tippingpoint Germany 2008

	A dialogue between climate science and the arts

After its successful launch in 2007, TippingPoint Germany 2008, an open space encounter of 130 international artists and climate researchers, took place at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in late September 2008. The event was once again organised by the British Council in Germany, in association with PIK and the TippingPoint organisation in the UK, and this time most generously supported by the German Federal Cultural Foundation.

At the start participants received up-to-date information on climate change issues in a passionate key-note presentation by Professor John Schellnhuber of PIK. They then developed their own agendas around issues of concern, this time moving the climate change debate from the process of awareness-raising to a focus on creative approaches to problem-solving.

New relationships between climate scientists and artists were built across Europe, some of which already show signs of resulting in ongoing collaboration. Ideas for future TippingPoint events in other geographical areas were born. The need to fully involve arts promoters, curators, venue and festival organisers, an important and influential group in the discussion, was felt and was taken into account in the British Council's Greening the Arts debate at the Arts Presenters' meeting in New York in January 2009. The possibility of establishing regular climate research-related artist-in-residencies was unanimously considered to be of benefit.

These comments from participants reflect the strong demand for the unique cross-sector networking opportunities for creative people from diverse professional areas as provided by TippingPoint:

Glenn Davidson, Artstation, Cardiff, UK
The TippingPoint dialogue has already had a big effect on me, not to mention contact with various of the participants. It is helping to reconfigure the way I wish to operate and work in the future.

Maggie Gee, Writer, UK
I re-met interesting figures, made many useful new contacts and came away with hundreds of ideas bubbling in my head, including an idea for my next book.

Mário Montenegro, artistic director, actor, producer, MARIONET Theatre Company, Portugal
At a professional level, I (have now) decided to address the issue of climate change artistically.

Frederico Ferreira, sculptor, Portugal
The opportunity to participate in this meeting was extremely important for me because it made possible contact with several participants that contributed in a decisive way to the reorientation of my artistic speech. I sincerely hope that other activities of equal relevance will happen in the future, since they are basis for the construction of an active community.

Giulia Giacchè, Scientific Coordinator Biosphera Project, Italy
TippingPoint was an important chance to exchange and compare opinions on art and climate change.

It was very fruitful and productive. The diverse training and background of the participants enriched the discussion and the debate and enabled interactions and exchanges among people that would probably never had met otherwise. My participation in TippingPoint was also important for the organisation I work for, both because I made some contacts that I think might be fruitful for future projects and because I had the chance to present our current projects.

Alessandra Pace, Curator, Berlin, Germany
A great event. TippingPoint is an excellent premise to an artist in residence programme at a scientific institution, in that it offers the chance for artists and scientists to link up interests, without which no collaboration can start. Perhaps this is the really practical outcome of the conference.

Dr Dirk Notz, Scientist, Max-Planck-Institut , Hamburg , Germany
These truly wonderful - and far too short - two days in Potsdam were amongst the most inspiring in my life and I am quite confident that a number of projects will emerge out of them. Having gone through the folder of participants again, my frustration level went down substantially when I realized how many interesting people I actually got a chance to talk to in the end.

Stefan Hakenberg, composer, Germany
The conference was a great inspiration and a thought-provoking activity. The group of participants and the mix of their disciplines and interests were fabulous. Congratulations on a great event.

Zev Robinson, artist, Spain
Not only were the two days very well organised and dynamic, and of a personal interest to me, but it came at an opportune moment for me as my video work has been moving toward the documentary genre, and it helped clarify a number of issues. I am proposing to create a documentary in 2009 about climate change. The Potsdam event rekindled my desire to do something about global warming.

The purpose of this micro-site is to facilitate the ongoing interactions of the emerging TippingPoint community in Germany. In addition it is hoped to publicise initiatives which may have been inspired in some way by the event. As a first step some participants have provided details of the web sites which describe their own work in science or the arts and which link to the climate change theme.

One of the collaborations resulting from TippingPoint 2007 was Nick Crowe's 'The Drowning of Tuvalu' as part of the Whitstable Biennale. The islands of Tuvalu are predicted to be the first landmass which will be swallowed by the sea due to the effects of global warming. They will be the first geographical casualties of climate change. The sculptures will be attached to the seabed and will appear as the tide goes out and will be submerged as it comes in.

The sea will be the element that brings the work to life, transforming the group of sculptures into a twice daily performance made particularly poignant by its Whitstable location. The incoming tide will overwhelm the large, shallow lime concrete sculptures modelling the nine islands of Tuvalu, which will be gradually submerged disappearing into the sea.