Volume 7, Issue 1, Fall/Winter 2008

Media

2008 New Orleans Green Salon

Nancy Sharon Collins and Daniela Marx
(View author biography in PDF)

In 2007, Loyola University New Orleans was invited to host a "green salon." A relatively new AIGA Center for Sustainable Design (CFSD) initiative,* Green Salon is a national effort to introduce, manage and address sustainable issues surrounding the field of design. On an individual scale for designers, CFSD provides case studies and advice for managing the use of paper and inks so as to minimize harm to the environment. On a broader scale, it introduces challenges and controversial issues about natural resources such as forestry, land management and the use of fossil fuels in manufacturing and distribution. CFSD uses Salon to introduce these questions and issues.

As educators and practicing designers, we were delighted with the invitation and curious about what sustainability might mean to a place still consumed by efforts to stabilize communities, lives, and individual careers. When thinking about New Orleans it is necessary to understand that the creative spirit is forever alive in our great and only slightly tarnished city. Therefore, it was of utmost importance that original works of creativity be part of our first Salon. The daunting task of organizing this fledgling initiative in a yet challenged city are documented in this article. In addition, two videos produced expressly for the event were premiered along with the special composition Somewhere, composed and performed by the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Ensemble.

The Allegory of the Birds is a purposefully odd and uncomfortable video presentation outlining the extraordinary challenges our planet currently faces. It represents John Clark, Gregory F. Curtin Distinguished Professor in Humane Letters and the Professions, Loyola University, talking about the disconnection between what is at stake environmentally and people's perception of the gravity of the problem of global sustainability. Using Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds as a starting point, Dr. Clark explores social, environmental, philosophic and practical problems of sustainability and offers a simple suggestion for dealing with these enormous and frightening challenges.

Many people outside of our profession see "design" as a decorative add-on to every day life. We describe design as the force that translates concepts or raw information into tangible metaphors that each audience can understand. For Salon, we wanted to explain how much electricity it takes to illuminate the venue in which this six-hour event was held. In simple and graphically compelling terms the video, Green Salon: Roussel Hall Loyola University New Orleans, illustrates how much power a world-class recital hall consumes in the course of an afternoon of performances-thus positing the question: is the benefit realized by a live performance equal to or greater than its impact on the environment?

After the devastating storms of 2005, Loyola University New Orleans was fortunate in having the Monk Institute relocate to its campus, which helped revitalize jazz and contemporary music on the Loyola Campus. International in standing, spiritually rich and fulfilling in creative spirit, the Monk Institute Ensemble generously participated in Salon. Somewhere, Vadim Neselovskyi's haunting jazz composition, provided an emotional conclusion to the first New Orleans Green Salon.

Green Salon for New Orleans proved to be a successful, very focused time and place where professionals and academics, community members and nationally recognized experts in sustainability were able to come together and exchange productive ideas. It is with great satisfactions to the authors of the Green Salon article that Loyola University New Orleans has committed to continuing to host Salon on an annual basis.

*AIGA, the professional association for design (back to top)