Cover Story, November 2024: Max Andrews on Robert Smithson’s text “Aerial Art” (1969)
Fri, Nov 1 2024
November 2024 cover story on www.lttds.org
NEW MONTH
NEW MONTHLY COVER STORY
The November 2024 monthly Cover Story “Frequent Flyers: Robert Smithson’s ‘Aerial Art,’ 1969” is now up on Latitudes’ homepage (after November 2024 it will be archived here). Cover Stories are published monthly featuring past, present, or forthcoming projects, research, texts, artworks, exhibitions, films, objects, or field trips related to Latitudes’ curatorial projects and activities.
Max Andrews was commissioned to contribute an essay on a work by Robert Smithson (1938–1973) for the Holt/Smithson Foundation’s Scholarly Text Program.
Max chose to write on Smithson’s text “Aerial Art” published in Studio International in February 1969. In the essay, Smithson presented proposals developed for Dallas-Fort Worth Regional Airport in 1966–67, in collaboration with Tippetts—Abbett—McCarthy—Stratton Architects and Engineers. His proposals envisioned extensive earthworks to be installed between the runways, created by himself, Carl Andre, Robert Morris, and Sol LeWitt.
The Scholarly Text Program regularly commissions thinkers from various disciplines to write 1,200 words on single artworks by Nancy Holt and/or Robert Smithson. These essays explore how Holt and Smithson’s ideas resonate through contemporary artistic and cultural production, covering topics ranging from geology to ecology, poetry, and beyond.
Read Mariana Cánepa Luna’s recently published essay on Nancy Holt’s site-responsive installation “Ventilation System” (1985–1992) also part of the Scholarly Text Programme’s Chapter 7.
Thank you to Lisa Le Feuvre, Executive Director of the Holt/Smithson Foundation, for the kind invitation to contribute to the foundation’s growing archive, and to William T. Carson, Program Manager and Assistant Curator, for the research assistance.
Abstract:
Max Andrews’ essay delves into Robert Smithson's seminal article "Aerial Art" (1969), which outlines his earthworks proposals for the Dallas-Fort Worth Regional Airport and those of Carl Andre, Robert Morris, and Sol LeWitt. Andrews examines the historical context, including the growth of air travel and global art networks. Importantly, the essay underscores the sustained multi-decade increase in CO2 emissions from air travel and its significant contribution to the climate crisis.
Keywords:
Robert Smithson, Aerial Art, 1969, Studio International, Artforum, Anthropocene, Charles Jencks, postmodernism, Dallas-Fort Worth Regional Airport, Tippetts–Abbett–McCarthy–Stratton, earthworks, Carl Andre, Robert Morris, and Sol LeWitt, site-specificity, Boing 747, Spiral Jetty, CO2 emissions, frequent flying, transnational art world, contemporary art, decarbonization, exhibition-making, curatorial hypermobility, Harald Szeemann, air travel, global mobility, low-carbon footprint art production, multinational museum brands, biennial model, Fernand Braudel, Gustav Metzger, Reduce Art Flights, Paris Agreement, 2030, global warming.
How to cite:
Andrews, Max, “Frequent Flyers: Robert Smithson’s “Aerial Art,” 1969”, Holt/Smithson Foundation: Scholarly Texts Chapter 7 (October 2024). ISBN: 978-1-952603-36-5
→ RELATED CONTENT:
- Other writing
- Looking back – Visiting Robert Smithson's “Spiral Jetty” (1970) on 7 September 2004, 7 Sep 2014
- Publication “Robert Smithson: Art in Continual Movement” (Alauda Publications, 2012) includes an essay by Max Andrews, 28 Mar 2012
- Lecture by Max Andrews "From Spiral to Spime: Robert Smithson, the ecological and the curatorial", 13 March, 2pm, Lecture Theatre 1, Royal College of Art, London, 12 March 2012
- Robert Smithson's “Broken Circle/Spiral Hill Revisited” (1971–2011) and The Land Art Contemporary programme, 14 September 2011
- Archive of Monthly Cover Stories
- Cover Story, October 2024: Nancy Holt “Ventilation System”, 1 Oct 2024
- Cover Story, September 2024: THE CREST OF A WAVE, 2 Sept 2024
- Cover Story, July-August 2024: Rosa Tharrats, Curtain Call, 1 July 2024
- Cover Story, June 2024: TERENCE GOWER—DIPLOMACY, URBANISM, URANIUM, 3 June 2024
- Cover Story, May 2024: Richard Serra & Anne Garde—Threats of Paradise, 30 Apr 2024
- Cover Story, May 2024: Richard Serra & Anne Garde—Threats of Paradise, 30 April 2024
- Cover Story, April 2024: In Progress–Iratxe Jaio and Klaas van Gorkum, 2 April 2024
- Cover Story, March 2024: Dibbets en Palencia, 4 March 2024
- Cover Story, February 2024: Climate Conscious Travel to ARCOmadrid, 1 February 2024
- Cover Story, January 2024: Curating Lab 2014–Curatorial Intensive, 2 Jan 2024
- Cover Story, December 2023: Ibon Aranberri, Partial View, 2 Dec 2023
- Cover Story, November 2023: Surucuá, Teque-teque, Arara: Daniel Steegmann Mangrané, 2 Nov 2023
Cover Story, October 2024: Nancy Holt “Ventilation System”
Tue, Oct 1 2024
October 2024 cover story on www.lttds.org
NEW MONTH
NEW MONTHLY COVER STORY
The October 2024 monthly Cover Story “Nancy Holt “Ventilation System” is now up on Latitudes’ homepage (after October 2024 it will be archived here). Cover Stories are published monthly featuring past, present, or forthcoming projects, research, texts, artworks, exhibitions, films, objects, or field trips related to Latitudes’ curatorial projects and activities.
