Butterfly Revolution – small positive actions for a better world

Since the momentous days of the referendum campaign I’ve continued to talk and listen to many people who had very different perspectives and involvements in the big conversation over the last 2 years. Where I am standing right now feels like a very positive place – yesterday I was with a group of young people between 17-26, the conversation turned to politics (or rather ‘the world’) – the chat was animated, informed and passionate…..my sense is that even a year ago this conversation would have been very different…a disinterested shrug and avoidance of eye contact possibly?

My positivity is because I believe that much of the hard work has been done – the referendum has awoken us to the power we have in our own hands to create our own future. So what next?

It has been said that the referendum achieved consensus about the society people wanted...and that the differences were about how to make that happen. By my reckoning the areas of consensus included:

• Social Democracy – a belief in the principles of transparency, inclusion , ownership and decision-making being in the hands of the many instead of the few.
• Social Justice – equality of opportunity at the centre of everything we do
• Social Economy – a society that invests in its people first (through education, welfare and opportunity) rather than focussing on making a climate for ‘business’ and expecting the profits of business to trickle down and provide for citizens.

Many have joined political parties – this is positive stuff….but one of the great lessons of the referendum for me was how ‘politics’ was revealed as just one tool in the kit that we need to make things happen and build lasting and sustainable progress. If we lapse back in to assuming that it is only the politician’s job to do politics then we are one a short route back to disinterested shrugs and avoiding eye contact.

Everyone brought what they could to the referendum debate – be that wit, food, organisation, creativity, commerce, sport….we worked with politicians on an equal footing and felt we had a stake in creating something – rather than feeling that we were being used. Through the consensus we built about the kind of world we wanted to live in we got other places interested in questioning whether they too could think differently about the future…..particularly places close to home like England, Wales and Northern Ireland. 

I am forming three basic questions:

• How to continue the positive consensus of the referendum discussion?
• How to make that inclusive to everyone, however they voted in the referendum?
• How to use Scotland’s societal energy as a positive force in other places in the world?

It seems pretty clear to me that the next opportunity to bring this social democratic movement to the fore is in the forthcoming UK General Election – there are some very obvious targets within the Westminster system (eg dodgy democracy like the House of Lords, equality gap of opportunity and wealth in society etc) that could be highlighted by the ‘scottish effect’. But it seems equally clear to me that this will only be possible if we maintain the collective approach that keeps professional politics in an equilibrium with a larger social movement.

I believe that the most effective change comes when ordinary people start to change the world around them themselves – and this then inspires the organisations who maintain our society to become better.

You can’t beat a thousand butterflies with a gun. But, you can beat a gun with a thousand butterflies

I’ve been inspired recently by Gene Sharp's book ‘From Dictatorship to Democracy’ which has become a bible of non-violent change across the world over the last 20 years. Dr Sharp has 198 strategies for people to change the culture of power around them…..a factor that is common to many of these strategies is the use of easily identifiable symbols – so that seemingly diverse acts are connected because they use the same symbolic language. This is where the idea of the Butterfly Revolution comes in.

Not long after the referendum I was part of a group that identified the factors of the ‘scottish effect’ as:

• Issues not Ideology
• Practical Acts and Good Craic
• Aspirational not Oppositional
• Positive Vision not Party Political'
• Positive and Inclusive
• Smart, Funny and Resourceful
• United Action

We talked about ways of keeping these features alive to the benefit of the three questions raised above.

The idea of the Butterfly Revolution is not new – it is something that grew from different sources during the referendum campaign (notably a post by Robin McAlpine on Bella Caledonia and Andrew Mac’s beautiful Saor Alba poster).

I’d like to put forward a butterfly symbol based on the butterfly in Andrew Mac’s* poster  that stands for all the small acts made by ordinary people towards changing their world using the ‘scottish effect' (the 3 social principles enacted through the factors listed above).

I’m proposing that the use of this symbol is entirely self-stewarded and inclusive. I have made up some button badges and am giving these out to people that I know and work with - if you would like to do the same and spread the Butterfly Revolution then send me an email to studio at mattbaker.org.uk and I will send you the image file for the badge and a link to a company that produces badges* very cheaply online – you can order batches of the badges from them for yourself……..or do something altogether different and surprising with the symbol!


