We are looking forward to our Regenerative Infrastructures book launch and exhibition of LAGI 2012 NYC winning and shortlisted submissions at Arsenal Gallery! There will be several related events as listed below.

Land Art Generator Initiative: Freshkills Park
Opening Reception and Book Launch
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
From 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

The Arsenal Gallery
The Arsenal Central Park
830 Fifth Avenue at 64th Street
Third Floor
New York City

Exhibition open from: June 27 – August 30, 2013

Related Gallery Programs

Wednesday, July 10, 6:00 p.m.
Lecture about Freshkills Park and its future
with Angelyn Chandler, NYC Parks & Recreation, Freshkills Park Capital Program Manager

Thursday, July 25, 6:00 p.m.
Panel Discussion on Urban Energy Generation and Public Space
with Robert Ferry and Elizabeth Monoian, LAGI; Anne Guiney, Institute for Urban Design; and Jennifer Sage, Peter Coombe, Andrew Kao, and Allen Slamic, of Sage and Coombe Architects

Wednesday, August 7, 6:00 p.m.
Staten Island Trivia Night: “I’d Tap That: Staten Island’s Untapped Resources”
with Melanie Cohn, Staten Island Arts

Thursday, August 22, 6:00 p.m.
Reading with Ann Rosenthal, contributor to Regenerative Infrastructures
published by Prestel.

Park Tour
Saturday, August 3, 2013, 10:00 a.m.
Tour of Freshkills Park, Staten Island

ALL EVENTS ARE FREE

Invite Image:
Scene-Sensor // Crossing Social and Ecological Flows
James Murray & Shota Vashakmadze

The publication, Regenerative Infrastructures, was made possible with the support of Furthermore: a program of the J.M. Kaplan Fund.

This exhibition was made possible with the generous support of a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

A Canvas For Sustainability: Generating Energy Through Land Art
by Fergus McCarthy

Initiatives such as the Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) promote the re-invention of energy generation through a creative acumen. The LAGI competition has become a breeding ground for advances in technology through creative thinking by artists and designers. It encourages interdisciplinary teams to take part in the internationally recognized competition, resulting in some of the most aesthetically pleasing and energy-efficient land art concepts to grace the Earth.

read more

Please join LAGI at the World Science Festival’s signature event “Innovation Square” on Saturday, June 1, from 12-8pm in downtown Brooklyn.

“The event will once again transform the NYU Polytechnic campus at MetroTech Center in downtown Brooklyn into a staging ground for future-shaping innovations that are springing to life in labs, workshops, basements and backyards of inventors and researchers worldwide. It’s an unforgettable day of amazing demos, challenges, and interactivity—a showcase of the “best of the best” in the fields of science and technology.”

atelierDNA will join LAGI, to demonstrate the science and experience of Windstalk.

Come by and say hello and pick up your free Field Guide to Renewable Energy Technologies.

For more information about the event please visit the following links:
http://worldsciencefestival.com
http://worldsciencefestival.com/events/innovation_square2013
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-06/video-what-we-saw-world-science-festivals-innovation-square

Exhibition & Book Launch at Arsenal Gallery, Central Park (NYC)
Opening Night: Wednesday June 26, 2013
6–8 pm

Please join us for the opening of an exhibition of LAGI2012 submissions for Freshkills Park. Opening night is June 26 with a book launch for Regenerative Infrastructures.

Throughout June, July, and August there will be in conjunction events including panel discussions, lectures, and essay readings. Detailed information will be posted soon.

Exhibition runs from June 26–August 23

Green Building & Design
May/June 2013 Editor’s Picks
By Timothy A. Schuler

“Each time we put our mark on the land, we accept the ‘terms and conditions’ of the Earth, which state plainly that what we build will not last forever. This idea is well represented below in the contrast between the nascent design work happening at Freshkills Park and the practically post-apocalyptic slog of Detroit. Wherever they fall on the spectrum, here are six things we guarantee will leave you thinking about the sustainability of our cities.” ….

