founder of the Bowerbird Collective, will present on the role of the arts in conservation, using examples of his organization’s work and informed by his research at Charles Darwin University.
Clara Cheung (Hong Kong) Art Together, curators in the previous Fish Pont Art Festivals
Clara Cheung and her partner Gum Cheng were the Curators for the previous Fishpond Art Festivals. They are artists and members of Art Together.
Upon her graduation from Rhodes College (TN, USA) with the Bachelor’s Degree of Arts in Fine Art and Computer Science in 2002, Clara Cheung received Sally Becker Grinspan Award for Artistic Achievement and Apollonian Award for Art History. She then studied for the Postgraduate Diploma in Education at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and received a master’s degree in Cultural Studies at Lingnan University afterward.
She is an active member of the non-profit art group Project226, and the founder of C&G Artpartment. From 2007 to 2021, she curated and co-curated more than 50 art exhibitions at C&G Artpartment, which is situated in a “tong-lau” building apartment in Hong Kong. These exhibitions often critically responded to local social and cultural issues, including problems in the local art ecology. She was a member of the Wan Chai District Council from Jan 2020 to July 2021, attempting to contribute to the local political scene in Hong Kong with her creative problem-solving skills. She is currently based in the UK, as one of the Hongkongers in exile who persist in fighting for the liberation of Hong Kong
Clara will share experiences about how to invite and engage more public audiences to encounter nature and our animal neighbors like different birds around us.
Vivian Fu Communication Officer of EAAFP Secretariat
Vivian Fu is the Communication Officer of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership (EAAFP) Secretariat. She has a background in Ecology in her bachelor’s degree and focused freshwater ecology for her Mphil studies and later got a Master of Social Science at the University of Hong Kong. She has about eight years of experience on bird conservation as the China Programme Officer, a joint programme between the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society and BirdLife International at the time. Vivian believes that CEPA (Communication/Capacity Building, Education, Participation, Awareness) is a crucial element for conservation, the results allow long-term conservation work to be more effective. Since she joined the EAAFP, she has been active in promoting CEPA activities to the general public, especially young people. In 2020, she co-organized with Youth Engaged in Wetlands (YEW) to initiate the 1st Flyway Youth Forum. She is keen to strengthen CEPA work in the region.
Vivian Fu will introduce World Migratory Bird Day and using Art for conservation messaging.
Organizers
EAAFP (East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership) Foundation
YSFAC (Yeonsu Foundation for Arts and Culture)
Contact
Jisun Lee, EAAFP Foundation Coordinator
More information about Bird Meets Arts project
2022 Bird Meets Arts
YSFAC X EAAFP < Bird Meets Arts > PROJECT 2022 Exhibitions – Eaaflyway
2021 Bird Meets Arts
EAAFP Foundation released “Bird Meets Arts” – Highlight Video – Eaaflyway