Mariana Cánepa Luna of Latitudes was commissioned to write an essay on a work by American artist Nancy Holt (1938–2014) for the Holt/Smithson Foundation’s Scholarly Text Program.
Mariana Cánepa Luna of Latitudes was commissioned to write an essay on a work by American artist Nancy Holt (1938–2014) for the Holt/Smithson Foundation’s Scholarly Text Program.
→ Read it here.
Abstract:
Mariana focused on Holt’s “Ventilation System” (1985–1992), a site-responsive installation that celebrates air-conditioning infrastructures and draws attention to their ubiquitous, though often overlooked, presence in modern life. While such building components are typically concealed, Holt’s work ostentatiously showcases industrial ducts and fans, blending functionality with wry playfulness. This installation, part of her “System Works”, critiques humanity's dependency on technological infrastructures and subtly raises ecological concerns around energy use. It reflects Holt’s interest in connecting human experience to larger natural systems, akin to her most famous work, “Sun Tunnels” (1973–1976).
Graphics courtesy Holt/Smithson Foundation.
In today's context, “Ventilation System” resonates with a heightened sustainability awareness. Recent artworks, like Nick Raffel’s “fan (Wesleyan)” (2022) and “wind dial (Pied-à-Terre)” (2021), further explore air circulation in buildings, emphasizing efficiency and environmental literacy. Ghislaine Leung’s “Violets 2” (2018) explores related themes, using repurposed ventilation pipes to reflect on institutional conditions and artistic labour.
[1 and 2] Nancy Holt, “Ventilation IV: Hampton Air”, 1992. Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, New York. Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, New York. Steel ducts, fans, turbine ventilators, shanty caps. Indoor section: 4.9 x 5.5 x 8.5 m. Outdoor section: 4.8 x 6.1 x 8.2 m. © Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York. [2] Ghislaine Leung, “Violets 2”, 2018. Galvanised Steel Ventilation System, Brackets, Screws, Bolts, Dirt, Welcome Sign. Ventilation System removed from Network Aalst Bar during 2017 refurbishment. Commissioned by Network Aalst, Belgium. Score: All pipes removed for refurbishment reinstalled within the space of one room and bracketed fixed to the floor, using as much of the material as possible while keeping it all interconnected. Spare pieces that do not fit in this configuration are to be bracketed together in smaller formations. A welcome sign to be installed. Courtesy of the artist and Maxwell Graham, New York. [3] Nick Raffel, “Pied-à-terre”, San Francisco, 2022. Photo: McIntyre Parker. Courtesy of the artist.
Throughout her career, Holt presented four iterations of “Ventilation System”: at Temple Gallery, Philadelphia; and Palladium, New York (both in 1985); at the Tampere Art Museum, Finland; and at the Guild Hall Museum in East Hampton, New York (both in 1992). Posthumously, the installation has been presented on three occasions: at Bildmuseet, Umeå, Sweden; Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia (both in 2022); and most recently at MACBA Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Spain (2023).