Link to Facebook/Twitter ribbon - here

So - what does the Butterfly Revolution stand for? Everyone will have their own answer….mine is 'a movement for a better democracy - brought about by real people doing real things for themselves'

Lets get this done!

You can’t beat a thousand butterflies with a gun. But, you can beat a gun with a thousand butterflies


*if there are any badge manufacturers out there who would like to be part of this by offering at-cost production of the badges – please get in touch

*I've tried unsuccessfully to trace Andrew...if you are reading this please get in touch

Movements of Affirmation - Yes

Yesterday the people of Scotland voted against the proposition that Scotland should become an independent country by 55% to 45%.....but the campaign became about something much bigger that that - it became about the foundations of our democracy and about the way we respect each other as equals and respect the planet we all share

Right this moment I feel heartbroken, angry and so very sad that the future I hoped we could offer to our young people will now be harder to achieve. But I am so grateful that over the last 3 years I have had the most inspirational and empowering time of my life I am grateful and proud to be part of a movement that can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.

This is our movement – we feel it deep in our souls and we love it. It is like being in a band with everyone riffing off each other, ideas grow from what seems like nowhere – each is shared, re-shaped and added to. We build and we believe. 

At the core of the Yes movement is the unshakeable confidence we each have in each other that self-interest is not what is driving this. The Yes movement is built on generosity of spirit and equality of opportunity. We are bringing into being a world that we want to live in – not one that has been made for us that we have no choice but to accept.

There is no need to say ‘we must carry on’ – we are carrying on because we are people and we are still alive – we are the movement. This is not just about a political campaign – a political campaign has been an opportunity that allowed us to shape ideas and beliefs together and share them with others. We will continue our movement in everything we do…everything we say….everything we agree with or disagree with.

We also now have a network in place – a means of contacting each other and making consensus built on honouring our diversity. In itself this is a world changing achievement, one that not just imagines but IS an alternative to the power structures that govern our world just now. I look forward to continuing to negotiate with those structures about the inevitable transition.

I also can't wait to continue to expand Yes outside of Scotland.....#justthebeginning

Its Good to Talk

Being part of a community of people embracing the opportunity to think about their society, values and future is such a special moment in time. 'World Changing Craic!' as my fine friend Susan Pettie would say.

But, as more and more people are forming and reforming opinions I am beginning to notice a reluctance in people who are inclined to vote No to discuss their position. All this 'conviction and engagement' is new to many of us (certainly I have never actively engaged in politics before) - it seems that maybe some feel that by discussing their views others may be seeking to convert them to another position?

There is a place for 'active campaigning' but there is also a place for understanding and sharing. After the vote, whatever the result, there will be time when we all need to start refocusing on the things that unite us and work together as a community of people. We are a small country the links that join us to each other are legion and powerful - all of sudden we are suddenly finding out 'hey so and so is a Yes (or No)' etc, as with any bit of new information about someone we know it causes a re-configuring of who that person is. This is such a natural process and I see it as part of our society's journey to a more mature democracy - but it is unsettling at a personal level.

People listen to each other about all sorts of stuff without having to agree - why not about about the Referendum

Why I think it is crucial that we all keep telling each other what we are thinking in the Referendum Debate is because if we don't we risk losing the personal in this and we, as people just become flag carriers for the messages of the campaigns. I need to know to know why a friend is passionate about maintaining the political union in Britain - because if they do not tell me I start to wonder if they have some vested interest I don't know about or have fallen victim to campaign scaremongering.

It is good and natural to talk about what we believe, it helps us understand each other and frame conversations about what we all want to do together.

A great way to discuss the issues in a non-confrontational way is to use Scotland Loves Democracy's Wee Play game ...check it out here - thoroughly recommended!!!

NB..

Part of my reason for bringing this up now is very recent direct evidence of some of the scare tactics being used by actively campaigning Better Together folk. These include elderly people being told on their own doorsteps that their pension will stop on September 19th if there is a Yes vote.....and Better Together officials announcing in public meetings that time itself will stop with Independence because people in Scotland will no longer be allowed to use Greenwich Mean Time and British Summer Time. Only by people talking to each other can we keep this precious debate alive and avoid labeling each other with the stereotypes created by opposing campaigns.

