What kind of future world do young people want to live in? AMDF works with Tasmanian schools to help young people artistically re-imagine their community 30 years in the future, in response to climate change.

Get involved: We're currently seeking expressions of interest from teachers and principals wishing to take part in the educational phase of the project. Please email Josie Hurst (josie[at]tasregionalarts[dot]org ) with your name, school and contact details to be notified of upcoming opportunities.

The program has two aspects: artistic education kits which will be distributed to every primary school in Tasmania in Semester 2, 2010 for use by teachers; and an in-depth workshop program run by artists and writers in selected schools.

The project team has designed an artistic education kit for year 5-6 students. Through a series of stories, curriculum exercises and questions, students will be invited to imagine sustainable future settlements for a climate-changed world.

The kit is presented as a colourful A2 poster, a series of A4 worksheets, and a detailed set of teacher’s notes. It comprises four basic lessons which can be conducted consecutively over an afternoon, or expanded to create a larger unit lasting up to a week. It will be distributed free to schools. The kit uses mapping, story-writing, drawing, debating, critical thinking and research skills.

Selected schools will have professional Tasmanian artist and writer visit to present an in-depth workshop version of the educational kit. Students will be led through the exercises and supported in developing rich, detailed ideas about their future community.

The results of the kits and workshops – images, stories, ideas and detailed statistical data – are collected and displayed as part of a virtual online future Tasmania, and as part of the final installation.

The AMDF website presents students’ stories and artistic creations through an interactive map of a future Tasmania, as designed by its young people. The virtual map aims to communicate both fascinating, in-depth ideas, and detailed statistical data about climate futures in an intuitive way.

Each student gets a settlement on the map which contains a series of imaginative future buildings. Visiting a settlement shows that student’s ideas, stories and artworks. Where the student has used Google SketchUp, the buildings that house their ideas will be of their own design.

Settlements can be viewed on the map in three different ways:

• placed where the student currently lives;
• placed according to where the student thinks they might like to live in the future in response to climate change;
• placed according to the student’s overall view of climate change futures. The settlement’s x and y coordinates are determined by their answers to the education kit questionnaire. The spread of settlements across the future Tasmania allows audiences to visualise the spread of young people’s thinking about climate change. Similar ideas / settlements group together to form towns and cities.

The AMDF website will form a lasting resource of contemporary thinking about climate change. Each year, as new schools use the educational kits, new ideas and data will be added to the online environment, showing the change of thinking about climate change over time.

The AMDF installation will be presented as part of the Junction 2010 Australian Regional Arts Conference in Launceston, Tasmania. It is a gently swaying galaxy of native plants suspended above a flooded floor. It is a surreal and beautiful environment in its own right, a mashup of the traditionally ordered and formal conservatory garden with its hanging plants and water features. It evokes futuristic floating cities, the collision between natural and highly engineered Tasmanian environments.

The installation is also a work of data visualisation: a huge three-dimensional graph of what young Tasmanians think about the future. Each plant is a point on that graph, representing the thinking of one young Tasmanian. The x, y and z position of each plant is assigned according to data collected from an artistic education program delivered to schools State-wide: each student's plant is placed according to their engagement or disengagement, leaning towards a high or low energy future, an authoritarian or libertarian response to climate change.

Visitors to the installation experience it as an immersive physical environment, surrounded by the play of light on water and mirrored reflections, the smell of soil and plants. Through the help of a printed guide, they can also read the installation as a sophisticated data-set that offers a fascinating overview of what young Tasmanians think about the future regarding climate change. It is literally a map of young people’s dreams about the future.

Junction 2010 is the seventh biennial Regional Arts Australia national conference, presented in partnership with Tasmanian Regional Arts and the host community Launceston. The Regional Arts Australia biennial conference is Australia’s most awaited and largest regional arts event. Held in different destinations across Australia, each conference is a unique blend of part conference part festival - all art - that reflect and celebrate the host community. Taking place in the beautiful city of Launceston, Tasmania from August 26–29, Junction 2010 delegates will engage in a stimulating and thought-provoking conference program and arts festival that celebrates, connects and challenges.

Contact

For further information about AMDF please contact Josie Hurst: josie[at]tasregionalarts[dot]org

About

AMDF is a project of Tasmanian Regional Arts and the School of Environment and Geography at the University of Tasmania. It was commissioned by Head of School Associate Professor Elaine Stratford, a world expert in Island Studies and how island communities are affected by and responding to climate change. The project is part of her broader and ongoing initiative to develop an interface between Island Studies, community resilience and the arts.

Tasmanian Regional Arts (TRA) is the peak organisation for regional arts and community based arts in Tasmania.TRA builds vibrant communities through arts and cultural development. TRA works with artists, our branch network and a wide range of organisations and communities to support the development, presentation and promotion of the arts throughout Tasmania.

The project is conceptualised and led by artist, writer, curator and festival director Nicolas Low. Nicolas has recently worked as Artistic Director of the National Young Writers’ Festival, as a curatorial advisor to the Next Wave and This Is Not Art festivals, on the Sustainable Living Foundation’s Future Cities Project, and has been commissioned to create new work and exhibit nationally. He is also currently responsible for Asialink’s international literature residency and touring program.

The project team consists of leading Tasmanian artists, writers and arts workers including Kate McDonald, Josie Hurst, Nadine Kessler and Heidi Douglas.

Junction 2010

Junction 2010 is the seventh biennial Regional Arts Australia national conference, presented in partnership with Tasmanian Regional Arts and the host community Launceston. The Regional Arts Australia biennial conference is Australia’s most awaited and largest regional arts event. Held in different destinations across Australia, each conference is a unique blend of part conference part festival - all art - that reflect and celebrate the host community. Taking place in the beautiful city of Launceston, Tasmania from August 26–29, Junction 2010 delegates will engage in a stimulating and thought-provoking conference program and arts festival that celebrates, connects and challenges.