As part of Ellie Harrison’s residency at Two Degrees festival at Artsadmin in London from 12th - 18th June 2011, four of these special signs were produced and placed out along London’s Commercial Street. Utilising the brazen marketing techniques of capitalism, the signs attempt to grab the attention of passers-by; to remind them of the consequences of excessive consumption and to force climate change back onto the agenda. The harder the wind blows, the faster they go!
Adopt a Sign
Whilst in residence, Ellie thought long-and-hard about the environmental compromise of producing such material-heavy permanent signs for the sake of a one week festival (this is detailed in her guest text for the Artsadmin website). She felt it important for the festival’s (and her own) integrity, that the signs be allowed to continue to promote their cause long into the future and so she decided to launch this life-long campaign to find suitable arts organisations to ‘adopt’ them on a year-by-year basis, continuing indefinitely into the future.
- Are you part of an arts organisation / gallery that would like to be seen to be actively acknowledging climate change?
- Would you like to help create awareness / discussion about climate change in your local area?
- Then why not take responsibility for one of the four signs by committing to display it in an outdoor public location at / near your venue for one year
Rules
The sign will be delivered to your site free-of-charge on the following conditions:
- the sign must be displayed publicly (preferable on the street) for at least one year following its delivery
- the sign must be ‘put out’ on display during all days / hours that the organisation is open
- the organisation must take responsibility for the sign’s safety, stability and security during this time
- at the end of the year, the organisation must pay for the cost of delivering the sign to another organisation in the UK so that the project can continue
Venues for 2012
The four host venues for the first year of the project are:
- Site Gallery, 1 Brown Street, Sheffield
- Dundee Contemporary Arts, 152 Nethergate, Dundee
- Centre for Contemporary Arts, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow
- The Hidden Gardens, Tramway, 25 Albert Drive, Glasgow
Venues for 2013
Applications to adopt a sign for the second year of the project have now closed. The four host venues are:
- Eastside Projects, 86 Heath Mill Lane, Birmingham
- Castlefield Gallery & Lionel Dobie Project, Hewitt Street, Manchester
- Space Station Sixty-Five, Building One, 373 Kennington Road, London
- Travelling Gallery, Edinburgh (and various locations throughout Scotland)
To Apply for 2014
Please email the following information to ellie@ellieharrison.com with ‘Early Warning Signs’ as subject:
1. your full name, address and organisation
2. a sentence explaining why you would like the sign
3. a photo of the proposed location for the sign
APPLICATION DEADLINE: 31st October 2013