Holding Open the Space of Opportunity

Kenneth Fowler at 'A Vision for the Future: A Model for Change in Creative Dumfries and Galloway'

Yesterday saw the launch of the new arts-led structure for arts in South West Scotland - described by Creative Scotland's Director of Communications Kenneth Fowler as 'nothing short of a revolution'. The process of arriving at the new structure is called the 'Fresh Start for the Arts Initiative' - I was one members of the Board that oversaw the Fresh Start project and was asked to give an 'artists perspective' on the last 2 years in Dumfries and Galloway at the conference - a couple of people kindly asked me if I would publish a transcript of my talk- so here it is

It has become traditional to start any discussion of the Arts in D+G with the fact that, 2 years , we lost much of our art infrastructure with the demise of DGArts and 2 Council arts development posts.
As a creative community we did respond to this – initially 60 people gathered in Rhonehouse Village Hall to talk about what we could do together. 

This was a reaction to an immediate and challenging situation – BUT it was also a recognition of the fact that contemporary arts practice was evolving and we needed a structure that reflected this new reality. The simple fact that we were strong and organised enough to take on this challenge is, in itself, a testament to the foundational work of DGArts and others – I’d like to personally acknowledge that work on behalf of the region’s artists.

The Commonty

One of the immediate results of that informal sector meeting at Rhonehouse (which was to be followed by more organised versions at Dalbeattie) was the emergence of The Commonty blog – for anyone unfamiliar with The Commonty – it is run by volunteers, has never had any subsidy and makes the rash promise to publish everything that is submitted. In a geographically huge region like ours The Commonty has become a really valuable tool for keeping everyone up to date with what is happening in the arts.
 
With any disaster (like the loss of DGArts always comes opportunity….sudden change makes a space and the shock inspires new thinking to populate such a space. Often this is just a fleeting, but very precious moment. There is much discussion about creative practice and how it is different from other ways of operating in the world. I’d like to propose that ‘holding open a space of opportunity’ is actually at the core of a creative approach.
Looking at what has been happening here over the past 2 years from an artist’s perspective – I believe that the Fresh Start process has been all about continuing to hold that space of opportunity open (and I feel that Kathleen O’Neill grasped this idea from the outset). When there have been the inevitable frustrations and questions about ‘when is something going to happen…and…wwhen will we see results’ – my answer has been that it IS happening and the way forward is to join in and help everyone else keep doing just that….keeping the space open.

But what does that actually mean?.....what is the point of keeping open a space of opportunity?

Inbetween:Dumfries

Contemporary practice in the arts is becoming more discursive – it is not new to say that art is better at asking questions that providing answers….but when Scottish Theatre maker Nic Green describes the ‘artist as listener’ and talks about an artists needing to ‘quieten the voice of knowing and letting a place or situation actively shape a creative response…..then I believe we are in new and vital territory. Territory that arts practice in Scotland is world class at.

Referring this to the Fresh Start situation in D+G – if we were to place around a finished “structure’ then we would, actually be watching something start to die.

By constantly being in a state of becoming the arts in D+G becomes open, collaborative and inclusive for other sectors like Health, Education, Tourism and Environment. If we have a rigidly defined shape we close many doors and become, ultimately, more difficult to work with. One of the most important roles for creative practice is the ability to translate between different approaches in partnerships – this requires the flexibility and nimbleness afforded by permeable boundaries.

The creative community is gradually growing into our stature as one of the top ten economic sectors in South West Scotland….but our sector is what it is because it plays by different rules. We have been hugely fortunate in having the support of our local authority (in the form of people like Richard Greiveson and Rebecca Coggins) in recognising that and helping us to build a structure that is fit for purpose for how we need to flourish as a sector.

Let us not be under any illusion…….what is being discussed here is not the arts just putting on nice things for an existing niche audience. This is a radical agenda for the arts to play an active part in equipping our world for the challenges of the future. We are all getting the idea that, as a society, we can’t just keep on as we are – there is a recognition that we need to become more adaptable and more resourceful…..teamworking and unlikely alliances are what must become the rule rather than the exception. This is exactly the skillset and daily reality of working in the arts. We have a duty to reach out and share our skills with others just as we continue to learn from and listen to others through collaborative working and co-creation.

