Planet Earth

Mark Dion at Museum Het Domein

This post comes to you from Cultura21

museum-het-domeinThe Macabre Treasury

January 20–May 5, 2013 – Museum Het Domein – Sittard, Netherlands

“Increasingly, my work has become macabre and laced with dusky pessimism. Early on I believed that ecological calamity could be averted by awareness. If people knew about issues like the loss of biodiversity or global warming, they would act so as to halt the problem. (…) Now, I just don’t believe that it will all work out. Not that there will be a single great catastrophe, but rather the world will slowly become less biological diverse, more impoverished, an uglier, less remarkable place to live. (…) Ozone holes, burning rainforests, ecological wars, species extinction, landfill landscapes will become fantastic theatre, a spectacle of ecosystem collapse. (…) Coming soon—the planet earth becoming a crummier place, and like numerous other rude spectators, it’s hard for me to keep my mouth closed during the show.”
–Mark Dion, unpublished manuscript, 2001

Macabre Treasury an exhibition by the American artist Mark Dion, internationally acclaimed to be a prominent contemporary artist, is Dion´s first solo museum exhibition in the Netherlands since fifteen years. He is playing a pioneering role with his work, which focuses on ecological issues and our perception of nature. Dion’s work examines the ways in which dominant ideologies and public institutions like museums shape our understanding of history, the ways we accumulate knowledge, and how we regard the natural world. Appropriating archaeological and other scientific methods of collecting, ordering, and exhibiting objects, Dion creates works that question the distinctions between “objective” (“rational”) scientific methods and “subjective” (“irrational”) influences. The artist’s spectacular and often fantastical curiosity cabinets, modeled on Wunderkabinetts of the sixteenth century, are notable for their atypical orderings of objects and specimens. By locating the roots of environmental politics and public policy in the construction of knowledge about nature, Mark Dion questions the authoritative role of the scientific voice in contemporary society.

For The Macabre Treasury, Dion will transform Museum Het Domein’s contemporary art wing into a giant Wunderkabinett. The exhibition will be divided into various departments of a fictional museum. Dion’s macabre treasure chamber will thus include amongst others Departments of Zoology and Archeology, a Bureau of Museums and the Culture of Collections, a Hunting Salon, aCinematheque and a Cabinet of Mystery. As part of the exhibition of his own work, the artist will present a selection of objects from Museum Het Domein’s historical collection and from other local museums and archives. The objects vary from local archeological findings to an eleventh-century tree-trunk coffin with a female skeleton. As is the case with all of Dion’s presentations, the exhibition in Het Domein can be considered an attempt to restore something of our earlier notion of the universal museum with its hybrid combinations of different disciplines and fields of knowledge. Newly inciting the curiosity of the museum-goer is just as essential. The artist once proclaimed that museums should be restored to their roles as “powder kegs of the imagination.”

For more information and visuals, visit the museums homepage.

Cultura21 is a transversal, translocal network, constituted of an international level grounded in several Cultura21 organizations around the world.

Cultura21′s international network, launched in April 2007, offers the online and offline platform for exchanges and mutual learning among its members.

The activities of Cultura21 at the international level are coordinated by a team representing the different Cultura21 organizations worldwide, and currently constituted of:

– Sacha Kagan (based in Lüneburg, Germany) and Rana Öztürk (based in Berlin, Germany)
– Oleg Koefoed and Kajsa Paludan (both based in Copenhagen, Denmark)
– Hans Dieleman (based in Mexico-City, Mexico)
– Francesca Cozzolino and David Knaute (both based in Paris, France)

Cultura21 is not only an informal network. Its strength and vitality relies upon the activities of several organizations around the world which are sharing the vision and mission of Cultura21

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Frozen Planet in Concert at the Hollywood Bowl

Fri-Sat  JUL 6-7  8pm

Los Angeles Philharmonic

George Fenton, conductor

Following the success of Planet Earth Live, the world premiere of Frozen Planet in Concert comes to the Bowl’s big screen in the latest co-production of the BBC and Discovery Channel. The ultimate portrait of Earth’s last great wilderness, the polar regions, will be presented with stunning imagery with live orchestral accompaniment conducted by composer George Fenton.

Presented by LA Phil.  For tickets and information, visit HollywoodBowl.com.

