Conference Presentations by Sophie C R Jerram
Social Solidarity and the Commons (ISCTE, Portugal), 2018
Emerging from the Occupy movement (2011) in Wellington New Zealand, the Tory Street Open Source C... more Emerging from the Occupy movement (2011) in Wellington New Zealand, the Tory Street Open Source Community Gallery existed as an urban commons for five years in a central city shop. It was developed through emergent principles of hospitality, decentralised decision-making and the contribution of koha (Maori notion of gift) in lieu of rental. The space retained what Stavrides (2016) might call an open network used by artistic, political, commercial and educational groups without any formal management; except for that coordinated via the software Loomio. In five years the space hosted hundreds of citizen-initiated activities: art and book launches, music evenings, political meetings, theatre events, cooperative food exchange, film screenings, and regular meetings of Polynesian art makers Kava Club. Tory St had an attraction bias toward experimental and more radical political groups, but also hosted municipal events and mainstream businesses.
Affects, Interfaces, Events conference 2018. Book of Abstracts and Exhibitions, 2018
A film of the Hutt River, New Zealand, shot by drone as part of an artwork is the centerpiece for... more A film of the Hutt River, New Zealand, shot by drone as part of an artwork is the centerpiece for analysis of how it can provoke shifts in affect, perception, and participation with a river and its underground aquifer. The Rising Gale is an artwork by Murray Hewitt made for the Common Ground Festival 2017.
In this presentation we will examine the affects produced by both the filming and the performance of the filming in this context. In order to do so a film 'The Rising Gale Affect Event Film', part of this conference exhibition, is produced around and through our explorations for this presentation.The Rising Gale Affect Event film moves between the original drone film, The Rising Gale, two documentation films and the community gathering.
Papers by Sophie C R Jerram
Between 2013–2018, the Urban Dream Brokerage ran as an urban revitalisation platform, commissione... more Between 2013–2018, the Urban Dream Brokerage ran as an urban revitalisation platform, commissioned by four distinct New Zealand municipalities. The model: during a period of economic recession and commercial vacancy, proposals from artists and non-profit communities were placed into urban retail sites, dependent on a broker’s negotiation. Following the closure of the Brokerage, a research colloquium was held with creative practitioners, or ‘project creators’ to understand the affective shifts that took place for their practice within the urban context. As a founder and former broker researching the practices of spatial urban occupation, I discerned four common narratives which spoke to the entwinement of people and space. These were: the presence of hostile conditions for the creation of community; the opportunity for experimentation within vacancy; the cloaking of political action through art, and the observation that the revival of ‘dead’ spaces created some longer-term value for the city —value that was not transferred to the project creators. This article offers an empirically based portrait of the Brokerage platform through assembled voices of the project creators.
Knowledge Cultures, 2023
The dominant colonial scientific narrative of managing disease is one of risk, response, and cont... more The dominant colonial scientific narrative of managing disease is one of risk, response, and control. This narrative, while shifting, continues to frame the priorities and delivery of how biosecurity is implemented in Aotearoa|New Zealand and elsewhere. In this article, we explore the narrative position of four artistic works commissioned in response to the pathogens Phytophthora agathidicida (kauri dieback) and Austropuccinia psidii (myrtle rust). While much is still unknown about these pathogens, they threaten the unique species of the indigenous forest(s) of Aotearoa|New Zealand. The commissioning research team Toi Taiao Whakatairanga sought to 'widen public awareness' about the two pathogens. In response, nine commissioned artists developed an alternative narrative to the conventional science-based approach to both the framing of disease and biosecurity efforts focused on eradication. We use collaborative narrative analysis with four of the nine projects to describe the practices that have produced the alternative framings in the artworks. We draw on the notion of the 'contact zone' to explore how these narratives as art provide a 'truth buffer' free from expectations for 'facts' that, in process, open possibilities for different kinds of knowledges and action. We suggest that the artists' work tends to explore the wider systemic context of biosecurity rather than the pathogen-specific perspective. We postulate that alternative narratives might alter the approach to governance, management, and care relations for te taiao (the natural environment).
Between 2013–2018, the Urban Dream Brokerage ran as an urban revitalisation platform, commissione... more Between 2013–2018, the Urban Dream Brokerage ran as an urban revitalisation platform, commissioned by four distinct New Zealand municipalities. The model: during a period of economic recession and commercial vacancy, proposals from artists and non-profit communities were placed into urban retail sites, dependent on a broker’s negotiation. Following the closure of the Brokerage, a research colloquium was held with creative practitioners, or ‘project creators’ to understand the affective shifts that took place for their practice within the urban context. As a founder and former broker researching the practices of spatial urban occupation, I discerned four common narratives which spoke to the entwinement of people and space. These were: the presence of hostile conditions for the creation of community; the opportunity for experimentation within vacancy; the cloaking of political action through art, and the observation that the revival of ‘dead’ spaces created some longer-term value for ...
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Conference Presentations by Sophie C R Jerram
In this presentation we will examine the affects produced by both the filming and the performance of the filming in this context. In order to do so a film 'The Rising Gale Affect Event Film', part of this conference exhibition, is produced around and through our explorations for this presentation.The Rising Gale Affect Event film moves between the original drone film, The Rising Gale, two documentation films and the community gathering.
Papers by Sophie C R Jerram
In this presentation we will examine the affects produced by both the filming and the performance of the filming in this context. In order to do so a film 'The Rising Gale Affect Event Film', part of this conference exhibition, is produced around and through our explorations for this presentation.The Rising Gale Affect Event film moves between the original drone film, The Rising Gale, two documentation films and the community gathering.