If you see Fresh Start as one giant artwork – then we are all co-creating it with our local authority and other local and national partners – notably Creative Scotland.

Like any organism, the arts need to feed all parts of its body. ‘Art for Arts Sake’ is something that we need to discuss too. I see ‘Art for Arts Sake’ as being important to the body like dreaming in sleep – essential for health. As an arts community we need to continue to invest in things that have no immediately obvious outcome or use – just as individual artists we need studio time. For me, the only question here is in finding the right level – what percentage of resource should go to Blue Skies thinking and what percentage for down and dirty grassroots?..........(of course you can have Blue Skies Grassroots too – but if anyone knows how to communicate that on a funding application then please let me know!)

Punkin' the Jubilee

My own personal experience of the last 2 years is of working professionally with people that I have known as friends for years – particularly through The Stove and Environmental Art Festival Scotland. Also I have got to know amazing new friends and colleagues around the region. 

Back2Back - The Stove

I am really pleased that Fresh Start has stuck to the emphasis on geographic representation for the sector as opposed to the traditional divisions into representation by different artforms. For me, this is in keeping with the spirit of our times, when we are all collaborating across artforms AND it builds in a whole region approach from the outset. (Always accepting that everywhere in D+G is complete law unto itself!)

Environmental Art Festival Scotland 2013

I have been asked to show some images from the recent Environmental Art Festival Scotland (EAFS) as an illustration of my artists perspective of the Fresh Start approach.

First Thing to say about EAFS:
The festival was produced by a partnership of three local organisations Wide-Open, Spring-Fling and The Stove. None of us had worked togerher formally before – it was a brilliant experience that was like discovering the bits of your self that were missing in the person of someone else. This bodes really well for the future and through Fresh Start we are beginning to look at ways that an ongoing partnership can be part of the overall Visual/Environmental Arts strategy for the region.

Second Thing to say about EAFS:
EAFS was built on long-term working relationships with organisations like Scottish Natural Heritage, Forestry Commission, Biosphere, VisitScotland, Education, and various heritage organisations…….as well as the extensive network of local arts organisation that were, thanks top the work of the last two years, in much stronger contact than previously.

The intellectual underpinning of the festival also came form work going on in the region -notably the Do Not Resuscitate project. DNR is led by the Crichton Carbon Centre and is a collaboration of leading Scottish climate scientists and artists. Crichton Carbon Centre and Creative Carbon Scotland also worked with EAFS on an environmental, social and economic survey of the festival and the captions on these slides come from that survey.

Third Thing to say about EAFS:
EAFS included both Blue Skies thinking artworks and more participative and inclusive work. Our aim was to show a range of approaches and attempt to embody the way that our wider community in the SouthWest thinks about the land and the different alliances that form around living with the land. Bringing people to debate such approaches within the context of art happenings and contexts was central to the overall vision of the festival.

Fourth Thing to say about EAFS:
EAFS was part of bigger D+G agendas:
* The ambition to establish the whole region of D+G as a laboratory fro and National Home of Environmental Art
* The proposal for a major landmark artwork at the English/Scottish border at Gretna
* Synergy and thematic connections between major festivals in D+G eg Wigtown Book Festival picked up on the momentum of EAFS and included elements from EAFS in their own festival – we are now in discussions about ways that the too festivals can collaborate more closely in the future.

The EAFS Satellite programme continued after the Core Weekend. Fresh Start funded the Satellite programme – which reflected the geographic focus of Fresh Start. The Satellite programme built of the Hub networks giving people a chance to now work together on practical projects…to work on a national and international stage…..and to travel across the region to see what each other was working on.
The Satellite programmes are written up on the EAFS website:
Annadale and Eskdale
Wigtownshire
Nithsdale
Stewartry (Stewarty Satellite was integrated into the EAFS Core weekend)

Finally……..
With projects like EAFS, this conference and the news about Dumfries has been nominated as one of 2014’s Creative Places – I think it is fair to say that D+G is up and running if we just have the confidence to hold onto the string of the balloon and not look down…..then I believe that our region will be fully on the international stage very soon.

