Old Growth - New Decay; Environmental Justice, Environmentalism and Sustainability
David Bell, veronique d’entremont, Alexandre Dorriz, Joel Garcia, Karen Hampton, Colleen Hargaden, iris yirei hu, Pope.L, Julie Shafer, Moffat Takadiwa, Oscar Tuazon, Jenny Yurshansky
Co-curated with Hannah Scott
September 7 – November 12, 2021
Chapman University’s Guggenheim Gallery, Orange, CA
As a society generally, and more specifically in the arts we have come a long way from romanticist notions of landscape and the concept of ‘nature’; in 2021 intact versions of the former are increasingly hard to find while it is uncertain whether or not the latter in its separation from human activity still holds any meaning. The ongoing impact of homo sapiens on their immediate environment as well as the planet is well documented and can be felt in many ways and places; be it water- or air-quality or the globally rising temperatures and subsequent changing weather patterns.
Situationist International writer Raoul Vaneigem remarked in 1961 in the Basic Program of the Bureau of Unitary Urbanism: “You don’t live somewhere in the city; you live somewhere in the hierarchy. At the summit of this hierarchy the ranks can be ascertained by the degree of mobility […]. “While mobility as an expression of power doesn’t hold the same significance as it did 60 years ago, considering the daily movement of middle- and lower-class commuters on congested freeways and crowded airports, the allocation of coordinates to power still rings true. Today at said summit the ranks can be ascertained by their degree of access to clean water, air, food and a moderate climate, which are tied to access to technology as well as geographically desirable locations. Subsequently not all populations are exposed to changes of the environment in the same way. Black, indigenous and other people of color are disproportionately disadvantaged when it comes to access to resources as well as the decision-making processes tied to these resources.
The works in the exhibition speak to the urgency of an international environmental agenda as well as the importance of environmental justice and a shared and just ecological agenda that emphasizes the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies.
Body Memory - Body Vision: Performance Works
Ron Athey, Cassils, Dragonfly, Arshia Fatima Haq, Sebastián Hernández, Sherman Fleming, rafa esparza, Lila De Magalhaes, Christopher Richmond, Ni Santas, Denise Uyehara, Wilawan Wiangthong, Xina Xurner
Co-curated by Danielle Cobb, Olivia Collins, Nicole Daskas, Lucile Henderson, Marcus Herse, Hannah Scott and Natalia Ventura
February 15th – March 15th, 2021
Virtual Exhibition hosted by Chapman University’s Guggenheim Gallery, Orange, CA
Members of the Art Department’s DEI Committee, student gallery assistants and the gallery coordinator have co-curated this exhibition to present artists and artist collectives whose practices are vital to furthering diversity, equity and inclusion. Each week we will highlight two artists or collectives and release additions to the growing exhibition accompanied by student writing from interviews and personal notes to poetry.
Performance wants to be partaken in and a virtual exhibition can hardly replace the understanding of bodies interacting in the real world; the fleetingness of the moment and the impact that intense experiences have, the smells, the sounds, the feeling of proximity to other bodies and how we negotiate shared spaces cannot be captured via documentation. However, this show takes the notion of space and who occupies it as its cue. Addressing the ongoing underrepresentation of marginalized groups in the institutionalized and free market art world, the exhibition shows a selection of performance works by BIPOC and genderqueer artists. Questioning the status quo of visibility within this framework and actively contributing to changing that status is one aspect the contributions share. Another one is the deliberate step outside of this structure beyond art world internal discourses, in offering visions relevant to communities and social realities.
Body Memory Body Vision – Performance Works presents 15 artists who create a distinct range of actions and whose aesthetic scope is manifold and cannot be subsumed under one criterion of expression - stylistic unity is beside the point. The commonality is making ways of being and thinking visible that are invisible or actively suppressed; it is the invitation to see the complexities and scope of society’s heterogeneity beyond the assumed binaries that still guide mainstream culture’s decision-making in philosophical and therefore social, political and economic terms.