weather forecasters threatened with jail time for bad predictions

Weather forecasters in South Africa could be forced to pay a heavy fine for getting predictions wrong – even up to a decade of imprisonment. They have been threatened with imprisonment and fines of up to R10,000 if they issue incorrect weather warnings without official permission. The proposed new law has been created to prevent panic and economic damage in the community caused by inaccurate predictions of extreme weather such as flash flooding, drought and gale force winds. The amendment has been made to South Africa’s Weather Service Bill so that anyone wishing to issue a severe weather warning first needs to get permission from the official national weather service.

From African Business Review. Topic first heard on NPR’s news quiz, ‘Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me’ 21 Jan 2012

January 19-21: Lectures on Weather Performance @ DAC

Performance:
Lectures on Weather
Dance Performance choreographed by Athena Kokoronis

Thursday, January 19, 7 PM
Friday, January 20, 7 PM
Saturday, January 21, 4 PM
all events are free and open to the public, donations encouraged!

Lectures on Weather is a performance work choreographed and performed by Athena Kokoronis in collaboration with dancers Carolyn Hall, Julia Handschuh, Hazuki Homma, HanaKyle Moranz, Katie Schetlick, and Meredith Ramirez Talusan. The piece utilizes a 1975 John Cage score called Lecture on the Weather, and incorporates ideas about mushrooms, appetite, protest, and a barter economy to create a work that explores not only an individual body’s relation to society as a whole, but also society’s relation to the individual body. With a video by Jan Mun, and sound constructions by Sandy Gordon.

Thanks to Emcee C.M. for letting us know about this event!

SPWS 2010 Reports Portfolio travels to Vermont

We’re pleased to announce that the SP Weather Station 2010 Reports Portfolio will be included in ‘Weathering it out’, an exhibition at the Studio Place Arts Gallery, 201 N. Main St. Barre, VT 05641
January 24 – February 25, 2012. ‘Weathering it out’ is a group, multi-media exhibit exploring how we are weathering dynamic weather patterns. If you’re in the area, check out the opening reception on January 27th, 5:30 – 7:30pm.

SP Weather Reports 2012: Open Call

What kind of weather report would you make?

SP Weather Station announces its first open call to participate in a limited edition + portfolio trade, the 2012 SP Weather Reports. This is the fifth year of an ongoing project.

Twelve artists or artist groups, one per month for 2012, will be selected to each create a Weather Report. At the end of each month, we will send that month’s data from our weather station in Long Island City to one of the participating artists. The data, as an Excel file, includes indoor/outdoor temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, and precipitation, recorded at 5 minute intervals.

Each month’s weather interpreter is asked to contribute an edition (in a minimum size of 30 or more/unlimited) in response to that month’s weather. This can be interpreted very loosely; the data doesn’t have to manifest itself in the final project, and artists need not be based in NYC. If selected, you will be asked to produce the edition in compliance with our basic material/size requirements and deliver to SPWS by February 15, 2013. The edition should be something produced on the cheap (like a zine). Past artists have created prints, booklets, drawings, audio files, and video. Reports are archived online here.

The 30 sets of 12 works will be collated into 30 archival boxes by SPWS. Each participating artist receives one copy of the portfolio, while SPWS retains the remaining 18 to place in collections and exhibit. Please note: aside from receiving a copy of the completed portfolio, no production funds are available at this time (though we’re applying for funding and hope to offer a modest stipend).

To date, SP Weather Reports have been exhibited in 7 exhibitions including 1 solo show; group exhibitions include Shifting Communities at the Bronx River Art Center in 2011, the 2009 Queens International at the Queens Museum of Art, the International Print Center New York and the University of Pennsylvania Meyerson Hall Gallery. Public collections include: Dennison University Doane Library, Otis College of Art & Design Library Artist Book Collection, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection, and the University of Utah Arts Library.

To apply:
- Please view past reports online at: http://spweatherstation.net/?page_id=6
- Send an email to spweatherstation (at) gmail.com with subject line “2012 APPLICATION”
- In three sentences or less, tell us why you would like to create a Weather Report in 2012. This can be a specific proposal for the edition or an idea about how your work relates to this project.
- List your top 3 choices for the months you would like be a Weather Reporter.
- Include 3 samples of past work (up to 3 images may be attached, maximum size 800 pixels in largest dimension, or link to video URL)
- Optional: attach a CV or link to an artist website.

DEADLINE: December 20, 2011

12/1, 7 PM: U-N-F-O-L-D: Climate Change Art and Science Dating Game @ Parsons

December 1, 2011 7:00 p.m.

An event presented in partnership with PositiveFeedback, a collaboration of The Earth Institute at Columbia University; the Center for Creative Research at NYU; and the CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities.

Wondering what brings scientists and artists together on climate change? Join author David Berreby, artist Mary Miss, and environmental researcher Stephanie Pfirman, on their first date—a chance to connect with other artists and scientists as well!

This program is presented in conjunction with the exhibition U-n-f-o-l-d: A Cultural Response to Climate Change. For more information, visit www.newschool.edu/parsons/sjdc.

LOCATION:
Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Gallery, Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, 2 West 13th Street

ADMISSION:
Free; no tickets or reservations required; seating is first-come first-served
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CLOUD STUDIES at Fotomuseum Winterthur

On view 11/26/11 – 2/12/2012 in Zürich:

‘Clouds are subject to certain distinct modifications, produced by the general causes which effect all the variations of the atmosphere: they are commonly as good visible indications of the operations of these causes, as is the countenance of the state of a person’s mind or body.’ This is what the English pharmacist and meteorologist Luke Howard wrote in 1802 in the preface to his manuscript On the Modification of Clouds. Eighty years later, meteorologists had still not reached a consensus on how to classify, label, and read the forms of clouds. It was during this time that scientists first began using photography to record and measure clouds. With its help, they attempted to gain precise and accurate images that would provide insight on the interplay between clouds and the atmosphere.

