ISLANDS IN THE GLOBAL AGE
This Lab explores the connections between identity, culture, technology and natural environment in Scotland, Europe and archipelagic regions across the globe.
The engrained cultural practices, philosophical ideas and psychological resources we derive from inhabiting a territory and passing on our experience and knowledge to future generations through arts, crafts and technology define our identity and relationship to other communities around the world. The archipelagic layout of the Scottish natural environment and its interactions across time with its continental neighbours and islandic nations across the globe, providing creative solutions to global challenges, can be looked at through a trans-disciplinary lens which combines the expertise of practitioners and researchers from the College of Arts (Modern Languages & Cultures, History of Art, Theatre, Humanities, Theology & Religious Studies), College of Social Sciences (Education) and College of Medicine, Veterinary & Life Sciences (Psychology & Neuroscience).
The aim of the Lab is to provide a congenial research environment that fosters collaboration across disciplinary boundaries and supports the personal development of Early Career Researchers and PhD students. As a natural extension of the activities organised through the Existential Philosophy and Literature Network (2017-2019) and the Glasgow-Kyushu Research Collaboration in the Arts (2019-2022), the theme seeks to energise links with external partners (such as GalGael Trust, Scottish Centre for Geopoetics, the Alliance française de Glasgow and the French Institute in Edinburgh), and to organise public events to disseminate ideas around nomadism and travel across cultures, inspired by the geopoetic movement initiated by the Glasgow-born Scottish-French writer, Kenneth White. This line of enquiry ties in with cross-disciplinary research on eco-criticism, the impact of technology and human/robot interactions during the pandemic, and the role of creative industries and performative art in tackling mental health and restoring our relationship to the natural environment.
Directors and Partners
Directors and Partners
Co-Directors
Dr Ramona Fotiade (Reader in French)
Dr Graham Eatough (Senior Lecturer in Theatre Studies)
Professor Stephen Forcer (Professor of French)
Associated Staff
Professor Paul Bishop (William Jacks Chair in Modern Languages)
Professor Emily Cross (Professor of Social Robotics)
Dr Jonathan Evans (Senior Lecturer in Translation Studies)
Dr Olivier Salazar-Ferrer (Senior Lecturer in French)
Dr James Rann (Lecturer in Russian)
Professor Thomas Clancy (Professor of Celtic)
Dr Dominic Paterson (Lecturer in History of Art and Curator, Hunterian Art Gallery)
Dr Maki Rooksby (Research Associate, Centre for Social, Cognitive & Affective Neuroscience)
Dr Saeko Yazaki (Lecturer in Theology & Religious Studies)
Dr Tim Peacock (Lecturer in History)
Anaïs Delcol (PhD student, Modern Languages & Cultures)
Lucy McCormick (PhD student, Modern Languages & Cultures)
William Taylor (PhD student, English Literature)
External Partners
Dr Daryl Jamieson (Assistant Professor in Acoustic Design, Kyushu University)
Dr Yuko Ishii (Associate Professor in Modern Art and the Historical Avant-Garde, Kyushu University)
Dr Gloria Yu Yang (Assistant Professor in Art and Architectural History, Kyushu University)
Kenneth White (Scottish-French writer and philosopher, founder of Geopoetics movement)
Alastair Macintosh (The GalGael Trust)
Régis Poulet (Institut international de géopoétique)
Norman Bissell (Scottish Centre for Geopoetics)
Steph Sholten (Director, Hunterian Art Gallery)
Laurence Païs (French Consul and Director of the French Institute, Edinburgh)
Tadashi Fujiwara (Consulate General of Japan, Edinburgh)
Professor Murdo Macdonald (Emeritus Professor of History of Scottish Art, University of Dundee)
Miek Zwamborn (KNOCKvologan)
Rutger Emmelkamp (KNOCKvologan)
Events
Existential Philosophy and Literature Network
Travels in Euramerasia: Celebrating Geopoetics, June 2024
Kenneth White: Travels in Euramerasia Celebrating Geopoetics through Creative Environmental Practice
Hybrid conference, film screening, poetry recital, haiku walk and workshop
Dates: 14th and 15th June 2024
Venues: One A The Square, University of Glasgow (14 June 2024) Hillhead Library, 348 Byres Road, Glasgow (15 June 2024)
Description:
A series of events organised by The Islands in the Global Age ArtsLab, the Scottish Society for Geopoetics, the University of Aberdeen and Heriot Watt University celebrating the life and work of the Glasgow-born poet, essayist, travel writer and eco-philosopher, Kenneth White, through a range of activities including an international conference, the screening of a documentary film (Expressing the Earth, dir. Glenda Rome, 2024), the presentation of a limited edition art book by Kenneth White, Les Cygnes sauvages, produced by glass and textile artists from France and Japan, a poetry recital and haiku walk on the banks of the river Kelvin. Full programme and registration details on Eventbrite page.
