PledgeBank United States
I’ll do it, but only if you’ll help

Pledge “wewontflyforart5”

"I will not fly for art5 but only if 6 other local people will will will do the same AND replicate this pledge."

— Agnieszka (contact)

Deadline to sign up by: 11^th June 2009
3 people signed up, 3 more were needed

More details
We won't fly for art

We will not take an aeroplane for the sake of art. For the next 6 months we will find other ways to visit and participate in exhibitions, fairs, conferences, meetings, residencies. We will not fly for inspiration, nor to appreciate, buy or sell art.

But only if 6 others will do the same AND replicate this pledge.

This pledge is designed for exponential growth so if you persuade another 6 people to do the same, within a year you could be one of millions of people changing the way the artworld works. So sign up, create a replica pledge and share your own experiences, observations and arguments towards reducing art flights. Post a link to it in the comment box so others can find their way to it.

This is a public art experiment in the de-escalation of carbon-fuelled, high altitude, high-velocity, global art careering. For six months we choose to cover less physical distance, move more slowly between destinations, to look futureward with more attention to the view from the ground and the network, for ways to connect with others around the world.

Who can sign up to this pledge? Any individual involved in the arts: artist (in the broadest sense), curator, art administrator, art appreciator, gallerist, art critic, art historian, art academic, art technician, art security, art transporter etc. Whether you currently fly for art 50 times a year or never, your engagement will change things by making your position in the artworld visible and by offering an alternative perspective. If you work with others you may need to completely revise your schedules and budgets and lobby for the right not to fly.

This is to light the blue touch paper of Gustave Metzger's Reduce Art Flights campaign using the generative and viral capabilities of social networks. We want to know more about the impact of air-flight on the artworld (and beyond). We intuit that abstaining from air flight will motivate and enable people (with more time, money, energy and attention) to relate differently to their own local cultures and to connect more imaginatively to other cultures.

Inspirations and Observations

Artwork- 'Reduce Art Flights' by Gustave Metzger, reviewed here http://tinyurl.com/cnv44r

Sustainable Development- Social science on the environmental impact of economic growth
'Why Politicians Dare Not Limit Economic Growth' by Tim Jackson http://tinyurl.com/6784zw

Investigative Journalism - What can we do to stop climate change?
Heat (2006) by George Monbiot, summarised and reviewed here http://tinyurl.com/devyax
Monbiot's Guardian blog http://tinyurl.com/dcew6o

Plane Stupid Campaign- 'bringing the aviation industry down to earth'
http://www.planestupid.com/

More Art and Ecology Links- http://delicious.com/ruthc/ecology+art

DIWOlogue- http://diwologue.net/blog/?p=38

Check also http://www.pledgebank.com/wewontflyforart

Comments on this pledge

• Agnieszka's pledge is the last in the series of "We Wont Fly for Art" pledges and it has only one day left to run.
  
  Originally designed with the potential for exponential growth, this collective intervention into the workings and relations of art infrastructure is on the verge of dying out...unless... one artist pledges to refrain from flying for art for 6 months AND replicates the pledge here.
  diwologue, 9 months ago. Abusive? Report it!
• i like this idea quite alot. but why only for six months, and why only if six others do the same??
  dirk, 9 months ago. Abusive? Report it!
• HELL YES! Fantastic idea. Minimize the burdens of art and it only gets better.
  Steven Read, 9 months ago. Abusive? Report it!
• you know, i can certainly appreciate the willpower and principle behind this pledge, but i wonder how this will de-escalate art careering, or how it will bring any kind of attention to artists.
  perhaps individuals ought to first consider their ends, not means? we all know its a tough gig, and being choosy about opportunity is foolish, so if you want to be low-key, do it. if your motives require you to get on a plane, then do it. i'm just not sure isolating the airline industry for boycott is going to help any artists.
  and why is this only open to artists? would not others benefit from this "view from the ground?" and, perhaps most importantly (though i understand the viral aspirations of this pledge), why will you only do this if others will join? sounds kind of weak to be honest.
  this is coming from an artist/appreciator/inspiration junkie who logged over 30k miles on his truck this year, and walks a couple miles on a slow day. and you know what else? i flew for the first time in two years last week, across the atlantic ocean. and you know what else, i met people in those lines and on those planes, and you know what else? i felt inspired when i looked out that window. and damn right i did it for art; i don't think i would have any other reason...
  adam, 9 months ago. Abusive? Report it!