International Teaching Artists Collaborative (ITAC)
We are in a climate emergency.
There is urgent need for systems change at scale yet the impact space works in silos and climate action is not happening fast enough.
Socially engaged arts has huge potential for impact in building awareness and mindset shifting but are often under funded and isn't able to support artists in creating careers in this field. There is a need to create more opportunities and financial income from elsewhere beyond limited grants.
This program addresses this by forging collaborations with the social impact start up space to understand the common language that is needed to be built around such cross sector collaborations. Through conversations and relationship building, this project seeks to understand the necessary frameworks needed to approach such a project (i.e how to communicate different objectives and perspectives? How to convey the artistic practice and process? What are the terms we need to explain and bridge? How do we co-design and co-create an experience that can meet the needs of different agendas while developing the artistic practice?)
Insect Protein Pals is led by artist Fié Neo, alongside Asia Insect Farm Solutions and SLICE to explore ways to increase the adoption of cricket powder through participatory arts. Over four months, Fié, Aaron and Yuvanesh created a series of online and offline engagement including social media Shang Chi transformation reels, cooking with boomer generation recipe videos, Cricket Powder Christmas cook off and more. At the end of the project were seven new recipes (cricket spinach cheese biscuits, cricket goreng pisang, cricket ondeh ondeh, cricket chocolate scones, cricket sambal beans, cricket chilli paste and cricket veggie fritters) , greater insect protein acceptance among participants and a more connected sustainability circle.
Watch the videos above to catch a glimpse of the process.
More about our partners:
Instagram: @feeyeh_neo @sociallyengagedpractices
Listen to the Insect Protein Pals podcast here
Wendy &
TEORA
Facilitated by artist Wendy Zhang, with a guest from Te0ra, Dr Yasaman Tavakoli, the workshop aimed to educate the public about microbiology, specifically the significance of algae, yeast and bacteria.
Using art as a connector, Wendy prepared homemade watercolour paints made from algae and used that to bridge a conversation about algae and what they can do for the future. Participants were encouraged to ask questions about microbiology, algae and share their thoughts on environmental issues.
Apart from discussing the topic of science, Wendy conducted a demonstration on how to make homemade paints within spirulina powder as the main pigment. Participants had a chance to experience how it is like to make paint and every participant could take home a half-pan algae-watercolour paint as a participatory gift.
Listen to How tiny things can change our world podcast here.
Learn more about Teora: https://www.teoralife.com
Listen to the journey of a soybean, and an industrial leader; one with the wisdom of 5,000 years and the other who is the second generation leader of a chemical separation company.
The soybean dreams of a future only the industrial leader can create: to see clear blue skies again.
This audio piece is inspired by sound artist Ng Sze Min’s interactions with Seppure, a company producing nano-filters that enables chemical separation at a molecular level, without the traditional use of heat. The method, if adopted by the industry, can dramatically reduce energy consumption and pollution globally by up to 15%.
But this is often too complex for consumers to understand, so the artist created this conversation between the soybean and an industry leader to inspire us to have “conversations” with the products we use in our daily lives.