Edge Effects screening and discussion series
co-organised with Rowan Lear

Edge Effects is a series co-organised by The Political Animal and Wrkwrkwrk. ‘Edge effects’ is the term for the ecological impact of borders created by agriculture, mining or urban development. Some research has argued that edges create greater biodiversity and abundance; other studies suggest that edge expansion and habitat fragmentation decimates species diversity. In a series of events and discussions, we question how edge effects might be a model for thinking about artistic and planetary survival. 

Edge Effects 2
Sunday 4 November 2018, 2-4pm

For this event we are hosted by Guest Projects as part of GHOST programme curated by Mint Works. 

Patterns of care recur across living organisms. Caring practices tend to cross species boundaries – embodied differently by figures as diverse as the hunter-trapper, the guide dog, the researcher and the medicinal leech. Care is also often expressed through forms of captivity, such as reserves, zoos and sanatoriums. What are the contradictions of practices of recuperation and rehabilitation – into ‘the wild’ or back to work?

The event will pivot on the screening and discussion of recent moving image and in-progress projects by Kathryn Ashill, Hermione Spriggs & Laura Cooper, and Sonia Levy which consider multispecies medicine, cultures of conservation, and care as conversation and constraint.

Works in the screening:

Kathryn Ashill
'Working for Wellbeing: Clocking Off' 
(2018, ongoing)

Hermione Spriggs and Laura Cooper 
‘Duck’ and ‘Turkey’
(2018)

Sonia Levy
'For the Love of Corals' 
(2018, ongoing)
Soundtrack by Jez Riley French
Music by Georgia Rodgers 

Image: Olga Koroleva, Soft Shell, still from research video shot at Tula Exotarium, 2017 - ongoing

Edge Effects: Artists and Animals on the Margins
Friday 5 October 2018, 6.30-8.30pm

Film screening and peer-led discussion around interspecies strategies of care, cooperation and resistance. Organised for Artlicks Weekend 2018, curated by Rowan Lear.

Edge effects – the ecological impact of borders created by agriculture, mining or urban development – are a conflicted area of study. Some research has argued that greater biodiversity and abundance is found near edges, while other studies suggest that the expansion of edges and habitat fragmentation has led to the decline of numerous species.

In an open study session, we invite artists and peers to consider ‘edge effects’ as a model for thinking about artistic survival. The discussion will hinge on the screening of recent and in-progress moving image by Olga Koroleva, Bryony Gillard and Tuuli Malla, which develop ideas of co-domestication, peripheral perspectives and non-human improvisation. 

In an increasingly fragmented and hostile environment, how might artists and animals adapt to life on the margins?

Films in the screening:

Bryony Gillard
A cap like water, transparent, fluid yet with definite body 
(2017-18)

Tuuli Manninen, with Shelley Etkin and Mira Kautto
I am a cat
(2017)

Olga Koroleva
Untitled (research video) 
(2018-)

Below: Rowan Lear leading the Edge Effects discussion at Evening Class, and audiences