ARTPORT_COOL STORIES FOR WHEN THE PLANET GETS HOT III

Selection of audiovisual works reflecting on environmental issues

Submitted by: VideoArtWorld

Written by: Anne-Marie Meister

Start date: 16-02-2012
End date: 16-02-2012
Location: Cineteca Matadero, Madrid, Spain
Web URL: http://

IMAGERY AFFAIRS : ARTPORT_COOL STORIES III

by Digits Without Borders, with the support of the Ministry of Culture of Spain.

Thursday February 16th: 20hs and 21hs: Sala B, Cineteca Matadero

Organized by ARTPORT_making waves.
Co-directed and presented by Anne-Marie Melster.

The winner of this year's competition, Spanish artist Sergio Sotomayor, will have a brief talk on the subject Art & Social Responsibility.

COOL STORIES is a biennial video and animation contest on climate change, created by ARTPORT_making waves. The third edition includes 19 videos of artists from different countries focused on forests, honouring the United Nations 2011 International Year of Forests. It was premiered at the Swiss Architecture Museum, in conjuction to Art 42 Basel and it has been shown at the Parsons New School of Desing and Lincoln Center in New York, so far.

Honoring the United Nations Year of Forests, a majority of the 19 videos comment on the dangers of deforestation and the malaises that follow climate change, from starvation to disappearing polar bears. However, eery and ominous moods are countered with humor, irony, and surprising solutions. The approaches are very different, but have a common message: If we destroy nature, we threaten our own existence.

Winner Sergio Sotomayor was awarded with a residency grant at Guapamacátaro in Michoacan, Mexico. Based in Murcia, he has had major exhibitions in Spain and abroad including the Centro Parraga, Manifesta8 parallel, Murcia, 2010; several solo shows at Blanca Soto Gallery, Madrid; ESTAMPA; CologneOFF VII Baltic Sea in Riga, Latvia, and received previous grants such as the one from the Casa de Velazquez, Madrid and the Pilar and Joan Miró Foundation, Mallorca. His winning entry reflects the phenomenon of mass production of wood.

COOL STORIES III Jury members included: Mahen Bonetti, Founder & director of African Film Festival, Inc., New York; Kathleen Bühler, Curator, Kunstmuseum Bern, Switzerland; Fredi Casco, Artist, editor, curator and Visual Arts advisor at the Paraguayan Culture Ministry; Isa Cucinotta, Programming associate of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, New York; Javier Duero, art critic and curator, Madrid, Spain; Alicia Marvan, Program director, Residency Guapamacátaro Arts & Ecology, Mexico; Macu Moran, art researcher and director of VideoArtWorld, Barcelona, Spain; Lyle Rexer, Curator and critic, New York and Sabine Maria Schmidt, Curator at the Folkwang Museum, Essen, Germany.

Selection:

Tricia McLaughlin: History of the World, 3'30'', 2008

Sergio Sotomayor: Wood II, 3', 2010

IngridRobertMwangiHutter: Reviving The Fittest, 2'50'', 2011

Anna Beata Barańska: Man Belongs to Earth, 3', 2009

Emma Wieslander: Dirty, Dirty Trees, 3', 2011

Andrea Bianconi: FightingNature, 2'25'', 2011

Sharon Zhu Xiaoyuan: Erosion, 1'51'', 2011

Richard Jochum: Rear Window View, 3'

Baptist Coelho: No Go, 3', 2011

Lukáš Matejka: Breathing exercise on a green meadow: 20M, 1', 2008

Eva Marosy-Weide: Situation Normal, 3', 2009

Sergio Cruz: Exotica, 3', 2009

Annie Briard: A Plant Wedding, 3', 2008-2009

artalquadrat (Gema and Monica del Rey): Healing, 2'57'', 2008

Lesser González Alvarez: Funerary Boat, 3', 2011

Wojtek Klakla & Pierre-Alain Morel: Welcome to the Jungle, 1'57'', 2011

Oscar Boyson: The Value of Trees, 2'51'', 2011

Guillermo Hermosilla Cruzat: Vosque, 3', 2011

Lemeh42: Per fare un tavolo (How to make a table), 2'31'', 2009