The Land Art Generator Initiative
www.landartgenerator.org
The UAE Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) is a landmark initiative to bring together artists, architects, scientists, and engineers in a first of its kind collaboration.

The goal of the Land Art Generator Initiative is to design and construct a series of land art installations across the UAE that uniquely combine aesthetic intrigue with clean energy generation.

The LAGI viewing platforms will be tourist destinations that draw people from around the world to experience the beauty of the collaborative art creations here in the United Arab Emirates. At the same time, the art itself will continuously distribute clean energy into the electrical grid with each land art sculpture having the potential to provide power to thousands of homes in the UAE.


http://thequiltproject.org
'Community' is a broad term. We hear it all the time, in so many forms - global, economic, financial, religious, agricultural, familial, educational, and so on. There are these larger, sweeping communities, yes - and there are also the local communities that we belong to. The term might be broad, but we know it well. Community is our family, our neighborhood, our friends, our work. Community is the group we, as individuals, choose to take part in. In this group, we find peace, progress, support and livelihood.

Building these communities is one of humankind’s most beautiful habits. Yet in the Western world, we tend to see communities as a fiscal/economic/political entity – and this is a limited and, all too often, ethnocentric viewpoint. It is exclusive, rather than inclusive; homogenized, not diversified. Our project aims to glimpse over the shoulder of this boundaried definition of community, to find out what it really means to us, in all of its wondrous forms.



www.hot-spots.net
Since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, the Western World has become increasingly dependent on fossil fuels as the basis of our growth economy and privileged standard of living. This dependence has undermined the sustainability of all living systems and has destabilized world cultures. A paradigm shift is required to envision life-enhancing economies and wise use of our natural resources. Can we meet the challenge of renewable and responsible energy use—in our homes, communities, and across the globe?

Before change can occur, it must be imagined. Thus we have chosen the image and physical site of the petrol station —perhaps an iconic relic of future generations. Owing to their abandonment and often to their architecture, these places have a particular aura and are indicative of this worldwide politically charged question: What Comes After Oil?

Taking as points of departure are HOT SPOTS (petrol stations) in Munich, Germany; Pittsburgh, USA; and Dubai, United Arab Emirates. We have chosen these cities, local to where we live, as “case studies” for initiating a multi-national dialogue and exploration of the past, present and future of oil. Extending out from these HOT SPOTS in a radius of 200 miles/322 kilometers, we will reclaim abandoned gas stations as platforms for public art.

In addition to these primary sites, there are abandoned petrol stations all over the world. Independent of the central project, these SATELLITES will be dealt with separately by artists and artist groups. However, they will be linked with the platform HOT SPOTS.

In an attempt to reduce (and therefore re-imagine) our carbon footprint, virtual communications will be paramount. Live streaming, online papers, virtual classrooms and galleries, and the like will preserve physical resources and result in an international cacophony. Information, maps, and project programming will be disbursed through HOT SPOT offices in Munich, Pittsburgh, and Dubai and virtually on the web.