[Above and below] Nancy Holt, “Ventilation System” (1985-92). Installation view: Bildmuseet, Umeå, Sweden, 2022. Steel ducts, turbine ventilators, shanty caps, fans, air [materials are locally sourced with each presentation]. Overall dimensions variable [site responsive]. Photograph: Mikael Lundgren. Image Courtesy Holt/Smithson Foundation and Bildmuseet. © Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
The Scholarly Text Program regularly commissions thinkers from various disciplines to write 1,200 words on single artworks by Nancy Holt and/or Robert Smithson. The authors explore how Holt and Smithson’s ideas resonate through artistic and cultural production in the present, exploring topics ranging from geology to ecology, poetry, architecture, science fiction, public art, sculpture, drawing, film, exhibition histories or philosophy. The Scholarly Text Program will publish two essays on each work, presenting differing opinions and approaches. Each new essay includes images selected by the author, a short bibliography, citation references, endnotes pointing to the author’s references and an ISBN.
Stay tuned for Max Andrews’ upcoming contribution on Smithson’s article “Aerial Art” (1969) next month.
Thank you to Lisa Le Feuvre, Executive Director of the Holt/Smithson Foundation, for the kind invitation to contribute to the foundation’s growing Scholarly Texts Program archive and to William T. Carson, Program Manager and Assistant Curator, for the research assistance. Extended gratitude to Chicago-based artist Nick Raffel for the insightful online studio visit and to Maxwell Graham Gallery, New York.
Nancy Holt’s “Ventilation System” (1985-92) is a site-specific installation that exposes the hidden infrastructure of air circulation in buildings. By using industrial-grade ducts and HVAC systems, Holt both celebrates and critiques human dependence on technology. The essay discusses the relationship between “Ventilation System” and environmental concerns. It highlights the tension between functionality and artistic playfulness, and how the work raises awareness of our reliance on energy-intensive systems. Finally, the essay connects Holt’s artistic intervention to current debates about sustainability in the art world, particularly regarding museum energy consumption.
Keywords:
Nancy Holt, ventilation systems, Site-specificity, HVAC systems, sustainability, ecological concerns, System Works, Land art, Conceptual art, Charlotte Posenenske, Post-pandemic world, climate change, Institutional critique, building efficiency, sustainability, air quality, Nick Raffel, Karen Archey, Third wave of Institutional Critique, HVLS fans, Ghislaine Leung, artistic labour, climate crisis, “Constitutional critique”, context-contingent art.
How to cite:
Cánepa Luna, Mariana, “Nancy Holt’s “Ventilation System” (1985–1992).” Holt/Smithson Foundation: Scholarly Texts Chapter 7 (October 2024). ISBN: 978-1-952603-35-8 https://holtsmithsonfoundation.org/nancy-holts-ventilation-system-1985-1992
→ RELATED CONTENTS:
- Archive of Monthly Cover Stories
- Other writing by Mariana Cánepa Luna
- Looking back – Visiting Robert Smithson's “Spiral Jetty” (1970) on 7 September 2004, 7 Sep 2014
- Publication “Robert Smithson: Art in Continual Movement” (Alauda Publications, 2012) includes an essay by Max Andrews, 28 Mar 2012
- Cover Story–September 2024: Cover Story, September 2024: THE CREST OF A WAVE, 2 Sept 2024
- Cover Story–July-August 2024: Rosa Tharrats, Curtain Call, 1 July 2024
- Cover Story, June 2024: TERENCE GOWER—DIPLOMACY, URBANISM, URANIUM, 3 June 2024
- Cover Story, May 2024: Richard Serra & Anne Garde—Threats of Paradise, 30 Apr 2024
- Cover Story, April 2024: In Progress–Iratxe Jaio and Klaas van Gorkum, 2 April 2024
- Cover Story, March 2024: Dibbets en Palencia, 4 March 2024
- Cover Story, February 2024: Climate Conscious Travel to ARCOmadrid, 1 February 2024
- Cover Story, January 2024: Curating Lab 2014–Curatorial Intensive, 2 Jan 2024
- Cover Story, December 2023: Ibon Aranberri, Partial View, 2 Dec 2023
- Cover Story, November 2023: Surucuá, Teque-teque, Arara: Daniel Steegmann Mangrané, 2 Nov 2023
- Cover Story, October 2023: A tree felled, a tree cut in seven, 2 October 2023
Montse Badia escribe sobre GCC Spain en la revista Bonart #198
Wed, Oct 25 2023
Foto: María Gracia de Pedro.