“The Land Art Generator Initiative’s 2012 competition involved a site within Freshkills Park, a 2,200-acre former landfill now maintained by New York City’s parks and recreation department. Proposals for art that also generated clean energy came from around the world, visions of giant screens laced with piezoelectric wires (the winner), cornucopia-like wind farms, even 99 red balloons, which unlike those in the song would be 50 feet tall and lined with transparent solar cells. Sifting through them is like watching a movie trailer for the future.”

More here

We are very pleased to announce the release of Regenerative Infrastructures, available now at Amazon and other retail outlets. This hardbound book, beautifully designed by Paul Schifino, is an in-depth exploration of the Land Art Generator Initiative for Freshkills Park on New York’s Staten Island. It is an excellent resource for everyone who is interested in the design of our renewable energy future.

In addition to showcasing details of 65 thought-provoking entries to the 2012 LAGI design competition, the book contains essays on art, urban ecology, and energy landscapes by writers such as Thaddeus Pawlowski (NYC City Planning, Urban Planning Dept.), Eloise Hirsh (Freshkills Parks Administrator, NYC Dept. of Parks & Recreation), Heather Rogers (Independent Journalist and contributor to New York Times Magazine, Mother Jones,and The Nation), Tafline Laylin (Independent Journalist and contributor to Inhabitat and Green Prophet), Mitchell Joachim (Terreform One), Ann Rosenthal (ecoartist and educator), Andreas Kipar (Landscape Architect), and Elizabeth Monoian and Robert Ferry (co-founders of LAGI).

Please join us on June 26 at Arsenal Gallery in Central Park. We will be celebrating the opening of the LAGI 2012 exhibit and launching the book. The exhibition will showcase the shortlisted proposals, and will be up until late August. There will be events in conjunction every two weeks, and we really look forward to seeing everyone and engaging in interesting conversations around energy and art. We’ll send another newsletter update in early June with more information and event dates.

Details from the Prestel Spring Catalog:

REGENERATIVE INFRASTRUCTURES: FRESHKILLS PARK NYC, LAND ART GENERATOR INITIATIVE

EDITED BY CAROLINE KLEIN AND LAGI, IN COOPERATION WITH NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF PARKS & RECREATION, THE INSTITUTE FOR URBAN DESIGN, AND THE COUNCIL ON THE ARTS & HUMANITIES FOR STATEN ISLAND

Formerly a symbol of immense urban waste, the Fresh Kills Landfill is being transformed into an enormous parkland that is destined to exemplify the values of ecological restoration and environmental sustainability. Part of that transformation includes a competition for a site-specific public artwork designed to operate as a source of clean energy for the city utility grid. This volume features many of the top submissions to the Land Art Generator Initiative, which aims to create sustainable design solutions that integrate art and technology into renewable energy infrastructure around the world.

The book draws a much-needed connection between the two critical issues of sustainable development—energy generation and waste management—highlighting solutions that address both problems at once, thereby creating economically beneficial hybrid utility installations.

CAROLINE KLEIN is an architect and freelance author and editor for international architectural magazines and publishing houses.

THE LAND ART GENERATOR INITIATIVE, founded in 2010 by Elizabeth Monoian and Robert Ferry, brings together artists, architects, scientists, landscape architects, and engineers to advance sustainable design solutions for large-scale renewable energy infrastructure.

240 pages with 250 illustrations; Hardcover; 11 x 9 in. / 28 x 23 cm; ISBN 978-3-7913-5286-2; Publication date: May 2013.

LAGI will be giving a special presentation at The David O’Brian Centre for Sustainable Enterprise at the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University (Montreal).

DATE: February 14, 2013
TIME: Noon to 1:30PM

More information here.

Artful Energy: Generating Power at Freshkills
By Jordan Sayle

“Imagine a power plant in the middle of a wildlife sanctuary. Try to picture an energy source as a work of art. That’s exactly what the Land Art Generator Initiative asked designers and architects to do. For its second site-specific design competition, the non-profit organization (LAGI for short), sought to inspire plans for land art installations with the duel function of being both ornamental attractions for visitors and sources of renewable energy. This time, the initiative found a kindred spirit in a parks department that has asked citizens to envision a dumping ground as a place of natural beauty.