The workshop we had in November last year in preparation for the conference and with participants from Scotland, France and Japan Title:
Kenneth White: Geopoetics and Resilience of Coastal Communities
Type of event: Hybrid Workshop Date: 17th November 2023 Image which you can use for the event: Description: This workshop is devoted to the interdisciplinary exploration of geopoetics and its ability to provide local creative solutions to global social and environmental challenges at a time of climate change. As a follow-up to our previous workshop on the topic of space, Landscape – Mindscape-Architecture, this event aims to energise the collaboration between members of the Islands in the Global Age ArtsLab theme and our external partners, the Scottish Centre for Geopoetics (Isle of Luing), L’Institut international de géopoétique (France), and the GalGael Trust (Glasgow), as well as provide new opportunities for connecting with specialists from other research areas in the University of Glasgow and with our strategic partners from Kyushu University in preparation for a high profile series of public events next year celebrating the life and work of the Glasgow-born essayist, poet and founder of the geopoetics movement, Kenneth White. I am re-sending the full programme of the November workshop but I think there is no space to show it, so I’m not sure where I can store this so that it can be accessed from the Islands ArtsLab website. Something I would also like to do (and this is why I’m copying in Luca Guariento) is to link the Existential Philosophy and Literature network to the forthcoming event on Kenneth White because the last time he visited the University of Glasgow was in 2018 as part of a series of events which I organised as PI of the RSE-funded Existential Philosophy and Literature network, and there are some really good photographs and recordings of his talks and of a poetry recital which I would like to be able to include – as links on the ArtsLab webpage. The first day of the conference includes Kenneth White’s talk on The Nomadic Intellect and further down the page, his poetry recital at the Hunterian Museum: https://existentialnetwork.wordpress.com/may-2018-conference-day-1/ I would be most grateful to you if you could update the Islands ArtsLab webpage with the information about the two events (the one from November last year, and the forthcoming one), and if you could include a link to the Existential Network events. I will try to come to at least part of the showcase event in the ARC tomorrow, although I have a Board of Examiners meeting in the Adam Smith Business School and PGT Hub (next door) at the same time.
Geopoetics and Resilience of Coastal Communities, November 2023
Kenneth White: Geopoetics and Resilience of Coastal Communities
Hybrid Workshop
17th November 2023
Description:
This workshop is devoted to the interdisciplinary exploration of geopoetics and its ability to provide local creative solutions to global social and environmental challenges at a time of climate change. As a follow-up to our previous workshop on the topic of space, Landscape-Mindscape-Architecture, this event aims to energise the collaboration between members of the Islands in the Global Age Lab and our external partners, the Scottish Centre for Geopoetics (Isle of Luing), L’Institut international de géopoétique (France), and the GalGael Trust (Glasgow), as well as provide new opportunities for connecting with specialists from other research areas in the University of Glasgow and with our strategic partners from Kyushu University in preparation for a high profile series of public events next year celebrating the life and work of the Glasgow-born essayist, poet and founder of the geopoetics movement, Kenneth White.
Space Between / Aidagara, March 2023
SPACE BETWEEN / AIDAGARA
LANDSCAPE, MINDSCAPE, ARCHITECTURE
Workshop
Monday 6 - Wednesday 8 March 2023
This workshop is devoted to the interdisciplinary exploration of the connections between space/landscape and mindscape/culture and between the natural and the spiritual resources of the environments we inhabit at a time of climate change and global energy crisis. As a follow-up to the Floating Worlds/Seaweed Gatherers workshop organised jointly by the Islands in the Global Age ArtsLab at the University of Glasgow, the Department of Sound Design and Kyushu University, and a group of artists, writers and performers from Glasgow and the Isle of Mull, the forthcoming event will provide new opportunities for collaboration on the topic of space (both in its performative and everyday social aspect of built environment) between specialists of architecture and the avant-garde from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Kyushu University and researchers from across the College of Arts at the University of Glasgow.
