London chamber orchestra Ruthless Jabiru will deliver the closing performance of Joy & Dissent: a festival of cultural Activism at Hackney Showroom from 27 March to 09 April 2017.

Ruthless Jabiru will join forces with Art Not Oil in a major performance event on 09 April calling for London’s artists and cultural organisations to aspire to an oil-free cultural sector by signing the fossil funds free commitment.

Devised and conducted by Kelly Lovelady, Ruthless Jabiru will perform an industrial meditation around fuel dependency and its ramifications for artistic authenticity and accountability in a programme for string orchestra by Julia Wolfe, Gloria Coates, Cat Hope, Osvaldo Golijov and Michael Cryne. The performance will explore ideas of joy through solidarity and the inherent poetry of nonverbal protest.

The fossil funds free commitment is coordinated by Platform with support from the Art Not Oil Coalition, BP Or Not BP?, Not An Alternative (US), The Natural History Museum (US) and Stopp oljesponsing av norsk kulturliv (Norway).

Scientists have established that 80% of existing fossil fuels must be kept in the ground to avoid the escalation of climate change to a global catastrophe but instead of halting extraction, fossil fuel companies continue to enter increasingly dangerous frontiers by virtue of their ‘social licence to operate’: the accumulated support of politicians, media, financiers and elites.

Fossil fuel companies purchase ‘social licence’ by sponsoring high-profile shows and cultural projects. In so doing, they influence cultural content, access influential supporters, and ensure their brand is associated with cultural goods rather than ecological destruction, human rights abuse and climate crisis. The voices of respected artists and cultural institutions are used to drown out the voices of those whose rights, health, family and subsistence are endangered by oil drilling.

Through their forthcoming performance ‘Fuel’, Ruthless Jabiru and Art Not Oil are appealing to artists, performers and cultural sector organisations to harness their power in refusing that their work be used to justify and promote fossil fuel extraction at the cost of human lives and communities.

Curated by Hackney Showroom Artistic Director Sam Curtis Lindsay and Associate Artist Malik Nashad Sharpe, Joy & Dissent is an exuberant festival of live performance across disciplines exploring joyousness as political performance, beauty as radical protest, and whether resistance by its very nature should be painful.

“The artists curated to participate in this two-week event are gathered by the visceral nature of their work and a myriad of engagements with joy and dissent,” said Sharpe. “This festival is about using the material, the body, the stage, the air and the witness to suggest a new kind of strategy to emerge new worlds.”

Ruthless Jabiru is a New music ensemble dedicated to humanitarian stories and the only orchestra worldwide committed to Activism in its ongoing work. Programmes are devised around existing and commissioned repertoire by today’s composers with a view to promoting sustainability and ethical dialogue. The ensemble is held under the official patronage of composer Brett Dean and in partnership with Sound and Music, the national agency for New music and sound art.

“A clear statement of intent… The orchestra has a clear musical identity and its future looks very bright indeed.” – Seen and Heard International

“A brilliant company.” – Australian Stage

Ruthless Jabiru will perform ‘Fuel’ at Hackney Showroom on 09 April for Joy & Dissent: https://www.hackneyshowroom.com/fuel