Marks of Time VIII

I have been feeling desperately sad since the theft of the Henry Moore's sculpture ‘Standing Figure’ from the upland landscape near Dumfries this weekend.

Standing Figure - Henry Moore 1950 (sited at Glenkiln 1951 - Stolen October 2013)

For me this formed part of a unique public artwork that was an inspiration for me in the way I think of making work in landscape. 

The Visitation - Jacob Epstein 1926 (sited at Glenkiln from 1954)

For those that are unfamiliar with the Sculptures at Glenkiln – there are seven artworks one by Auguste Rodin, one Jacob Epstein and 4 by Henry Moore. They are placed in wild pasture on part of the Keswick estate near the Glenkiln Reservoir. There are no signs, no guidebooks, certainly no gift shop or tea room….they are just there in the landscape – where they have been since the first (Standing figure) was sited in 1951. 

There is a lovely introduction to the Glenkiln experience by my good pal Mary Smith - here

The area of land that contain the Glenkiln Sculptures

I used the words public art very carefully and deliberately. The question of ‘public’ is central to everything at Glenkiln. These pieces are placed on privately owned land* - they are only ‘public’ because of the Scottish tradition (and legal right) of free access to all land to everyone. The sculptures at Glenkiln became public by default.

In the minds of the sculptors there was not the slightest intent that these were public works of art. I am using the term in the way I have defined it in other writing (see – here), rather they were conceived as private or gallery pieces and use their surroundings simply as a ’backdrop’ to their discourse with artistic tradition.
And yet, as a whole, I stand by my idea of the Glekiln Scupltures as an amazing work of public art. What I, and many other, experience at Glenkiln is being part of a shared secret and we all gladly share the responsibility of that secret. We know that it is truly remarkable that these works are just out in ‘normal’ (for Dumfriesshire) countryside – unprotected and unsignposted. Sometimes you can find Epstein’s ‘The Visitation’ sometimes it eludes you. It has become something we all eagerly share with our weekend visitors and vicariously enjoy their astonishment that such a thing can exist.

Shenavall Bothy - Northern Highlands

In Scotland we have another tradition, the Bothy – these are simple huts out in the wilds that are free for everyone to use to rest, eat and sleep on long distance walks. The rule is that you leave a bothy as you found it or even leave something extra for the next person to visit. For me the sculptures at Glenkiln were like a series of bothies – part of there wonder was leaving them for the next person to discover….and so on down the chain.
Against all the odds, what could be seen as a rich man playing tin soldiers in his enormous back garden turned into an expression of community, trust and the spirituality of place

Erratic - one of my works at Cairnsmore....anyone finding Erratic is invited to pull out the bronze handle and drag the boulder to a new location

The idea of shared ‘ownership’ of artworks in the land and the way that a relationship with artworks can cast new light on the way we see understand our surroundings has inspured me in works like ‘Cairnsmore’, ‘Quorum’, ‘Shinglehook', 'New Luce' and most recently ‘Lodestones’.


This bond of trust and community in the land is a precious, precious thing – it has been broken by the action of this weekend§ - we are all a much poorer as a result.
There is a whole other essay to be written about who works in landscape really belong to and what this says about who owns the land of Scotland.  But for now I am still grieving for something lost that was special to me.

* Anyone wishing to know where I stand on landownership in Scotland might look at the work of Andy Wightman – I share many of Andy’s views 

§ In 1995 vandals sawed the heads from Moore's King and Queen at Glenkiln, but they were reattached.

A Collective Noun for Artists - 'a valuable difference'

Last week I attended a gathering of folk from the arts sector who are interested in the idea of a democratic Scotland. It was an inspiring evening and an honour to be in the company of such talented people....feeling part of a team with such confidence and mutual respect made me feel once again just what a special privilege it is to be alive and part of this place at this moment in time - these are the notes i fed back to the group after the session:

1. Embracing Doubt
I was interested in David Grieg’s point about conversations – specifically conversations around someone’s doubt (re Independence) – I understood David’s point to be about the importance of listening to the doubt –rather than seeking immediately to talk the person out of their doubt.

