Stern report

A quick note to say that the Stern Report about the economics of climate change has just been published by the UK government. The full report can be downloaded from the HM Treasury site. Clearly this a document to read. The publication has already achieved important media coverage in the UK and in France. More comments to come…

Astrophysics in Antarctica

Participation in the 1st ARENA conference at Roscoff in Brittany, on the west coast of France. Four days of discussion and seminars about the different approaches that will lead to the installation of a major astronomical facility at the Franco-Italian base DOME-C, 200km from the South Pole. Invited by the organisers as an artist with a long standing interest in science, I was able to participate along side the scientists. I presented a synthesis report on October 18th, entitled Cool reasoning, in which I reviewed work that contemporary artists have been conducting in extreme environments (in both the Arctic and the Antarctic). I concluded my presentation with the over-view of an art project which will be developed along side ARENA over the next two years. More on this projet in future posts.

north-world

Where is the North? Driving towards Carlisle in the UK so many years ago, the signposts called us towards The North. But can you really drive towards a metaphysical category? This blog relates to a web site entitled North. The aim of the project is to document three journeys into the North. Each journey has a role in a larger projet, and this too is socumented on the site. This blog aims to record, like a note-book, the evolution of the project.

I look into the great Bear, and I follow the pointers to the North Star, Polaris. There has always been this point before us, and as long as we are alive we will look into the night sky and look towards a point of light which spells North. This star has been my roadmap since I was a kid, growing up on the West coast of Scotland, used to walking beneath the stars with my father, and his dog.