When LAGI’s directors were considering places on which to focus their 2012 contest, New York City’s Freshkills Park seemed like the ideal choice. The location’s transformation from what was once the world’s largest landfill to a 2,200-acre preserve is now being undertaken in stages over a 30-year development phase with a similar intent as the one informing LAGI’s own mission — questioning assumptions and repairing environmental damage with smart sustainable methods. And when it comes to alternative energy, the park has already begun harvesting methane from decomposing garbage to heat area homes.

In LAGI’s ultimate goal of one day witnessing the construction of “the world’s first work of public art, slash sustainable utility-scale power plant,” environmental stewardship goes hand in hand with the establishment of a public gathering place, just as it does in the ongoing overhaul of Freshkills.”

read more

Please join us on Monday, January 14, 2013 for the opening of an exhibit at thejamjar in Dubai. Twenty-five of the design proposals from the 2012 Land Art Generator Initiative for Freshkills Park, NYC will be on display, along with four of the 2010 proposals for the United Arab Emirates and some educational information about renewable energy and the UAE.

We’ll also be holding workshops and a panel discussion over the duration of the exhibit. The events that are open to the public are as follows:

Workshop
January 19
10am – 4pm

Panel Discussion
January 23
7pm – 9pm

More details are coming soon. Sign up for our mailing list (the red circle up top) to keep up to date. Hope to see you there!

Support for these events comes from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Canadian Architect
Winners of the 2012 Land Art Generator Initiative Competition Announced

Conservation Magazine
Artsy Energy Hits New York

“Last year in the Art & Science section, we featured ideas for beautiful, yet functional, renewable-energy projects designed for Abu Dhabi and Dubai in a contest sponsored by the Land Art Generator Initiative (“Powered By Art,” Spring 2012). This October, LAGI announced the winners of its second design competition: a call for renewable-energy installations for Freshkills Park (formerly Fresh Kills Landfill) on New York’s Staten Island. From hundreds of entrants, top honors went to screens that ripple in the breeze, generating wind power with interwoven piezoelectric fibers, and to a series of mounds that house wind turbines and CO2 scrubbers.”
read more

Thanks to Deborah Hosking (Chatham University) and Ann Rosenthal (The Art Institute of Pittsburgh) for inviting us into their classrooms this fall semester to guest lecture on the Land Art Generator Initiative and the conceptual framework behind the project. What a great opportunity and a delight to present to such engaged and creative audiences!

Land Art Generator Initiative: Aesthetic Design Solutions to Clean Energy
by Team YS

“We have all probably heard or maybe even been involved in the debate surrounding the aesthetics of clean energy. It holds particular relevance in the case of wind turbines, in which appeals for clean energy have, in case after case, been rejected because residents refuse to sacrifice their views to giant windmills. The irony of choosing the long-term destruction of the world’s natural beauty in exchange for the short-term satisfaction of the pleasure we receive from such beauty is almost Shakespearean, but it points to an important question: how do we preserve natural beauty in the long term without sacrificing it in the short term?”
read more

We are pleased to announce the May 2013 release of Regenerative Infrastructures. The book will be published by Prestel (a division of Random House), and is being designed by Schifino Design.

In addition to detailing 65 of the 2012 LAGI competition entries, it will also contain eight thoughtful essays on subjects related to sustainable infrastructure and urban space.

click on the image above for a link to Prestel’s full 2013 catalog

We’ll provide more information about the contributing authors and the included projects early in the new year.