(...) “Con el objetivo de proporcionar guías de actuación para trabajar en términos de responsabilidad ambiental desde el mundo del arte, nace Gallery Climate Coalition, una entidad sin ánimo de lucro que trabaja desde Nueva York, Los Ángeles, Taiwán, Londres, Berlín, Italia y desde hace unos meses también desde España, impulsada por Carolina Grau y Latitudes, entre otros. [1]
Y como nada mejor que los datos para visualizar lo que puede ser cambiado, la página web de GCC (www.galleryclimatecoalition.org) ofrece una calculadora que indica la cantidad de CO2 que producimos al realizar un viaje de trabajo, organizamos un transporte, imprimimos documentos o trabajamos desde casa.”
Montse Badia, “‘Green Teams’ vs ‘green washing’”, Bonart #198, Septiembre 2023–Febrero 2024, p. 31.
[1] A fecha de mayo 2023, el Comité de GCC Spain está conformado por María Gracia de Pedro (Badr El Jundi Gallery); Carolina Grau (Comisaria independiente); Lucía Mendoza y Laura Carro (Galería Lucía Mendoza); Cecilia Durán (Galería Senda); Carmen Huerta (TAC7); Nicky Ure (UreCulture); Max Andrews y Mariana Cánepa Luna (Latitudes).
CONTENIDO RELACIONADO:
- Introductory event, 40min video (en Español) 19 June 202
- (pdf) Nota de prensa – Presentación de Gallery Climate Coalition Spain, 19 June 2023
- Latitudes qualify as an Active Member of the Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC), 10 May 2023
- Latitudes’ Environmental Policy Statement – Extended version here.
- Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC) en el Estado español, 25 Jan 2023
- “‘Minor’ Ornithologies” podcast conducted by Max Andrews of Latitudes for TBA21 on st_age, 27 September 2022
- Lead Faculty, Geologic Time, Banff International Curatorial Institute, Visual + Digital Arts Department, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Banff, Canada, 11 September–6 October 2017
- Group exhibition, “4.543 billion. The matter of matter”, CAPC musée d’art contemporain Bordeaux, France, 29 June 2017–7 January 2018
- Editors, “Lara Almarcegui. Projects 1995–2010”, Archive Books, 2011
- Solo exhibition, “Christina Hemauer & Roman Keller: United Alternative Energies”, Kunsthal Aarhus, Århus, Denmark, 22 January–3 April 2011
- Public realm commissions, Portscapes, Port of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, throughout 2009
- Custodians, Reduce Art Flights (RAF) website (2008–ongoing)
- Touring film programme, “A Stake in the Mud, A Hole in the Reel. Land Art’s Expanded Field 1968–2008”, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, and other venues, April–October 2008
- Group exhibition “Greenwashing. Perils, Promises and Perplexities”, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Torino, February–May 2008
- Convenors, “Art, Ecology and the Politics of Change”, 3-day symposium during the Sharjah Biennial 8, 5–7 April 2007
- Editors, “UOVO #14: Ecology, Luxury and Degradation”, 2007
- Editor, “LAND, ART: A Cultural Ecology Handbook” (2006)
- Curator, Tue Greenfort, Arts & Ecology public realm commission in London, 2005–2008.
Cover Story, March 2023: Art, Climate, and New Coalitions
Wed, Mar 1 2023
March 2023 cover story on www.lttds.org
The March 2023 monthly Cover Story “Art, Climate and New Coalitions” is now up on our homepage www.lttds.org
“The terminology of environmental consciousness and carbon emissions has shifted significantly in recent decades, from talk of the greenhouse effect to global warming and sustainable development, and now from climate change to the climate emergency. ” → Continue reading (after March 2023 this story will be archived here).
Cover Stories are published on a monthly basis on Latitudes’ homepage featuring past, present or forthcoming projects, research, texts, artworks, exhibitions, films, objects or field trips related to our curatorial projects and activities.
→ RELATED CONTENTS:
- Archive of Monthly Cover Stories
- Cover Story, February 2023: Soil for Future Art Histories, 2 Feb 2023
- Cover Story, January 2023: Claudia Pagès’ ‘Gerundi Circular’, 2 Jan 2023
- Cover Story, December 2022: “The Melt Goes On Forever. David Hammons and DART Festival, 1 December 2022
- Cover Story, November 2022: Jorge Satorre’s Barcelona, 1 Nov 2022
- Cover Story, October 2022: Stray Ornithologies—Laia Estruch, 3 Oct 2022
- Cover Story, September 2021: Erratic behaviour—Latitudes in conversation with Jorge Satorre, 31 August 2021
- Cover Story, July–August 2022: Incidents (of Travel) from Seoul, 1 July 2022
- Cover Story, June 2022: Cyber-Eco-Feminist Incidents in Attica, 1 June 2022
- Cover Story, May 2022: Things Things Say in print, 2 May 2022
- Cover Story, March 2022: The passion of Gabriel Ventura, 1 March 2022
Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC) en el Estado español
Wed, Jan 25 2023
El 22 de febrero de 2023 a las 16h tendrá lugar una sesión informativa sobre la Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC) en el Exhibitors’ Lounge de ARCOmadrid.
