Japan: Nation Building Nature (Shizen Wo Tsukuru)

Workshop: Nature and natural objects as actors in everyday lives

This event has ended — please see the workshop proceedings here

Part 1: 13 August 2022, 9am-10:30am Eastern Time (Online, Zoom)
Part 2: 20 August 2022, 9am-10:30am Eastern Time (Online, Zoom)

Abstract

自然をつくる国日本 (Japan: Nation Building Nature) and the Center for Global Agenda (CGA) at Unbuilt Labs is pleased to co-host a workshop to examine our relationship with nature and natural objects. This has profound implications for sustainable development and global governance in the age of climate crises. How might we reimagine historic narratives around the conquest of nature and the consumption of natural resources? What are the agentic contributions of natural objects like forests, oceans, and rivers, to our everyday lives? How might it affect our attitudes towards environmental personhood, the idea that natural objects should be a holder of legal rights and have legally recognized worth and dignity? How might we manifest the desire to coexist with nature?

This 2-part workshop invites participants to use practice-based research, and in particular photo-elicitation as a tool to record and investigate nature and natural objects as actors in our everyday lives. What socio-political and personal meanings do we attribute to nature? How might our expertise and lived experience affect our interpretation of each other’s artifacts? We welcome everyone - artists, academics, students, and private as well as public sector actors, to join us in reconceptualizing nature and natural objects.

Part 1: 13 August 2022, 9am-10:30am Eastern Time (Online, Zoom)

The first part of the workshop will begin with a presentation by Joachim Nijs based on his research in Japan: Nation Building Nature (nai010 Publishers, 2021), in which he shows how idealized images of nature in Japan are, to a certain extent, modern productions. He demonstrates, however, that the Japanese views of nature also take shape in a concrete reality, reflecting – and responding to – demands of daily life. Further, he draws on literature from the arts, politics, and science, to show the ways in which Japan’s earthquake ecology, monsoon ecology, post-nuclear ecology, and island ecology have made an observable impact on the urban environment. In so doing, Joachim reveals how the conception of nature impacts our socio-political realities, and provides a conceptual framework for analyzing images.

We will then open the floor to guest speakers and invited artists. We will also provide a brief introduction to digital photography for the everyday person so that public participants can engage with their own explorations. We will ask participants to upload their photographs together with one or two paragraphs describing their findings to the Public Forum for the Recommended UN Action Plan to Close the Compliance Gap (CCG) on the SDG16 Hub, a portal hosted by the UNDP Oslo Governance Centre, before Part 2 of the workshop in a week.

Part 2: 20 August 2022, 9am-10:30am Eastern Time (Online, Zoom)

The second part of the workshop presents an opportunity for participants to share and discuss their findings. Select photographs and findings will be featured on the Center for Global Agenda webpage at Unbuilt Labs, and may be presented at an exhibition or gallery space. We hope to gather participants from different continents and all walks of life. We strongly recommend historically underrepresented individuals and communities to participate in the process.

Registration

The event has ended. Please see https://unbuiltlabs.com/cga for future events.

Organizers

Joachim Nijs, 自然をつくる国日本 (Japan: Nation Building Nature), Founder

Marvin Cheung, Center for Global Agenda (CGA) at Unbuilt Labs, Co-Director

Marguerite Van Cook, Center for Global Agenda (CGA) at Unbuilt Labs, Co-Director

Guest Speakers and Invited Artists

13 August: Julien Isoré (Alan Tod), Forest Artist

20 August: Peggy Cyphers, Professor of Painting at Pratt Institute

Participants

Amparo Elisa Rojas Ramirez, SIU Ventures Miami part of SIU at Educative Group San Ignacio de Loyola - Peru, Project Leader

Arthur Wandzel, Karbuu, Cofounder / CTO

Cathleen Zeippen, Individual

Dr. Swati Bute, Jagran Lakecity University, Bhopal-India, Associate Professor

James Romberger, School of Visual Arts, Artist and Professor

Lee Cherry, NC State University College of Design

Louise O'Boyle, Ulster University, Associate Dean (Academic Quality & Student Experience)

Nabiha Miskini, National Institute of Statistics, Chief Service

Rashida Atthar, NGOs and Institutes, Educationist

Sarah Johnson, Kingston School of Art, PhD Candidate

We are also pleased to receive an expert statement from Peter Kennard, Professor of Political Arts, Royal College of Art, available in our Pressroom, “Banksy to Peter Kennard, ‘I take my hat off to you sir’“

For the full workshop proceedings, please see: Proceedings for Workshop: Nature and Natural Objects as Actors in Everyday Lives

Organizers

自然をつくる国日本 (Japan: Nation Building Nature) is a not-for-profit organization active in the fields of architecture, urban planning and cross-cultural exchange. Our organisation advocates for a broader understanding and integration of ecology in the built environment. Part of our mission is to promote and facilitate discussion and debate amongst a diverse range of actors in cooperation with our partners in Europe and Japan.

