OFFICE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART NORWAY ANNOUNCES
'The Art of Living'
A lecture by Environmental Activist Vandana Shiva
Wednesday 31 August, 19:00
&
Green Gathering
Wednesday 31 August, 16:00-19:00
Office for Contemporary Art Norway
Nedre gate 7, 0551 Oslo
Patenting living organisms encourages two forms of violence. First, life-forms are treated as if they were machines, thus denying their self-organising capacity. Second, by allowing the patenting of future generations of plants and animals, the self-reproducing capacity of living organisms is denied.
– Vandana Shiva, The Corporate Control of Life
OCA presents Vandana Shiva, the environmental activist and newly appointed Honorary Professor at the University of Oslo, in a lecture addressing central concerns of the world at large – sustainable development and social justice, the integrity of living resources, the promotion of organic farming and fair trade. In her research and activism and as an author and philosopher, Shiva has focused on the connection between feminism and ecology, and helped raise awareness about the living conditions for women in developing countries. Through the foundation of Navdanya in 1991, Shiva created a national Indian movement to protect diversity and integrity of living resources, while contributing significantly to the international debate around biodiversity.
Shiva was one of the inaugural speakers in ‘The State of Things’, part of Norway’s Representation at this year's edition of the Venice Biennale. OCA invited Shiva to speak in that context on ‘The War Against Earth’, in a presentation that raised the awareness about a dominant economy that myopically focuses on the workings of the market, ignoring both nature's economy and the sustenance economy on which it depends.
The presentation of Vandana Shiva at OCA has been made possible
by a generous cooperation with SUM
- Centre for Development and the Environment at University of Oslo.
For more information on the lecture at OCA, please contact Marthe Tveitan.
A Green Gathering at OCA / Wednesday 31 August,
16:00 – 19:00
In recognition of the many efforts of individual producers,
grassroot organisations and independent farmers throughout Norway,
and sharing Shiva's commitments and goals around sustainable
development, social justice and the promotion of organic farming
and fair trade, OCA calls for an informal gathering of independent
farmers, growers, producers, artist enthusiasts and supporters of
organic farming and local production. This informal forum aims to
bring together a community of small-scale producers and goods at
OCA’s location at Nedre gate 7 on the afternoon of Shiva's
presentation. OCA invites all those interested to visit its
premises for a community of discussion, sampling, tasting and
supporting local endeavours in the area of small-scale agriculture
and food production. For those interested in taking part, please
contact Asle Olsen at
OCA.
About Vandana Shiva
Vandana Shiva. Photo: Giulio
Squillacciotti Vandana Shiva
(b.1952, Dehradun, India, lives and works in
Delhi, India) is a philosopher, environmental activist,
eco-feminist and author, one of the leaders of the International
Forum on Globalization, and a figure of the alter-globalisation
movement. She has received the Global 500 Award from the United
Nations Environment Programme and the Earth Day International Award
of the United Nations. Her recent publications include
Manifestos on the Future of Food and Seed (2007), Soil
Not Oil (2008), Staying Alive (2010) and The
Corporate Control of Life (2011) as part of the dOCUMENTA (13)
Notebook series. She is currently associated with the Institute of
Science and the Institute of Management in Bangalore, India.
Vandana Shiva visits Oslo to give her Honorary Degree Acceptance
Speech at the University of Oslo on 1 September, on the occasion of
recently being appointed Honorary Professor of the University of
Oslo.