Nature Inspires Art in San Diego
Image source: Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
Watching the world around us and the changes big and small that occur all the time, sometimes you just have to do something to reflect what you are experiencing. It is this need to create that brings Human Nature: Artists Responding to a Changing Planet to the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego. The exhibit, on display until February 1, 2009, is part of an artist residency program "investigating the relationships between fragile natural environments and the human communities that depend on them." In practice, that meant sending 8 prominent artists to threatened locations around the world and then let them work their magic.The program is organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, the University of California Berkeley and Pacific Film Archive. Artists went to UNESCO World Heritage sites and then created what they saw/felt. The work resulted in interactive exhibits pushing museum-goers to also ponder the relationships between art and conservation.
Artists involved in the project are:
Mark Dion - Komodo National Park, Indonesia
Ann Hamilton - Galapagos National Park, Ecuador
Inigo Manglavo-Ovalle - El Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve, Mexico
Marcos Ramirez ERRE - Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas, China
Rigo 23 - Atlantic Forest Southeast Reserves, Brazil
Dario Robleto - Glacier/Waterton International Peace Park, United States (Montana) & Canada
Diana Thater - iSimangaliso Wetland Park, South Africa
Xu Bing - Mount Kenya National Park, Kenya
For those of you not in the San Diego area, you can see much of the experiment and commentary online at:Artists Respond::Museum of Contemporary Art San DiegoMore on Green Art ExhibitsBiggest Plastic Art Installation Ever?Sustainable Schoolyards Exhibit at US Botanic GardenBamboo in Chinese ArtPhoto Exhibit Shows Impact of Climate Change in Peruvian LivesCapturing a Nation on Film Before It Vanishes