The exhibition CLOUD STUDIES – The Scientific View of the Sky presents six stages of meteorological cloud photography, from its infancy in the 1880s – in Switzerland with the first images by Albert Riggenbach photographed from Mount Säntis – up to the newspaper images that were captured by the first weather satellites in the 1960s. This rich collection of photographs, notes, records and atlases from diverse research sources depicts the origins of contemporary weather forecasting. Each of the six stages represents a certain scientific and photographic perspective on clouds.

Curator: Helmut Vőlter. The exhibition was realized in cooperation with the Museum for Photography Braunschweig. / The accompanying publication CLOUD STUDIES – Six Stages of Scientific Cloud Photography was published by Spector Verlag Leipzig.

DIY Video Weather Reports Workshop & Artist Talk by Christy Speakman

In conjunction with the exhibition Shifting Communities: SP Weather Station, Laura Napier, Christy Speakman on view at the Bronx River Arts Center gallery, you’re invited to attend two events this Sunday, November 6, 4-6 pm [BRAC Gallery, 305 East 140th St. #1A, Bronx, NY, 10454].

Christy Speakman will start the event with a talks about how she’s used the different neighborhoods she’s lived in around the Bronx as source material for her work.

SP Weather Station will follow up the talk with a weather reporting video workshop. Come learn to be your own weatherperson!

Film Screening: OWNING THE WEATHER this Sunday! 5pm

Please join us, at the Bronx River Arts Center gallery this Sunday at 5:00 pm for a screening of the documentary film OWNING THE WEATHER [http://owningtheweather.com/] in conjunction with the exhibition “Shifting Communities: SP Weather Station; Laura Napier; Christy Speakman, on view October 21 – November 19, 2011.

“We’ve always wanted to control the weather. Now we may have to. OWNING THE WEATHER goes deep inside the story of weather modification, including geoengineering schemes to fight global warming.”

From Director Robert Greene; World Premiere on April 3rd at the 2009 Full Frame Film Festival

From Full Frame: “From Machiasport, Maine, to Palo Alto, California, people are talking about the weather. But can they do anything about it? This poetic, ironic, and beautifully shot film answers that question by juxtaposing interviews with weather scientists and lay obsessives—including climate scientists, television meteorologists, air-conditioning technicians, and Weather Channel junkies—with evocative images that subtly comment on the way humans interact with their environments.”

Trailer on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VNY2j9nGsY

DIRECTIONS TO Bronx River Arts Center gallery: By Train: #6 to 3rd Avenue/138th Street. By Bus: BX2 or BX21 to 3rd Avenue/140th Street. By Car: From the RFK/Triboro Bridge, take I-87N to exit 2 toward Willis Ave/3rd Ave, Bridge, merge onto E 135th St, turn right at Lincoln Ave, slight right at 3rd Ave, turn right at E 140 St (destination will be on left)

Opening Tonight!

Action shot of Heidi Neilson and Chad Stayrook installing the SPWS-BRAC temporary weather station on the roof of the BRAC gallery (BRAC on the Block @ BRAC Arts Space, 305 East 140th St. #1A, Bronx, NY)

The exhibition “Shifting Communities” with Laura Napier, Christy Speakman, and SP Weather Station opens tonight from 6-9 pm.

More details and directions below and here.

SPWS in Shifting Communities / Opens Oct. 21

Shifting Communities:
SP Weather Station; Laura Napier; Christy Speakman



Bronx River Art Center / BRAC on the block @ Bronx Art Space



305 E 140th St #1A Bronx, NY

October 21 – November 19, 2011



Opening Friday, October 21st 6-9 PM
Public events:



Sunday, October 30th 5PM: Screening of Owning the Weather



Sunday, November 6th 3-6PM: DIY Weather Report Workshop

SPWS is pleased to announce its participation in the year-long Shifting Communities series at Bronx River Art Center.

Please join us for the opening reception October 21 (+ public events October 30 / November 6th)
A full press release is below. We will be exhibiting two new projects:

SP Weather Reports 2010



Participating artists: (January) Liz Zanis; (February) Graham McDougal; (March) James Walsh; (April) Carissa Carman; (May) Mark Parsons; (June) Tim Dye; (July) Douglas Paulson; (August) Robyn York; (September) Cross Current Resonance Transducer [LoVid (Tali Hinkis and Kyle Lapidus) and Douglas Repetto]; (October) Nicholas Fraser; (November) Man Bartlett and Angela Washko; (December) Ellie Harrison. (image below)

Weather Networks NYC



A map with photographs and texts documenting SPWS’s ongoing research into the diverse groups (from government-funded research initiatives to citizen observers) involved with monitoring the weather and environmental conditions of New York City’s ecosystem. Many thanks to the following with their assistance: Dr. Alan Blumberg, The Center for Marine Systems, Stevens Institute of Technology; Dave Conover, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc.; Dr. Holger M. Eisl, Center for the Biology of Natural Systems (CBNS), Queens College, CUNY; Dr. Stuart Gaffin and Dr. Cynthia Rosenzweig, Center for Climate Systems Research, Earth Institute, Columbia University; Sarah Johnson, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene; Kristen King, NYC Department of Parks & Recreation; Dr. Daniel C. Robie, York College, CUNY; and others.

Full press release after the jump.
http://spweatherstation.net/
http://www.bronxriverart.org/gallery.cfm
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=205323236206460
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