Contributions are invited from colleagues interested in the connections between the Glasgow Style and Japanese traditional art and architecture, the exchanges between European and Japanese avant-garde artists, the influence of Nô theatre on modern and contemporary theatrical performances and mixed media installations in Scotland and the Scottish isles, the parallels between Japanese and Scottish traditional islandic arts and crafts, rituals and representations of space and landscape. Other approaches, inspired by Tetsuro Watsuji’s notion of betweenness (aidagara), Kenneth White’s geopoetics movement and by Gilles Deleuze’s conception of nomad space and nomad thought are also welcome, along with explorations of the avant-garde creative reconfiguration of conventional exhibition spaces through transdisciplinary curatorial practices.
The workshop will take place on campus between the 6th and the 8th of March 2023 and will include visits to art galleries and collections (the Hunterian, the Kelvingrove, the Burrell), and meetings with external partners and stakeholders from Govan, the Isle of Luing, and the Isle of Mull. To participate please send a short description (100-250 words) of your current research project and its connection to the proposed workshop theme by the 17th February to: Ramona.Fotiade@glasgow.ac.uk and Graham.Eatough@glasgow.ac.uk
Callipolis! Philosophy, Education, and the City, September 2023
CALLIPOLIS! PHILOSOPHY, EDUCATION, AND THE CITY
Talk and discussion
Thursday 15 September 2023, 1800 to 1900 hrs (Advanced Research Centre)
Can philosophy help us better understand our cities? For the Greek philosopher Plato, the city represented the ideal means to achieve stability, health and justice for the individual and the collective. Naturally, education played a significant role in this. When Plato first theorised his ‘ideal city’ (Kallipolis), a tiny proportion of the world’s population lived in urban centres. Today, over half of us live in cities or large urban areas. Why are we drawn to live in cities? Are we closer to a state of utopia or dystopia? Does living in cities meet our needs as humans? Is this urban trend sustainable? And what would Plato make of today’s Glasgow?
Join members of the School of Education at the University of Glasgow, Dr Sarah Anderson, Dr Ria Dunkley, and Dr Philip Tonner, as we take a sideways look at the city through the lenses of philosophy, education and sustainability. Chaired by Dr Alan Leslie.
This event was part of the Glasgow Doors Open Festival.
The Seaweed Gatherers, September 2022
FLOATING WORLDS: THE SEAWEED GATHERERS
Performance followed by discussion
Friday 2 September 2022, 1600 to 1800 hrs (James Arnott Theatre, Gilmorehill Halls)
The Seaweed Gatherers performance will take place as the culmination of a three-day workshop led by director Graham Eatough, composer Daryl Jamieson (Kyushu University) and artist Miek Zwamborn. The workshop takes the Japanese Noh play, The Seaweed Gatherers (Mekari) as the basis for a contemporary exploration of seaweed, its cultural history, and its potential as a performance material. The performance will present extracts from Zwamborn’s book, The Seaweed Collector’s Handbook (2020) alongside original composition by Jamieson performed live.
This research builds directly on a previous project involving Eatough, Jamieson and Zwamborn, working with artist Andre Dekker, Floating Worlds: Erraid Sound, a film made in 2021, co-produced by the Hunterian, and screened as part of the University’s activities during COP26.
The workshop and performance forms part of the new University of Glasgow ArtsLab theme, Islands in the Global Age and will be followed by a discussion to which everyone is welcome. This project also extends the strategic partnership between the University of Glasgow and Kyushu University.
The performance and discussion were recorded by Martin Clark and can be viewed below. Our thanks to Martin for his technical assistance and video documentation.
The password is Seaweed.
Identification, Estrangement, and Renewal in the East-West Dialogue, March 2022
Island in the Global Age: Identification, Estrangement, and Renewal in the East-West Dialogue
Monday 28 - Wednesday 30 March 2022
Online conference and public events organised by the University of Glasgow and Kyushu University.
Floating Worlds: Erraid Sound
Floating Worlds: Erraid Sound
A short film and book publication by artists Graham Eatough and Andre Dekker. Floating Worlds: Erraid Sound has two distinct geographical and cultural influences: it was created between lockdowns during a residency carried out in the remote coastal landscape and island community of the Ross of Mull, and also draws extensively on the artists’ continuing research into Japanese theatre’s relationship with landscape and the natural world. These two sets of influences both find their place in the film and book that make up the two halves of this project in a structure that draws on the narrative drama of a two-act play.