El encuentro lanza un nuevo grupo semiautónomo y voluntario afincado en el Estado español, GCC Spain – que se suma a los grupos de trabajo alineados con los objetivos de GCC existentes en Berlín, Italia, Los Ángeles, Londres y Taiwán – e inicia su andadura con el fin de desarrollar y compartir buenas prácticas y recursos medioambientales específicos para profesionales del sector artístico español.
Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC) es una organización sin ánimo de lucro que agrupa a distintos agentes del sector artístico en Europa que ofrece directrices de sostenibilidad medioambiental para el sector de las artes visuales. La membresía es totalmente gratuita (actualmente cuenta con +800 miembros de 40 países), tan sólo exige un compromiso sincero y firme con la misión y los fines de la asociación.
Preocupados por reducir y compensar el impacto medioambiental que nuestro sector genera, los principales objetivos de la coalición son facilitar una reducción de las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero del sector de las artes visuales en un mínimo del 50% para 2030 (en línea con el objetivo del Acuerdo de París de mantener el calentamiento global por debajo de 1.5 °C) y promover prácticas de deshechos cero.
Información → https://galleryclimatecoalition.org
Contacto → espana@galleryclimatecoalition.org
CONTENIDOS RELACIONADOS:
- Latitudes’ essay “Un suelo para las historias del arte del futuro” [Soil for Future Art Histories] in TBA21’s catalogue “Futuros Abundantes / Abundant Futures”, 22 Jan 2023
- “‘Minor’ Ornithologies” podcast conducted by Max Andrews of Latitudes for TBA21 on st_age, 27 Sep 2022
- Cover Story, September 2021: Erratic behaviour—Latitudes in conversation with Jorge Satorre, 31 Aug 2021
- 18 marzo 2021, 18:30h: Mesa redonda “Transformación geológica y construcción artificial” con Lara Almarcegui y Juan Guardiola, 8 Mar 2021
- Lead Faculty, Geologic Time, Banff International Curatorial Institute, Visual + Digital Arts Department, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Banff, Canada, 11 September–6 October 2017
- Group exhibition, “4.543 billion. The matter of matter”, CAPC musée d’art contemporain Bordeaux, France, 29 June 2017–7 January 2018
- Editors, “Lara Almarcegui. Projects 1995–2010”, Archive Books, 2011
- Solo exhibition, “Christina Hemauer & Roman Keller: United Alternative Energies”, Kunsthal Aarhus, Århus, Denmark, 22 January–3 April 2011
- Public realm commissions, Portscapes, Port of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, throughout 2009
- Custodians, Reduce Art Flights (RAF) website (2008–ongoing)
- Touring film programme, “A Stake in the Mud, A Hole in the Reel. Land Art’s Expanded Field 1968–2008”, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, and other venues, April–October 2008
- Group exhibition “Greenwashing. Perils, Promises and Perplexities”, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Torino, February–May 2008
- Convenors, “Art, Ecology and the Politics of Change”, 3-day symposium during the Sharjah Biennial 8, 5–7 April 2007
- Editors, “UOVO #14: Ecology, Luxury and Degradation”, 2007
- Editor, “LAND, ART: A Cultural Ecology Handbook” (2006)
- Curator, Tue Greenfort, Arts & Ecology public realm commission in London, 2005–2008
Cover Story–May 2021: RAF goes viral
Sun, May 2 2021
May 2021 cover story on www.lttds.org
The May 2021 monthly Cover Story ‘RAF goes viral’ is now up on our homepage: www.lttds.org
“RAF / Reduce Art Flights is a campaign imploring that the art world (artists, curators, critics, gallerists, collectors, museum directors, etc.) should diminish its use of aeroplanes. It was initiated by the artist Gustav Metzger (1926–2017) on the occasion of the artist’s participation in Skulptur Projekte Münster in 2007, during which 5,000 leaflets based on a 1942 Royal Air Force poster were distributed.”