From the Spring 2013 Prestel Catalog:

240 pages with 250 illustrations
Hardcover
11 x 9 in. / 28 x 23 cm
978-3-7913-5286-2
US$49.95 £35 Can.$54.95
Publication date: May 2013

Formerly a symbol of immense urban waste, the Fresh Kills Landfill is being transformed into an enormous parkland that is destined to exemplify the values of ecological restoration and environmental sustainability. Part of that transformation includes a competition for a site-specific public artwork designed to operate as a source of clean energy for the city utility grid. This volume features many of the top submissions to the Land Art Generator Initiative, which aims to create sustainable design solutions that integrate art and technology into renewable energy infrastructure around the world. The book draws a much needed connection between the two critical issues of sustainable development—energy generation and waste management—highlighting solutions that address both problems at once, thereby creating economically beneficial hybrid utility installations.

CAROLINE KLEIN is an architect and freelance author and editor for international architectural magazines and publishing houses. THE LAND ART GENERATOR INITIATIVE, founded in 2010 by Elizabeth Monoian and Robert Ferry, brings together artists, architects, scientists, landscape architects, and engineers to advance sustainable design solutions for large-scale renewable energy infrastructure.

Danish Architecture Centre
RENEWABLE PUBLIC ART: THE LAND ART GENERATOR INITIATIVE

“The energy sector and art world could not be more different in design approaches, philosophies, and outcomes. However, today the opportunity exists to kindle a new relationship between art and renewable energy. The advancement of society and major cities in the last two centuries was mainly due to non-renewable energy resources, but at the expense of damaging the planets ecosystems and life forms. It is of great significance now to continuously increase public awareness and acceptance of renewable energy technologies to reverse or expand perceptions.”
read more

LAGI: i vincitori
by Annacaterina Piras

“Si è inaugurata lo scorso 25 ottobre l’esposizione dei progetti partecipanti alla seconda edizione del concorso internazionale su energie rinnovali e arte Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI), patrocinato dal Dipartimento per i parchi della città di New York (New York City Parks & Recreation), promosso dai fondatori della associazione non profit Society for Cultural Exchange Robert Ferry e Elisabeth Monoian, per l’ideazione di un’opera di arte pubblica che produca energia da fonti rinnovabili, con scenario d’ambientazione il polmone verde di oltre 2.200 acri (più di 800 ettari, quasi tre volte Central Park) di Freshkills Park, Staten Island, restituito alla città attraverso il progetto di rinaturalizzazione ecologica dell’ex discarica più estesa del mondo.”
read more

Grist
99 red balloons can power 4,500 homes
by Sarah Laskow

“This wins for most charming solar concept based on a one-hit wonder from the ‘80s, and maybe most charming solar concept ever: a power generating system inspired by the song “99 Red Balloons.” (But not by the [superior] German version, “99 Luftballons,” because that doesn’t specify color.) Ninety-nine red balloons float over New York City’s Freshkills Park, once a landfill, and create energy by using “transparent organic solar cells,” according to Design Taxi. The system theoretically could power 4,500 houses.

The Canadian team that came up with this idea submitted it to the Land Art Generator Initiative Competition for Freshkills Park, a contest seeking conceptual ideas that show “Renewable energy can be beautiful.””

read more

American Solar Energy Society
“99 Red Balloons” all over Staten Island
by Ariel Braude

“Since 2008, Fresh Kills Park in Staten Island, New York has been declared an area for the production of clean-energy. Mayor Bloomberg said back in 2008 that this area would be a great place to produce wind energy in order to help New York become more sustainable. Building a new wind farm always takes time though so now in 2012, a contest was held as part of the Land Art Generator Initiative to find a renewable energy solution for this area. Many designers entered the contest with some extraordinary designs but the winners were chosen, and four designs were picked as the best. All the designs were unique in their own way on how they produce energy and the aesthetic features, but one that sticks out is the fourth place winner entitled “99 Red Balloons.””

read more

SmartPlanet
After Sandy, rebuild Staten Island with art and power
by Chris Sullivan

“Here’s a post-election political litmus test: Do you think wind generators, those massive pinwheels set on hilltops, are pretty? Say yes, and likely you’re a left-leaner, Al Gore type. Say no? You may be a Republican stalwart, maybe a Trump or Murdoch.

