Ellie Harrison

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Tag Archives: climate change

  • Installations
    Tonnes of carbon… installed in Meadowbank for Edinburgh Art Festival in 2020

    Tonnes of carbon produced by the personal transportation of a ‘professional artist’

    This graph was first compiled as the central illustration of Harrison’s 2019 book The Glasgow Effect: A Tale of Class, Capitalism & Carbon Footprint to illustrate the artist’s increasing amount of travel in the years running up to her 2016 project and the dramatic impact it had on reducing her carbon footprint for transport. It was updated in 2020 for display at Edinburgh Art Festival.

  • Writing

    Artist as Active Citizen

    Harrison reflects on The Glasgow Effect for this new text commissioned to launch a-n‘s year-long research project with AirSpace Gallery: Artists Make Change (May 2020 – May 2021). It is published alongside a new text by Dave Beech reflecting on the history of political art, to provoke discussion about artists’ roles in affecting social change. (Word count: 1,540)

  • Writing

    The Glasgow Effect: A Tale of Class, Capitalism & Carbon Footprint

    On 4 November 2019, Luath Press published Harrison’s first book. Inspired by her 2016 ‘durational performance’ The Glasgow Effect – for which she refused to travel beyond Glasgow’s city limits, or use any vehicles except her bike, for the whole calendar year – the book provides the complete context for her thinking and action. (Word count: 119,000)

  • Performance / Events

    The Glasgow Effect

    The Glasgow Effect was a multi-layered ‘research project‘, which took place in 2016. Its central provocation was that Harrison would refuse to travel beyond Glasgow’s city limits, or use any vehicles except her bike, for a whole calendar year (1 January – 31 December 2016). On 8 January 2017, she gave a talk about the work at the Glasgow Film Theatre. On 4 November 2019, she published a book providing the complete context for her thinking and action.

  • Lectures

    Sustainability in Practice

    Speaking at the Culture & Sustainability event organised by Julie’s Bicycle at The Tetley in Leeds, Harrison discusses the challenges and consequences of putting ‘sustainability’ into practice; specifically: her life-long project Early Warning Signs, her Environmental Policy and how her breaches of its Transportation section led to The Glasgow Effect.

  • Exhibition

    For Love or Money

    Created in 2015 to highlight the main causes of Harrison’s breaches to her own Environmental Policy and the amount of carbon each produced, For Love or Money paved the way for The Glasgow Effect in 2016.

  • Social / Networks

    Radical Renewable Art + Activism Fund

    Initiated by Harrison in 2015, the Radical Renewable Art + Activism Fund (RRAAF) aims to be a new and autonomous funding scheme, which uses renewable energy to offer ‘no strings attached’ grants for art-activist projects in the UK.
    Project website

  • Writing

    Venice Biennale: Think Local, Act Global!

    Harrison self-critically reflects on the experience of taking part in the 2015 Venice Biennale (as part of Doug Fishbone’s Leisure Land Golf) in this short text for Press Room, which laid the groundwork for The Glasgow Effect in 2016. (Word count: 760)

  • Installations
    Life Raft in action at Venice Biennale in 2015

    Life Raft

    Designed as the final hole of Doug Fishbone’s Leisure Land Golf, Life Raft – a scale map of the UK floating in the adjacent canal – offers a safe haven to immigrant golf balls that can make the treacherous crossing.
    Project website

  • Performance / Events
    Consensus decision-making facilitated by Tripod

    Dark Days

    An ‘experiment in communal living’, this event offered one hundred participants the unique opportunity to stay the night in the great hall of the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow as part of a pop-up community.
    Project website

  • Performance / Events

    The Global Race

    The Global Race is an absurd vision of an Olympic games of the future, in which the brilliance of human ‘innovation‘ means we no longer need to break a sweat! At an athletics track in central Berlin, a group of ‘elite athletes’ and members of the public competed in a series of races on Segways.

  • Exhibition

    Progress Report

    Created in 2014 by analysing more than a decade of personal data, Progress Report reveals how, despite espousing “sustainability“, Harrison’s own lifestyle (measured in ‘work’ – no. emails sent and ‘leisure’ – no. lengths swimming) has simply been mirroring capitalism’s “growth fetish”.

  • Political Campaigns, Writing

    Power For The People!