→ After May 2021 this story will be archived here.
Cover Stories' are published on a monthly basis on Latitudes' homepage featuring past, present or forthcoming projects, research, texts, artworks, exhibitions, films, objects or field trips related to our curatorial projects and activities.
→ RELATED CONTENTS:
- Archive of Monthly Cover Stories
- Reduce Art Flights website refreshed, 5 February 2020
- dOCUMENTA (13) artists and Latitudes, 24 Aug 2012
- Reduce Art Flights leafleting campaign by Gustav Metzger at the Serpentine Gallery, London, 21 Oct 2009
- Reduce Art Flights campaign initiative changes URL to www.reduceartflights.lttds.org, 28 Jan 2009
- Greenwashing update: RAF / Reduce Art Flights. Gustav Metzger interview, 06 Mar 2008
- Cover Story—April 2021: Cover Story – April 2021: Lara Almarcegui at La Panera, 2 Apr 2021
- Cover Story—March 2021: Eulàlia Rovira's ‘A Knot Which is Not’ (2020–21), 1 mar 2021
- Cover Story—February 2021: ‘Straits Time: narrative smuggling in Singapore’, 1 Feb 2021
- Cover Story–January 2021: ‘Things Things Say’: VIP's Union’, 1 Jan 2021
Lecture ‘Curating in the web of life’ in Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, 7 November 2019 at 7:30pm
Mon, Oct 28 2019
Image: Dan Perjovschi.
On November 7, 2019, at 7:30pm Latitudes will present the lecture ‘Curating in the web of life’ in the context of the public programme related to the group exhibition ‘The Coming World: Ecology as the New Politics 2030–2100’ on view at Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, until December 1, 2019.
Curated by Snejana Krasteva and Ekaterina Lazareva, the exhibition ‘The Coming World: Ecology as the New Politics 2030–2100’ currently occupies the entire Museum and presents historical and new works by over 50 Russian and international artists—from a 16th-century tapestry to works using VR.
Roman Keller and Christina Hemauer, ‘A Road Not Taken. The Story of the Jimmy Carter White House Solar Installation’, film still, 66 min., 2010. Courtesy of the artists.
— A lecture by Latitudes
Modern art and modernist art history largely assented to the ontological and epistemological lie which imagined humanity and the humanities making their own history by themselves, while hiding the fact that their productions, relations, and economy were always teeming with biophysical processes. The increasing violence by which the limits of the planet, its feedback loops and tipping points, are forcing themselves into world events has profound consequences for how we narrate (art) history and curate exhibitions in the web of life.
New disciplines are broaching the separation between human activities and Earth systems – environmental law, political ecology, ecological economics, and so on. Likewise, what is at issue when artists, curators, exhibitions, and museums venture into new formations and shared rather than adjacent perspectives? What is at stake in a curatorial ecology, an environmental art history, or in integrating socio-natural processes into an institution’s account of itself, and so on? Turning to a world-systems approach as well as the insights of micro-history, Max Andrews & Mariana Cánepa Luna will present a series of curatorial and artistic perspectives on such questions, drawing from “uncomfortable objects” and “dishonest research” [1] across their exhibitions “4.543 billion. The matter of matter” (2017–18), “Hemauer Keller: United Alternative Energies” (Kunsthal Aarhus, 2011) “Greenwashing. Environment: Perils, Promises and Perplexities” (Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, 2008), and related projects such as the residency “Geologic Time” (Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, 2017).
[1] “Uncomfortable objects” is a notion borrowed from artist Mariana Castillo Deball, and “dishonest research” from artist Mercedes Azpilicueta.
→ RELATED CONTENTS:
- Conferencia ‘4.543 miles de millones y la naturaleza social abstracta’, Jornadas Eremuak, Azkuna Zentroa, Bilbao, 17–19 octubre 2019, 14 octubre 2019
- Conversación con Lara Almarcegui en el Institut Valencià d'Art Modern (IVAM), 11 de julio 2019, 19h
- Parallel Rooms, Art Basel Cities: Buenos Aires talks, hosted in collaboration with arteBA, Buenos Aires, 13 April 2019.
- Convenor, 'The Return of the Earth. Ecologising art history in the Anthropocene’, CAPC musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux, 15 November 2017.
- In conversation with Haegue Yang, Fundació Tàpies, Barcelona, 3 May 2017.
- Lecture, ‘You're such a curator!’, De Appel Curatorial Programme Summit, Amsterdam, 23–24 November 2016.