Or not. Maybe you’re just one of a growing number of artists and architects who think our power infrastructure lacks a certain aesthetic flair.

A few of these likeminded artsy types got together an ideas competition to dream up new ideas for land art that would also generate power in New York City. The site? The massive Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island.

In a city still without power in some places — and with much of Staten Island in need of serious rebuilding, all due to Hurricane Sandy — this is an ideas competition we really need.

Now.

Art that powers a city

And here it is: The results, unveiled last week, are fascinating and eye-popping.
Co-sponsored by the city’s Department of Parks & Recreation, the goal of the Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) is to build some very big public artworks that also generate very big amounts of clean, renewable energy.”

read more

Landscape World Magazine
2012 LAGI NYC Competition
Landscape World 58, ISBN: 978-89-97767-05-2, Size: 22.8cm x 28cm
Language: Korean & English, Price: US $25

(c)Landscape World Magazine

Architect: The Magazine of the American Institute of Architects
Wind Sensor Proposed for New York: Two artists’ proposed wind sensor would also generate energy.
by Blaine Brownell

“The natural human curiosity about weather and other changing climatic conditions is addressed in “Scene Sensor,” a project proposed by artists James Murray and Shota Vashakmadze for Freshkills Park, New York. The winning entry to the Land Art Generator Initiative design competition, Scene Sensor is a simple open-air pavilion that harnesses wind power via a piezoelectric wire mesh that converts moving air into energy. This mesh also incorporates lighting to depict wind maps at night, and will act as a billboard that visualizes invisible natural forces.”
read more

Click the link below to hear the October 26 morning broadcast interview on CBC Radio with Emeka Nnadi (Nadi-design.com), representing the 4th place mention team from the 2012 Land Art Generator Initiative design competition for Freshkills Park, NYC.

The Danish Architectural Press
VEDVARENDE ENERGI, DER ER SMUK
by Tom Hermansen

Connaissance des Energies
LAGI: the art of mixing and creating energy

Inhabitat
Piezoelectric Energy-Generating “Scene Sensor” Wins the 2012 Land Art Generator Initiative Competition for Freshkills Park
by Tafline Laylin

“We’ve been closely following the 2012 Land Art Generator Initiative design competition to create a new public art installation on the site of Freshkills Park for several months now, and are excited to announce that the winner was announced just moments ago in New York City. “Scene Sensor”, designed by artists James Murray and Shota Vashakmadze, is a striking piezoelectric energy-generating art project designed to be installed above and below the surface of the Staten Island park. The duo from Atlanta will walk away with the $15,000 grand prize, while the $4,000 second place goes to Matthew Rosenberg, Matt Melnyk, Emmy Maruta, and Robbie Eleazer for their design “Fresh Hills”.”
read more

The Land Art Generator Initiative: Exploring the Fusion of Public Artwork and Clean Power Generation

Direct Link to Full Press Release

Imagine a new permanent work of iconic public art for New York City on a grand scale. And now imagine this work of art contributing clean electricity to the city grid equivalent to the energy consumed by hundreds or even thousands of homes, while educating hundreds of visitors every day about emerging green technologies.

The Land Art Generator Initiative invited interdisciplinary teams to submit their design ideas for public artwork that can generate hundreds of megawatt-hours of electricity from wind, solar, or other renewable sources. The design site is within Freshkills Park (the former Fresh Kills Landfill) in Staten Island, and the competition is a partnership with New York City’s Department of Parks & Recreation, Staten Island Arts (COAHSI), and the Institute for Urban Design.

250 entries came in from interdisciplinary teams around the world and now the Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) is pleased to announce the first exhibition and award ceremony event, which will open at 7pm on October 25 at the Soho Gallery for Digital Art (138 Sullivan Street, NYC).

LAGINYC 2012 is an ideas competition to design a site-specific public artwork for Freshkills Park that, in addition to its conceptual beauty, has the ability to harness energy cleanly from nature and convert it to electricity for the utility grid.