7 BILLIONTH PERSON PROJECT

We have roughly 1,000 days before the seventh billion human being joins the rest of us on Planet Earth. We do not know what country she will be born in, or who her family will be, or if she will be a she or a he.  But we do know this being will join the rest of us as a citizen of this world.  Working on a welcome message to our seventh billion fellow human being provides us with a rare but overdue opportunity for introspection as well as a frank accounting of the implicit responsibilities we have toward other human beings and future generations.  What would you like to tell her about this world, about life, about your story?  What would you like to show her about the world? The 7 Billionth Person Project aims to collect creative expressions from citizens from around the world.  Visual submissions are highly encouraged.  All media accepted.

Partners for the exhibition include The Arts Council of New Haven, Proof: Media for Social Justice, the Yale Program for Recovery and Community Health, and the Yale World Fellows Program.   Website: http://www.collectiveanswers.org.

Questions? Email Valerie Belanger at info@collectiveanswers.org

via WOOLOO.ORG – 7 BILLIONTH PERSON PROJECT.

Announcing the Open Call for Art & Science Collaborations, Inc. (ASCI) – Digital 2010

Announcing the Open Call for… Digital’2010: PLANET EARTH

Art & Science Collaboration’s 12th international digital print competition/exhibition to be held at the New York Hall of Science October 3, 2010 – January 31, 2011

Submission deadline:  August 16, 2010

INTRODUCTION

Our blue planet, spinning like a jewel in our solar system, has been perceptually defined by the technology of each era, from believing it was flat, to the scientific understanding that Earth spins on its axis and has gravitational pull, to being part of just one of many solar systems. In terms of scale, humans are too small to viscerally comprehend our planet’s magnitude and the dynamics of its interconnected physical systems. We therefore break the concepts down into smaller parts, collect data and physical specimens of all kinds, and invent instruments to measure and track physical phenomena like earthquakes, tornados, and hurricanes. However, we still cannot grasp the “big picture” of planet Earth unless we read, look at photos, and finally… use our imagination to envision/conceptualize it!

For Digital’2010, we invite artists and scientists to submit their original digital prints that reflect their perceptions of our planet. Are these perceptions changing as we learn more about Earth from explorers, scientists, and artists? What is the relationship between all living things and planet Earth? What images are evoked by calling it the blue planet or the peaceful planet or the changing planet?  What is the human impact on the whole planet? What is our concern for its future?

CO-JURORS

~ Maddy Rosenberg, artist, curator, owner/director Central Booking Gallery, Brooklyn, New York City

~ Patrick Hamilton, Director, Environmental Sciences and Earth-System Science,  Science Museum of Minnesota

Click here for Juror Bios…

TIMELINE

  • Aug. 16, 2010: Entry deadline [midnight Pacific Time/USA]
  • Aug. 20, 2010: Notification of Juror Selections via email
  • Sept. 22-29, 2010: Artworks must arrive at the museum
  • Oct. 3, 2010: Exhibition opens at New York Hall of Science
  • Oct. 3, 2010: Online Exhibition opens at ASCI’s website
  • Oct. 3rd [3-5pm]: Reception at New York Hall of Science
  • Jan. 31, 2010: Exhibition closes at New York Hall of Science
  • Jan. 31, 2010: Arrange for pick-up or return shipping

NEXT STEP!

Click here for GUIDELINES…[must read] This page also has links for sending online Entry Form and making your Online Payment.

ASCI’s SUPPORT OF DIGITAL PRINTS:

ASCI was one of the first organizations in the world to recognize the digital print as a valid fine art product in 1998 by organizing an afternoon panel discussion, “Collectibility & the Digital Print.”The event was held in The Great Hall at Cooper Union, New York City, in conjunction with ASCI’s first international digital print competition/exhibition.

Click here to see ASCI’s 11 previous archived digital print online exhibitions

ABOUT ASCI

Founded in 1988, Art & Science Collaborations, Inc. (ASCI) is an international organization based in New York City. Its mission is to raise public awareness about artists and scientists using science and technology to explore new forms of creative expression, and to increase communication and collaboration between these fields.  Explore our extensive archives of past Exhibitions, Featured Members, ASCI Member News, and Homepage Listing, and discover the amazing resource information in our monthly ASCI eBulletin. [a benefit of membership]

via Art & Science Collaborations, Inc. (ASCI) – Digital 2010 – Intro.