Urgent Messages

Current and upcoming eco art shows

{Fallen Forest, 2006, by Henrik HÃ¥kansson, soon to be on view at the Barbican in London.}

More eco shows just keep popping up. Here’s two that I’ve heard about recently. Unfortunately, neither museum has particularly interactive websites for these shows.

Trouble in Paradise: Examining Discord between Nature and Society
February 28, 2009 – June 28, 2009
Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ

Blurb:

Artists are looking at the beauty and the terror in the forces of nature through their honest and emotional portrayals, while sending urgent messages to pay attention to the ravages society inflicts on the land through war and waste. This exhibition will examine a range of art in a variety of media that addresses extreme forces of nature in two basic categories: nature-based discord, such as lightning, tornadoes, volcanoes, hurricanes, and fire; and human-caused environmental discord such as pollution, over-population, global warming, oil field fires, atomic fallout, and destruction of land. The debate about how much of nature’s wrath is the result of human impact and interference is ongoing, but questions are posed through stunning visuals about the seemingly unstoppable cycle of cause and effect. 

Artists:
Edward Burtynsky, Richard Misrach, William T. Wiley, Mark Dion, Joel Peter Witkin and about 50 more artists. Complete list here. (PDF)

Show website

Radical Nature Art and Architecture for a Changing Planet 1969–2009
19 June 2009 – 18 October 2009
Barbican Art Gallery, London

Blurb

The beauty and wonder of nature have provided inspiration for artists and architects for centuries. Since the 1960s, the increasingly evident degradation of the natural world and the effects of climate change have brought a new urgency to their responses. Radical Nature is the first exhibition to bring together key figures across different generations who have created utopian works and inspiring solutions for our ever-changing planet. 

Artists:
Ant Farm, Richard Buckminster Fuller, Joseph Beuys, Agnes Denes, Hans Haacke and Robert Smithson are shown alongside a younger generation of practitioners including Heather and Ivan Morison, R&Sie (n), Philippe Rahm and Simon Starling.

Show website

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