Eloise Hirsh, the Freshkills Park Administrator summed up the results:

“We were excited to see the diversity of submissions to the 2012 LAGI ideas competition. Entrants clearly took the scale and natural beauty of Freshkills as sources of inspiration. This competition is a testament to the important roles creativity, public art, and renewable energy will play at Freshkills Park.”

The expansiveness of the design site at Freshkills Park presents the opportunity to power the equivalent of hundreds or even thousands of homes with a large work of public infrastructure art. The stunning beauty of the reclaimed landscape provides an opportune setting from which to be inspired, and it offers the perfect environment for a showcase example of the immense potential of aesthetically interesting renewable energy installations for sustainable urban planning.

The detailed design brief was released on January 1, 2012 and can be seen in full detail at the design competition portfolio website at landartgenerator.org/LAGI-2012 , where visitors can also browse through the full portfolio of submissions.

The monetary prize awards to the winners of the 2012 LAGI design competition will not guarantee a commission for construction; however, LAGI will work with stakeholders both locally (NYC) and internationally to pursue possibilities for implementation of the most pragmatic and aesthetic designs that come from the biennial LAGI competitions.

Dwell Asia Magazine (September/October Issue) has a great review of The Time Is Now: Public Art of the Sustainable City. Click image for larger version.

The book is beautifully designed by Page One Publishing. It includes 51 submissions to the 2010 edition of the LAGI design competition, as well as fascinating essays written by Beth Carruthers, Michiel Van Raaij, and Reuben Andrews (with the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority). It also includes a forward essay by LAGI and an opening statement by Masdar.

“And now the final beauty of this initiative is that we can explore the feasibility of implementing all the leading submissions—again creating a link between a future vision and today’s reality”

-Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, CEO of Masdar

It is now available directly from the publisher and in select retail outlets.

Click HERE for information about how to purchase your copy. Or you can now also purchase directly online through Kinokuniya Book World.

From the publisher’s description:

In 2010, the Land Art Generator Initiative held its first international design competition to explore the various facets of renewable energy’s beauty. Artists, architects, engineers and scientists from around the world worked together to design power plants that would function not only as infrastructure for clean energy production, but also as conceptually powerful works of art for the United Arab Emirates. This book presents the best of the entries, the winners of which were chosen by an international jury. The aim is to actualise public art that fulfills its societal role while pushing the boundaries of technology—progress at peace with the natural world.

In partnership with New York City Parks & Recreation the Land Art Generator Initiative held its 2012 design competition for Freshkills Park in NYC (the former Fresh Kills Landfill). On July 1st, LAGI received 250 inspiring submissions from around the world.

Please join us on Thursday, October 25, 7pm at SOHO Gallery for Digital Art in NYC for this free and open celebration.

The winning submissions will be announced!

You’ll be able to view design solutions for clean energy generating artworks that could power NYC, learn about renewable energy and infrastructure art, and meet many of the participating design teams.

Guests will also get a free copy of A Field Guide to Renewable Energy Technologies.

SOHO Gallery for Digital Art is located at: 138 Sullivan Street, NYC

A review of The Time is Now
Land and Energy Pt. 2 – review of ‘The Time Is Now’
By Chris Fremantle
September 2012

A review of “A Field Guide to Renewable Energy Technologies”
by Sculpture Magazine (A publication of the International Sculpture Center), September 2012
www.sculpture.org

If you are in Pittsburgh please join LAGI and the Leslie Park Collective at Art Activity Day at Leslie Park Pool! We will be handing out free copies of “A Field Guide to Renewable Energy Technologies” along with having discussions about the aesthetics of renewable energy.

There will be a great interactive installation by the Mattress Factory Museum of Contemporary Art as well as with many other activities.

The event will be Sunday, August 19, from noon to 5 pm at Leslie Park Pool in Pittsburgh.

Hope to see you there!

We will be participating on a panel discussion during ISEA 2012 in Albuquerque, New Mexico (September 19-21). Thank you Vicki Sowry from the Australian Network for Art and Technology [ANAT] for inviting us!

