<< AMY BALKIN >>

Environmental Justice and the Politics of Public Space:
A presentation on the intersections of art, geography, and activism

Tuesday, April 24, 7pm
Art and Design Building / Room #229
408 E. Peabody Drive
Champaign, IL 61820

Amy Balkin is a San Francisco based artist whose recent body of work focuses on how humans create, interact with, and impact the social and material landscapes they inhabit. Her projects include: Invisible-5, a self-guided audio tour featuring stories of environmental (in)justice along Interstate 5 between San Francisco and Los Angeles; Public Smog, which examines the commodification of the atmosphere, through the economic mechanism of carbon trading; This is the Public Domain, an effort to create a permanent international commons from 2.5 acres of land located near Tehachapi, CA, via legal transfer to the global public.

Thanks to the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities for providing financial support for this event.

<< PROJECTS >>

INVISIBLE-5
http://invisible5.org

INVISIBLE-5 is a self-guided critical audio tour along Interstate 5 between San Francisco and Los Angeles. It uses the format of a museum audio tour to guide the listener along the highway landscape. Invisible-5 investigates the stories of people and communities fighting for environmental justice along the I-5 corridor, through oral histories, field recordings, found sound, recorded music, and archival audio documents. The project also traces natural, social, and economic histories along the route.

PUBLIC SMOG
http://www.publicsmog.org

PUBLIC SMOG is a park in the atmosphere that fluctuates in location and scale. The park is built through the economic mechanism of carbon trading. Carbon offsets are purchased in emissions trading markets and retired, making them inaccessible to polluting industries. The park exists as a construct occurring in the unfixed public airspace above the region where offsets are purchased and withheld from use. The park's size varies, reflecting the amount of emissions allowances purchased, properties of the atmospheric chemicals purchased, and the length of contract, compounded by seasonal fluctuations in air quality.

THIS IS THE PUBLIC DOMAIN
http://www.thisisthepublicdomain.org

THIS IS THE PUBLIC DOMAIN is a project to create a permanent international commons. The land will be free to everyone, and will be held in perpetuity. In 2003, a 2.5 acre parcel was purchased to serve as the site for the proposed public domain. Located in Tehachapi, California, sharing of this commons will be initiated when a juridical solution for public handover is found.