TALES OF ENVIRONMENTAL
TURBULENCE: THE COMMON TRAIL OF ART AND SCIENCE
By Roslye Ultan
The exhibition Tales
of Environmental Turbulence: The Common Trail of Art and Science opened on
October 17th at The Institute on the Environment and Architecture
and Landscape Architecture Library at the University of Minnesota to an
enthusiastic public response. The
exhibition was the culminating event of a one year mini- grant for Conversation-E: Science + Art in Dialogue
and Service to Sustainability from the University of Minnesota’s Institute
on the Environment. The exhibit was curated
by Roslye Ultan, with the assistance of Tanya Gravening, and Conversation-E
co-leader, Jonee Kulman Brigham
Works of art from twenty-four artists were featured ranging
from traditional painting and photography to mixed-media installation pieces
especially created for this exhibition by artists committed to advancing the
understanding of global environmental concerns through an aesthetic and sensory
perception. The artists were present to mingle with the public through the
evening’s events which included the premier of the musical piece Environmental Impact Statement. This
work was performed by singer/actor Momoko Tanno, and instrumentalists Iris
Shiraishi, Japanese drums (Taiko), James Holdman playing found object
percussion instruments, Scott Currie, alto saxophone, and Alex Lubet, who
conceived the concept of the project, playing double bass. The audience was called on to participate in one section of the
work performed in the grand atrium of the Learning and Environmental Sciences
building. The impetus of the work came as a request from curator Roslye Ultan
for musicians to perform and engage the audience. The theme centered on nuclear incidents in
Japan intermingled with words of the 19th century American
naturalist John Muir. The music included elements of American Jazz and Japanese
idioms. The audience was enthralled with the experience barely whispering their
parts not to impose on the musicians.
Installation artist Sean Connaughty lured viewers to look
for the unexpected inside a large non-descript fish tank containing a floating white ceramic bowl with a small opening to be delighted by the discovery of a beautiful
green ecosystem. It is his desire to create green-spaces where none existed
before. John Crisco’s colorful 3-d constructed works explore the way in which
environments and landscapes are altered by society and show nature’s ability to
reclaim spaces that have been abandoned.
The mixed-media environmental projects of artist Tanya Gravening call on
the community to participate in gathering plastic pollutants to construct her
monuments of trash. These large scale three dimensional objects are at once
playful, like Totem of Toys, and serious in inviting awareness concerning the
quantity of detritus in our society. Painter Peter Lommen portrays the
celestial beauty of the night sky as a cultural resource free from the glow of
artificial light pollutions. Especially
created for Tales of Turbulence is John Rummelhoff’s cycle of works
commemorating the Exxon Valdez disaster of 1989. As both artist and biologist
Bonnie Ploger uses the power of art to generate senses of curiosity about the
natural world. In her photograph B4-Warmed, from the Cloquet forest project,
she looks for the beauty in scientific experimentation in climate change in the
boreal forests from a vantage point that forms a spiritual triangle. Other
artists in the show visit ideas of technological changes and advances while others
like Jeff Savage of the Fond du Lac community build on past traditions and
sacred beliefs in hand-crafting Birchbark canoes and other objects that pay
homage to our country’s native cultures.
As an expression of environmental stewardship, the
presentation of an energy star award for the building, and initiation of energy
improvements to the atrium were timed with the opening of the exhibition. And, local, sustainable reception refreshments
were provided by Common Roots Café.
This exhibition is landmark in asserting the links between
the environmental sciences and the arts as they form bonds in interpreting the
challenges and plight of our world whose sustainability is threatened by human
action.
The exhibit runs through January 6, 2014 at The Institute on
the Environment, and Architecture and Landscape Architecture Library, Rapson
Hall at the University of Minnesota. The
public is encouraged to visit the show during regular university hours
Monday-Friday.
Contacts:
Roslye B. Ultan
Jonee Kulman Brigham