    In this comment piece for The Ecologist, Harrison details how her concerns about climate change led her to start campaigning for the public ownership of our essential services and infrastructure with Bring Back British Rail and Power For The People. (Word count: 766)

  • Performance / Events

    The Other Forecast

    Recorded LIVE in front of a green screen, Harrison’s The Other Forecast offers her summary of the absurd consequences of capitalism, as a warning about the future we are heading towards if the system continues unchecked. Broadcast on the Big Screen at MediaCityUK in November 2013 as part of The Other Forecast project – a collaboration between Harrison & John O’Shea.
    Project website

  • Political Campaigns

    Power For The People

    Harrison launched Bring Back British Rail’s ‘sister campaign’ Power for the People in October 2013 in order to popularise the idea of returning the UK’s energy production and supply to public ownership. Together the campaigns aim to ‘join the dots’ between our most carbon-intensive industries and services to make evident the need to remove the profit-motive from all of them in order to meet the challenges of climate change.
    Campaign website

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News

Ellie Harrison is an artist & activist based in Glasgow (UK). On 8 January 2017, she presented The Glasgow Effect: A talk by Ellie Harrison at Glasgow Film Theatre. In 2019, she was commissioned to develop Bus Regulation: The Musical for Manchester Art Gallery and her first book The Glasgow Effect: A Tale of Class, Capitalism & Carbon Footprint was published by Luath Press. In 2020-21, her Early Warning Signs are installed at four ‘host venues‘ around the UK and her Vending Machine features in the 😹 LMAO exhibition exploring humour in data visualisation at the Open Data Institute in London.

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We must “reimagine, rebrand and relaunch” our public transport after Covid so that “it’s clean, affordable, cheap, quick, a joy to use” ✨🚍 🚇🚆💕 That's me in an interview by Dani Garavelli for today's The Sunday Post 👇 ... See MoreSee Less

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The New Normal: We must reimagine, rebrand and then relaunch after Covid. Our public transport must be a joy to use - The Sunday Post

www.sundaypost.com

1 week ago
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  • Likes: 10
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Comment on Facebook

PlayBus Regulation: The Musical

Today my dream of Bus Regulation became a reality! 🥰 💕 After years of campaigning by Better Buses for Greater Manchester, the Mayor of Greater Manchester finally announced that he would stand up to the profiteering private bus companies, and commit to re-regulating the region's bus network to deliver an integrated and affordable service which puts passengers first 🚍🚇🚆 Why not celebrate this evening by watching the Musical? We did it ✊ #ActivismWorks ... See MoreSee Less

3 weeks ago
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  • Likes: 16
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  • Comments: 6

Comment on Facebook

Watch the announcement here: www.facebook.com/BetterBusesforGM/posts/5225150167526536

Important stuff

well done Ellie

Star! xxx

Thanks for all you did Ellie to make this happen! xxx

Read the news here! www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/live-andy-burnham-announces-decision...

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Join Free Our City this Thursday 25 March, 7pm for our public hearing on Glasgow City Council's public transport policy 🚍🚇🚆 I can't wait! Sign up here 👉 freebuses.eventbrite.co.uk ... See MoreSee Less

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Putting Free Buses Back on the Agenda

freebuses.eventbrite.co.uk

3 weeks ago
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  • Likes: 8
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ScotRail re-nationalised! 🚆 What a massive win for our #makescotrailpublic campaign, launched back in 2014. We did it ✊ #ActivismWorks ... See MoreSee Less

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Public Ownership of Scotland’s Railway

you.38degrees.org.uk

4 weeks ago
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  • Likes: 46
  • Shares: 2
  • Comments: 4

Comment on Facebook

Fabulous 🤩🤩🤩🤩

Fantastic! More power to you, Ellie.

Good work.

I was well chuffed to discover my book 'The Glasgow Effect' featuring at no.6 on Glasgow Times' list of "best Glasgow books" to read this World Book Day (UK & Ireland) 📚🥳 Copies are still available on special offer direct from the publisher Luath Press 👇luath.co.uk/productsg/the-glasgow-effect ... See MoreSee Less

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The best Glasgow books to read this World Book Day

www.glasgowtimes.co.uk

1 month ago
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  • Likes: 29
  • Shares: 3
  • Comments: 1

Comment on Facebook

Read 'The Glasgow Effect' if you care about the city.

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