We are looking forward to presenting a lecture during PHOTOVOLTAICS, FORMS, LANDSCAPES in Frankfurt, Germany on September 25.

Below is a description of the event from their website:

HOW TO USE PHOTOVOLTAICS FOR SHAPING NEARLY ZERO ENERGY COMMUNITIES.

This special event, that highlights the interaction of PV systems with buildings and landscape, will outline the vision of a transition from PV architecture into urban and non-urban landscapes and how architects take up this challenge.

In a future Zero Energy Building scenario it is considered that PV solar energy covers the energy needs of the living space (electricity services, heating and cooling).How could buildings look like to incorporate this energy source?

How would out-of-city landscapes offer opportunities to satisfy the energy-hunger?

At the moment, the traditional domain of architecture design takes into account only the physical space we live in, that we can envision with our traditional tools, and, in the end, ‘categorise’ and ‘touch’. For the net zero energy challenge, in consequence, architectural design needs to foresee for each m² of a ‘designed’ space about 2.5m² more ‘energy-surfaces’, which are generally neither envisioned nor designed. We need a shift of perspective and to learn how to combine the design for the space we live in, and the space for generating the energy. We cannot leave the energy generation in a technological corner where design has no role, and where the forms of our cities and our landscapes would be affected in a way which the public does not accept, making fail all positive aspects of the net zero energy community.

The realization of the 2021-Nearly Zero Energy Buildings objective is a great challenge, but at the same instance also a unique opportunity for a new school of performative design. Energy, in fact, has a new, more than symbolic and societal meaning, that can be made visible by design beyond traditional architectural categories. It develops new visions appropriate for the needs of today.

As an official event of the 27th EU PVSEC, the Photovoltaics, Forms, Landscapes Workshop is jointly organised by ENEA, ETA-Florence Renewable Energies and the EU PVSEC.

We are looking forward to speaking at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Social Studies of Science East (Held jointly with European Association for the Study of Science and Technology), October 17-20, 2012, in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Saturday, July 28, 2012
105 Water Street
Staten Island, NY 10304
10am – 5pm
Free and open to the public

Please join the Land Art Generator Initiative for a day on Staten Island and a sneak preview of submissions to the 2012 LAGI NYC design competition for Freshkills Park. You’ll learn all about renewable energy technologies, land art and public art, and even design your own energy-generating public artwork!

We will be providing free copies of A Field Guide to Renewable Energy Technologies, a 67 page book that details all of the different methods by which clean energy can be safely harnessed from nature. Renewable energy is so much more than just solar panels and wind turbines. We’ll discover how sustainable infrastructure can be beautiful!

Special thanks to the Council on the Arts and Humanities for Staten Island who have helped make this event possible. Funding for the event comes from the Horne Family Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Is a sustainable future within reach?
John Elkington finds inspiration in the ready and available solutions listed in the Sustainia100 prospectus

The Time is Now: Public Art of the Sustainable City
Wonderfully interesting and informative book review by Twylene Moyer for the International Sculpture Center (Publisher of Sculpture Magazine)

The Land Art Generator Initiative is honoured as a top sustainable solution at Rio+20! See the complete press release here.

Yesterday, sustainability legend Gro Harlem Brundtland, media guru and philanthropist Ted Turner, EU Commissioner for Climate Action Connie Hedegaard, and 150 VIP guests celebrated the first concrete outcome at Rio+20: The launch of Sustainia100.

Download / read the complete “Sustainia100” here.

We’re honored to be one of twenty-four selected social entrepreneurs who make up the inaugural group of Social Innovation Rockstars (SIR) feature at SIR.tv.

Go to the SIR.tv site to discover all of the interesting work that is being driven by these creative individuals!

We are pleased to announce that we will be present at the Greater and Greener Parks Conference: Re-Imagining Parks for 21st Century Cities, presented by the City Parks Alliance.

The conference will run from July 14-17, and we will be anonymously premiering the submissions to the 2012 LAGI design competition there on July 15th and 16th.

Thanks to the City Parks Alliance for inviting us to take part in this important event!