UOT Development process
May 2010 - London
A small group of UOT co-workers will meet in London from 19 -23 May to develop the new elements of the UOT Phase 2 kit. This group includes Allan Kaplan (South Africa/Brazil), Isis Brook (UK), Wolfgang Zumdick and Hildegard Kurt (Germany), Caroline Tisdall (UK), Emily Jones (UOT-Oxford), Ruth Harvey Regan (UOT Graduate Researcher), Johanna Koorndorfer (UOT-Exeter), Shelley Sacks and Chris Seely (UK). Other coworkers will join us on 22/23 May -to give feedback on our proposals.
International Weekend Forum - 26 and 27 July 2008
INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE
University of the Trees at CCANW, Haldon Forest, Exeter
On 26 and 27 July, University of the Trees (Exeter Region, UK) will become an exploratory forum to experience and consider new ways of connecting with the world and what we mean by developing ‘new organs of perception'*.
It will also be an opportunity to get closer to the social sculpture ideas and their relationship to the University of the Trees as an ‘instrument of consciousness' in our work toward a humane and ecologically just society.
The three guest speakers -Dr. Chris Seeley, Dieter Schuhmacher and Prof. Volker Harlan are all actively involved in the University of the Trees project or related connective practices. See www.universityofthetrees.org (about / project people)
Through presentations, discussion and experiential processes in the forest they will open up the space to explore how the University of the Trees relates to our work towards an ecologically just society.
Day 1: Presentations at CCANW and participatory processes in the forest with the three visiting presenters, introduced by Shelley Sacks (10.30 -6 pm)
Day 2: Further exploratory day for UoT Group, Exeter and interested Day 1 participants (10.30 -4.30)
Detailed programme
Day 1: (Open Forum for all interested in the UoT and connective practices)
10.30 Introduction to the day and the focus on ‘new organs of perception' - Shelley Sacks
11.00 The forest as social sculpture and the human social sculpture - Prof. Volker Harlan
1.00 Lunch (Bring a packed lunch)
2.00 Working toward an ecological just society and the UoT - Dr. Chris Seeley
3.15 Tea
3.45 Developing ‘new organs of perception' (practice session - in the forest) - Dieter Schuhmacher
5.30 Closing reflections
6.00 End
Day 2: (for UoT Group, Exeter and interested participants from Day 1)
10.30 Experiential processes in the University of the Trees
1.00 Lunch (will be provided)
2.00 Reflections and insights
3.15 Actions and emergent proposals
4.30 End
If you have not been involved in the University of the Trees meetings and processes before, please come one hour earlier on Sat 26 July. Shelley Sacks will introduce you to the project. It would be helpful if you could look at the UoT website to acquaint yourself with the project beforehand.
Booking is essential for both days. Please contact Johanna Korndorfer at CCANW. j.korndorfer@ccanw.co.uk
or Tel: 00 44 (0) 01392 83 22 77
Contributions
Day 1: £10 (Consc. £8) -Bring a packed lunch
Day 2: £5 (Lunch provided)
*‘New organs of perception' is a phrase that stems from the scientific work of Goethe, who contrasted a participatory, holistic mode of seeing to onlooker consciousness. Joseph Beuys' used this phrase too to emphasise the need for new forms of knowing and perceiving that would lead us to act in a more connected way. Some of our organs of perception -like eyes, ears and tongue - are already fairly well developed at birth. But others, our higher human organs of perception - like the ability to empathise, to develop a conscience, to perceive the idea in things and the interconnections in the world- need to be developed.
University of the Trees creates an arena and a framework for exploring our relationship to the world, and for enabling us to develop actions based on new insights and perceptions.
Exeter region - meetings
13 January 2008, 31 March, 8 May, 21 June 2008
The Exeter region University of the Trees has been meeting at CCANW since January 2008. This group - involving people who have been coming to University of the Trees presentations and workshops at CCANW for the past 18 months, and others, including geographers from Exeter University, who have been working with the Social Sculpture Research Unit on several other 'connective' projects - established itself at the 6 December 2007 meeting at Exeter University. The University of the Trees 'Main Forum' was created in May 2008.
For more information about the Exeter region group and how to get involved please contact:
Ruth Harvey-Regan 07824812011 or 01392 434636
email: ruthharveyregan@hotmail.com
Darmstadt region -recent meeting
2 January 2008
Atelierhaus Vahle, Darmstadt
This meeting on 2 January 2008 of the Soziale Plastik Arbeitskreis, Atelierhaus Vahle networks and members of the wider public who have attended UoT meetings, reflected on the past year's activities and ways forward for the coming year. This included a consideration of how the University of the Trees in the Darmstadt region is structured, plans for meeting with the group in Exeter and initiatives that are emerging in the region.
For further information about the Darmstadt group and details of next meetings
CONTACT
Dieter Schuhmacher dr.suma@arcor.de
Tel: 00 49 (0) 6151 36 89 244
See also: Joining a Group, the Darmstadt Blog and Archive section(coming soon)
Darmstadt - other news
Recent meetings of the University of the Trees group in DARMSTADT decided to extend the 'main forum' to the whole region around the city . University of the Trees main forum bands are now in three locations around Darmstadt.
Google Earth Coordinates of UoT in Darmstadt
Band I (Oberfeld)
49 52 17.25 N
8 41 33.56 E
Bands II and III (Fasenerie)
49 53 13.87 N
8 41 2.83 E
Bands IV (Bollenfalltor)
49 50 46.8 N
8 40 7.75 E
Darmstadt - other news
The first public meetings of University of the Trees - Darmstadt took place on Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 September 2007 in forests on the outskirts of Darmstadt. Prof. Dr. Volker Harlan and Shelley Sacks joined the local Darmstadt group to establish additional locations for UoT in the area, to consider the methods and ideas and to discuss the ongoing work. University of the Trees main forum bands are now in three locations around Darmstadt.
On Saturday 1 September 2007 Dr. Volker Harlan gave a talk in Darmstadt that explored how the leaf exemplifies the basic formative principles (Gestaltungsprinzipien) in the world, making reference to the statement by Joseph Beuys: 'Isn't the olive leaf not also a form of knowing the world?' This talk is linked to University of the Trees and was hosted by Atelierhaus Vahle, Darmstadt. Parts of this lecture and other recent talks by Volker Harlan - specifically related to developing new ways of understanding and perceiving trees, forests and their relationship to social sculpture processes - will be published as part of the University of the Trees kits.
On Sunday 2 September 2007 the UoT group met in the woods between Bollenfalltor and Ludwigshohe.
Coming soon on this site:
Prof. Dr. Volker Harlan's text - presented at the Stetig Wachsen conference (Darmstadt July 2006) on The Forest as a Social Sculpture soon to be accessed from the Archive section in English and German.
World Environment Day talk
(5 June 2007) at CCANW
Coming soon on this site: The transcript of this presentation gives a sense of this long-term, participatory project, hosted by CCANW and being developed with Shelley Sacks, Director of the Social Sculpture Research Unit at Oxford Brookes University.