In the dim and distant days of our past we drove across Australia in our combi van with not a care in the world. Those were the days! Along the way life was filled with adventures, WOOF-ing and large spiders and the meeting of an incredibly diverse group of individuals.

Painting by: Gerald Wilde ‘Metropolis’

The reason for musing on the past? A recent visit to London’s October Gallery to visit their Winter Show 2008 featuring the work of El Anatsui / William S. Burroughs / Ira Cohen / Elisabeth Lalouschek / Gerald Wilde / Aubrey Williams filled an inspirational afternoon.

Founded in 1978, the October Gallery is an art gallery dedicated to the appreciation of art from all cultures around the world. The Gallery exhibits and promotes art of the transvangarde – or trans-cultural avant-garde – that is to say, the work of artists who, whilst working at the forefront of their own respective cultures, assimilate into their work elements from other cultures as well.

So why the link to the past?

On our epic drive we were lucky enough to stay at Birdwood Downs, a 4700 acre (1850 hectare) savannah restoration project. Run by the truely incredibly inspirational Robyn Tredwell the projects program of sustainable diversified development includes pasture regeneration with drought-resistant grass and legume varieties; silviculture and tropical orchardry; ecotechnic treatment and reuse of wastewater for gardens; also horsemanship training programs for local youth; and breeding/management of horse and cattle herds.

To this day, our thoughts are with Robyn, managing this terrain in one of the most remote spots on earth.

Birdwood Downs is just one of the projects run by The Institute of Ecotechnics.  The Institute of Ecotechnics convenes conferences and workshops that bring together leading thinkers, scientists, explorers, artists and managers.

I.E.’s Ecofrontiers projects include: a rainforest reforestation project in Puerto Rico, an ocean-going ecological research ship which studies the diversity and evolution of human cultures, restoration of an overgrazed cattle and horse ranch in the tropical savannah of northwest Australia, organic orchardry and regionally-adapted architecture in the high desert semi-arid grassland/juniper-pinon country of New Mexico, a sustainable farm and conference center in Aix-en-Provence and The October Gallery, a center for artists from around the planet in the Bloomsbury district of London.

Named after the month in which the Gallery was founded, a season associated with  ripeness and fruition, the October Gallery is a self-supporting charitable trust that, while it receives no core-funding still manages to resist the powerful commercial pressures of the fashionable art world. Support for the project comes from sales of  art, rental of the Gallery’s unique facilities, grants from various funding bodies and the active support of a growing number of dedicated artists, musicians, writers and many other such friends from around the world.

In the twenty-one years since opening its doors to the peripatetic artists, thinkers and scientists of the planet, the Gallery has hosted more than just exhibitions of the visual arts, holding concert performances by the Theatre of All Possibilities and the Bauls of Bengal, performances of Balinese, Indian and Middle Eastern dance, Dervishes from Pakistan, evenings with writers and thinkers that include Lawrence Durrell, Brion Gysin, John Allen and John Lilly and readings by poets such as Christopher Logue, David Gascoyne, Ira Cohen, Johnny Dolphin, Taiwo Jegede, Kathleen Raine and many others.

“Since the beginning of the Institute’s activities in the early ’70’s, developing the discipline of ecotechnics has become ever more relevant to the intelligent management of Earth’s biosphere. Interestingly, the skills and understanding essential to creating future life systems in space are equally essential to our future on Earth.”   -Mark Nelson, Chairman and co-founder