自然をつくる国日本 was founded in 2020 by Joachim Nijs in the run up to the publication of his book ‘Japan: Nation Building Nature’ with the Netherlands Architecture Institute (nai010 publishers). The book, which combines academic research and first-hand experience, now provides a solid foundation for further investigations led by the author and our organization.
Dedicated to the study of global governance and global agenda setting for non-state actors, The Center for Global Agenda (CGA) at Unbuilt Labs is currently hosting the Recommended UN Action Plan to Close the Compliance Gap (CCG), a publication at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). We will be recommending on the methods non-state actors, eg. private sector, civil society, and academia, can employ to foster political will, accelerate sustainable development, protect global commons, and provide global public goods. We are in the process of devising one of the most comprehensive frameworks for non-state actors to support sustainable development and close the compliance gap between political commitment and action. Join us in identifying a way forward ahead of the high-level, multi-stakeholder 2023 Summit of the Future!

Founder, 自然をつくる国日本 (Japan: Nation Building Nature)
Joachim Nijs has worked as a designer in several architecture offices, both in Europe and in Japan, where he is currently based. His book is available in bookstores in Japan and around the world. Previous publications have appeared in Smple Magazine (Vancouver) and Trans Magazin (ETH Zürich). Nijs trained in architecture and urban design at the University of Ghent, Belgium, where he graduated summa cum laude in 2018.
Co-Director, Center for Global Agenda (CGA) at Unbuilt Labs
Marvin Cheung is a global governance scholar and a business executive. Bringing together his research interests, including the future of technology, the future of research organizations, and the future of global governance, he regularly advises on the ideas, methods, and movements that have the potential to change global dynamics. Besides leading research and strategy at Unbuilt Labs, he is a Global Diplomacy Fellow at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), a UNESCO Inclusive Policy Lab Expert on SDGs and Strategic Planning, and a fellow at the Royal Society for Arts (RSA). As a Board Member at Unbuilt Labs, he is also a member of the Asian Leaders Alliance, the Institute of Director's Policy Voice, and Chairman's Network, where he regularly presents research to private and public Board of Directors. He studied at the University of Hong Kong, the Parsons School of Design, and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
Co-Director, Center for Global Agenda (CGA) at Unbuilt Labs
Marguerite Van Cook is the Head of Research and Engagement, and a Board Member at Unbuilt Labs. Prior to pursuing a Ph.D. on the History of Political Economics and French, she received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Columbia University. She has extensive experience in political relations and campaigning for change. She specializes in reframing narratives and public engagement. A prolific artist as well, she toured as opening act for The Clash, and became a New York Times bestselling author. Her artwork is in many public collections, including the MOMA, the Whitney Museum and Harvard. She is currently, Board President at Visual AIDS, the organization that brought us the Red Ribbon AIDS awareness symbol as well as A Day Without Art. She is the President Emeritus of Howl Arts!

Posters

About the Future of Global Governance Series

This workshop is part of the Future of Global Governance Series at the Center for Global Agenda (CGA) at Unbuilt Labs. CGA is leading the global stakeholder consultation process for the Recommended UN Action Plan to Close the Compliance Gap (CCG), a publication at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). We are pleased to co-host a series of public-access workshops with organizations that have consultative status with CGA and co-create guidelines for the publication. All participants will receive a Post-Workshop Summary as part of The Future of Global Governance Series Proceedings published by CGA. Submitted materials such as those in the Public Forum or public statements submitted to CGA may be quoted in the Summary. We are delighted to support Act4SDGs by the UN Sustainable Development Goals Action Campaign through this Series. Highlights of our initiatives are available on our Act4SDG profile. We invite everyone to participate, study, reimagine, and co-create the future of global governance with us.

We are pleased to support Act4SDGs by the UN Sustainable Development Goals Action Campaign. Our initiatives such as this workshop, are highlighted on our Act4SDG profile.