2010 October
Hildegard Kurt, co-founder of und. Institut für Kunst, Kultur und Zukunftsfähigkeit (and. Institute for Art, Culture and Sustainability), located in Berlin, Frankfurt/Main and Hamburg, has recently been awarded an International Visiting Research Fellowship at Oxford Brookes University.

Her new monograph is entitled WACHSEN! Ueber das Geistige in der Nachhaltigkeit (GROWTH! Concerning the Spiritual in Sustainabilty). Although available currently only in German, parts of it will be translated into English. (http://und-institut.de/cms/front_content.php?idcat=16)

SSRU / und. Institut collaboration in USA
Hildegard and Shelley developed a “branch” of University of the Trees for a group in Florida, USA, that is closely linked to ecological issues in the Everglades. Further details will be posted. During 2011 Hildegard Kurt will, together with Wolfgang Zumdick, replace Shelley Sacks at Oxford Brookes – during her sabbatical. They will contribute actively to the MA in Social Sculpture and co-supervise her doctoral students.

2010 September
Wolfgang Zumdick will work for 1 year in one of the workgroups on the Ueber Lebenskunst programme in Berlin. This project was initiated and supported by the German Cultural Foundation and the House of World Cultures.

Wolfgang has recently also co-curated “Energy Plan” an exhibition at Schloss Moyland, in Germany, and authored one of the catalogue essays. The beautifully illustrated catalogue, available only from the Schloss Moyland museum shop, is in English and German.

He has recently also contributed key essays to the catalogues of the “Rudolf Steiner and Contemporary Art” organized by the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg in collaboration with the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, as well as “Rudolf Steiner -Alchemy of the Everyday”, a major retrospective of Steiner‘s work, organised by the Vitra Museum.

In June 2010, Wolfgang co-led a 6-day seminar programme with Shelley Sacks in Melbourne, Australia at the RMIT, entitled Every Human Being an Artist: the art of changing one‘s mind(set). 50 people participated.

Shelley and Wolfgang both gave public lectures during this period. The programme was hosted by the Arts Department at RMIT and Ian George of the Social Sculpture Forum, Melbourne. There will be a follow up programme in Melbourne in 2011.

2010 July, Florence, Italy
Social Banking and Social Sculpture
Shelley Sacks and Chris Seely contributed to the design and delivery of an international programme on Social Banking, in Florence in 2010. About 100 people participated. Most are actively involved in the global social banking movement.

2010 June, Melbourne, Australia
Social Sculpture Programme in Melbourne
Every Human Being an Artist: The Art of Changing One‘s Mind(set), 2 x 3-day workshops: Beginning 10 June 2010

Unique opportunity for the management, business, art and academic communities to come together to explore the social sculpture ideas and what they have to do with working towards an ecologically viable and humane future.

Informed by Joseph Beuys‘ notion of social sculpture and the further development of these ideas through the work of the Social Sculpture Research Unit and affiliated projects. Led by Shelley Sacks and Wolfgang Zumdick.

2010 January (for June 27 – July 10), Weimar, Germany
ARTS AND SUSTAINABILITY From Goethe and Schiller through the Bauhaus to Social Sculpture

FORUM FOR CREATIVE ACTION: The Shaping of a Humane World as an Aesthetic Challenge

This 12-day theory-practice programme runs annually in the summer. It actively engages participants in an introductory exploration of social sculpture and aesthetic questions relevant to the shaping of an ecological and socially just world.

It looks back to Schiller, Goethe, the Bauhaus and Joseph Beuys and forward to developing new forms of social sculpture appropriate to the challenges of the 21st century. The programme is led by Shelley Sacks and Dr. Hildegard Kurt

ENROLMENT by 30 April 2010. For full details see Weimar Summer Courses. This programme has limited places. Please enrol as soon as possible. There are also a limited number of scholarships available.