The exhibition focuses on how ones perception of landscape may be informed by human transformations of the environment, and by their mediation through artistic depictions and cultural representations that are often partial and politically inflected. On display works by Allora & Calzadilla, Andrea Geyer, Marine Hugonnier, Lasse Lau, Jason Middlebrook. The exhibitions are connected to a parallel trajectory consisting of an ongoing discussion with artists and curators, examining particular artistic and curatorial practices.
As a two-part exhibition and an ongoing discussion, 'Field Work' conjectures two
parallel, interconnected, and yet differently orientated trajectories that encompass
art, nature and ecology. The exhibitions 'Field Work - part 1' and 'Field Work -
part 2' address contemporary perceptions and understandings of nature.
'Field Work - part 1' focuses on how ones perception of landscape may be informed by
human transformations of the environment, and by their mediation through artistic
depictions and cultural representations that are often partial and politically
inflected.
Artist-duo Allora & Calzadilla show their meditative video 'Amphibious
(Login-Logout)' which quietly observes the daily flow of commerce along China's
Pearl River from the perspective of six tortoises, and lays bare the ecological
degradations that have become inherent in China's rapid entry into the global
economy. Andrea Geyer's performance 'Spiral Lands (Chapter 2)', examines the radical
re-envisioning of the American Southwest through Native American culture and ongoing
toil over the borders and meanings of Native American land and knowledge. Marine
Hugonnier's film installation 'Ariana', shot in Afghanistan, investigates the
relationship between landscape and history. It explores ideas of utopia and
resistance, questioning the tools of cinema and western ideas a propos viewpoint and
panorama. Through portrayal of the recollections of Lebanese immigrants' stories
from the Diaspora, the latest video work 'Pine nuts' by Lasse Lau focuses on the
history of a public park in Beirut that has not yet officially reopened to the
public nearly 20 years after the end of the civil war. Jason Middlebrook's
installation of drawings and wall painting depicts the 800-mile Alaskan Pipeline
(APL). Though the pipeline remains a constant in each drawing, it becomes a
springboard to explore recurrent themes in Middlebrook's works: geology, ecology,
art history, and political economies.
The exhibitions are connected to a parallel trajectory in which the notion of
ecology is the focal point. This parallel trajectory consists of an ongoing
discussion with artists and curators, examining particular artistic and curatorial
practices from the perspective of ecology, as a strategy rather then a 'thematic'.
This is in line with what feminist philosopher Lorraine Code indicates in her recent
publication 'Ecological Thinking - the politics of epistemic location': "ecological
thinking is not simply thinking about ecology or about the environment (.). It is a
revisioned mode of engagement with knowledge, subjectivity, politics, ethics,
science, citizenship, and agency that pervades and reconfigures theory and
practice." The discussion is open for commentary and contributions by visitors are
also represented in the reading room, which contains books on art, nature and
ecology.
The performance event 'Spiral Lands / Chapter 2' by Andrea Geyer will take place on
Saturday 26 April (t.b.c.)
Opening: Saturday 29 March 2008, 21.00 hrs
Afterparty: 10.30 - 03.00 uur
SMART Project Space
Arie Biemondstraat 105-113 - Amsterdam
Opening hours: Tue - Sat, 12.00 - 17.00 hrs