I would go further than this – in my experience, working as an artist, the most powerful position is to share your own doubt with the people you are working with. I define myself as a public artist – I define public art as ‘art that is made for a place that is not created to have art in it or on it’ …..this means that a significant element of my artistic practice is spent negotiating consent for myself to BE an artist in such a place – ie convincing other people of the value of artistic practice for THEIR place.

The only way that I find I can build a working and trusting relationship with people in such projects is to start from a position of equal uncertainty about what the outcome will be. If there is a suggestion that I already have an end result in mind, the project is doomed to failure. 

For me, this is one of the key differences between an artist and a politician – for the artist, the journey is one of discovery and for the politician there is set destination and it is about convincing people to come with them to said destination. 

This is all a slightly long-winded way of saying that my way of doing my bit towards building a new country is to share my own doubts through my practice and keep asking questions in the hope of inspiring others to feel enough of a connection to the discussion/country to care about finding the answers. My experience of this process is that moments of action will surface and these need to be grabbed with both hands as they are the visible steps towards change.

2. A Collective Noun for Artists
I felt a huge energy rush from being in that room with everyone at Citizen M – what a talented bunch. But I was unconvinced at the idea of joint projects….the sheer complexity of getting a such a group of busy people to work together caused me complete paralysis anxiety. 

What I experienced in that room – as I had in the Creative Scotland Open Sessions was an utter and complete respect for the differences in our practice……all are different- all are valued. 

It seemed to me that it was this respect and valuing that could be our most powerful effect within the Independence campaign. Every artist is affected by what is happening around them – so it stands to reason that each of us, to some extent is ‘making work about Independence’? Perhaps one strategy would be for us all to believe this collectively and then all we need to do is promote each others work. Maybe we don’t need to make particular ‘Indy’ work….just believe in the idea that our commitment and integrity radiates from what we are doing anyway. 

Human Megaphone - NothingAboutUsWithoutUsIsForUs

What I am imagining here is a form of creative boosterism – where we all agree to talk up each other’s creative projects. All that would be needed would be central point for lodging information about shows, exhibitions, books etc and then an ‘Indy Notification’ to contributors about other projects from within the group (….it would be easy to imagine National Collective fulfilling such a coordination role?). Obviously there would need to be an easy way for others to join the group and other such important details (details that make it obvious why artists don’t run the world!). But if we all tried to use our own media platforms etc to share the work of other creative people working towards Independence – this could be a very powerful message of and in itself…..one of cooperation, support and integrity.

The kind of cooperative, supportive and honourable Scotland we want to help create for the future.

Marks of Time VII

16 years ago I finished my first sculptural installation in the landscape of SouthWest Scotland - it was called Quorum and consisted of 6 heads carved from dyke stones and then reinstalled in the dyke. It was sited in Galloway Forest Park in an old sheep fank that was in a clearing in the forestry plantation. I've not visited the work for many years - but was there today

A gauche and (much) younger me - with Quorum in 1997 - loving notebook and pen in pockets and hair and waistline!

You can see more on the work itself here

I was delighted to see the work was still intact (one of the six heads vanished soon after the work was installed) - I love how it has all shifted slightly as, I guess, folk have knocked the heads down and others have put them back........but oh, how I love the way it has weathered!

Quorum 2013 - the three granite heads have their eyes closed and have no view out of the fank

Quorum 2013 - the Greywacke heads have their eyes open and look beyond the fank

The area or forestry around Quorum has recently been harvested - the work was originally about the way the dykes were remnants of a lost world within the plantation.....now the heads have outlasted the crop of trees - I wonder, what next for this place?

The reason I was in the are was to accompany artist James Winnett as he looked for a site for his installation that will be part of Environmental Art Festival Scotland. James needed a high waterfall and it looks like the Grey Mare's Tail in Galloway Forest Park could be the one:

James Winnett - Grey Mare's Tail, Newton Stewart

It is a very special privilege to watch an artist discovering a site for the first time - the Environmental Art Festival is proving a memorable project to be working on already....thanks James, for a grand day in Galloway