The Eco-Visionaries exhibition features 25 artworks, including the installation "The Flucturations of Microworlds" and VR "Swamp Radio" by Rasa Smite and Raitis Smits (RIXC Studio / LV).
ECO-VISIONARIES
Art, New Media and Ecology After the Anthropocene
30.08.2018 - 11.11.2018
HeK, House of Electronic Arts,
Basel, Switzerland
The exhibition Eco-Visionaries is dedicated to the topic of ecological change and presents artistic responses to current challenges. It investigates new media, technologies and techno-scientific methods in the arts and their significance for the perception and awareness of the “ecological.”
How are new media, technologies and technology-scientific methods used in the arts to draw attention to pressing ecological issues? What visionary projects and ideas are emerging to tackle climate change, food shortage and resource depletion? Which solutions are worth pursuing?
The group exhibition Eco-Visionaries focuses on the idea of a sustainable approach to the environment and ecological coexistence at a time when everyone, especially the natural sciences and the arts, is talking about the Anthropocene. In this new geochronological epoch, man has become one of the most important factors influencing biological, geological and atmospheric processes on Earth.
Eco-Visionaries presents artistic responses to current challenges, whereby some of the new works were created for the context of the exhibition. The exhibition shows how new media and technologies are used, not only to draw attention to ecological problems, but also to develop visionary solutions. Media artists and transmedial arrangements are able to evoke emotions in the audience and encourage people to get involved. At best, the ability of art to involve people brings about a lasting change in behaviour.
Curators: Sabine Himmelsbach, Karin Ohlenschläger and Yvonne Volkart
Artists: Baggenstos/Rudolf (CH), Ursula Biemann (CH), María Castellanos and Alberto Valverde (ES), Fieldstations (D), Terike Haapoja (FI), HeHe (FR), Chris Jordan (US), Wanuri Kahiu (KE), knowbotiq (CH), Vanessa Lorenzo (ES/CH), Marcus Maeder (CH), AnneMarie Maes (BE), Joana Moll (ES), Rasa Smite and Raitis Smits (LV), Unknown Fields Division (GB), Ana Vaz (PT), Aline Veillat (CH/FR)
In cooperation with MAAT (Lisbon, Portugal), Bildmuseet (Umea, Sweden) and LABoral (Gijon, Spain)
The exhibition and the fringe events are scientifically supported by the following project partners: Institut Ästhetische Praxis und Theorie, IAeP, HGK FHNW, Schweizerischer Nationalfonds SNF and Eidgenössische Forschungsanstalt für Wald, Schnee und Landschaft WSL.
More info about the exhibition in Basel:
http://www.hek.ch/en/program/events-en/event/eco-visionaries-kunst-neue-medien-und-oekologie-nach-dem-anthropozaen.html
* Background:
Eco-Visionaries project:
Alternative visions for humankind’s place on earth
Eco-Visionaries presents contemporary positions in art and architecture seeking answers to current environmental problems that transcend mainstream notions of sustainability. This comprehensive volume is a companion to the collaborative 2018 exhibition endeavored by four participating European museums. Each show maintains a different focus and curatorial approach, and for each, artists investigate alternative visions regarding humankind’s place on earth through video and sound works, paintings, and installations.
While the series of exhibitions presents the works of artists and architects who offer critical reflections on pressing contemporary issues, the book unites research, essays, as well as a survey of the artworks. Besides the historical antecedents of current ecological thinking in the fields of art and design, this catalogue also promotes current approaches that represent alternative visions for future uses of energy, resources, and the environment.
* Exhibitions:
10 April–8 October, 2018, MAAT—Museu de Arte, Arquitetura e Tecnologia, Lisbon, Portugal
15 June–21 October, 2018, Bildmuseet, Umea, Sweden
30 August–11 November, 2018, HeK—House of Electronic Arts Basel, Basel, Switzerland
29 March, 2019 – opening at LABoral Centro de Arte y Creacion Industrial, Gijon, Spain
* The Book:
On the occasion of the exhibitions the book Eco-Visionaries has been published. (see more info about the book below)
Eco-Visionaries
Art, Architecture, and New Media after the Anthropocene
Ed. Pedro Gadanho, text(s) by Amale Andraos, T. J. Demos, Matthew Fuller, Sabine Himmelsbach, Sofia Johansson, Karin Ohlenschläger, Mariana Pestana, Yvonne Volkart, Linda Weintraub, graphic design by Julia Wagner, grafikanstalt
English
2018. 176 pp., 124 ills.
softcover
21.00 x 27.00 cm
ISBN 978-3-7757-4453-9
http://www.hatjecantz.de/eco-visionaries-7308-1.html