Art21 and the Mid-Manhattan Library
present
a video screening and conversation
Art:21‚ÄîArt in the Twenty-First Century Season 4: “Ecology”
with
Ursula von Rydingsvard interviewed by Martin Friedman
Monday, February 4th, 2008
6:30 p.m. on the 6th floor
Mid-Manhattan Library
The New York Public Library
40th Street and 5th Avenue
New York, NY 10016
212-340-0871
How does our culture influence and affect our understanding of the natural world? Ecology delves into the work of four artists who explore the relationship of nature and culture, including the submission of wilderness to civilization, the foundations of scientific knowledge, the impact of technology on biology, and our relationship to the earth forged by working the land. This episode was shot on location in New York, NY; Los Angeles, CA; Chicago, Il; Rochester, MN; Seattle, WA; Astoria, OR; Cape Disappointment, WA; King County, WA; Beach Lake, PA; and Williamstown, MA. After the screening Martin Friedman, Curator, Writer, and Director Emeritus of the Walker Art Center, will join Ursula von Rydingsvard for a conversation and Q&A session.
About Ecology
Robert Adams, working closely with his wife, created Turning Back (1999-2003), which illustrates deforestation in the West, a practice that Adams describes as “not just a matter of exhaustion of resources. I do think there is involved an exhaustion of spirit.”
Mark Dion explains, “I’m not one of these artists who is spending a lot of time imagining a better ecological future. I’m more the kind of artist who is holding up a mirror to the present.” Viewers follow him on a journey during which he brings a “nurse log”—a fallen Hemlock tree which is home to a wide variety of flora and fauna—into the heart of Seattle.
Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle’s interest in architecture, politics, and science underscores much of his work. His various exhibitions are featured in the documentary including Random Sky (2006) façade in Chicago, for which computers process weather data at the installation site to generate a visual representation of climate conditions.
Ursula von Rydingsvard uses sculptures as a means to express the memories of her childhood. Her studio is filled with massive cedar sculptures, which she painstakingly constructs layer by layer. The end result is a complex and unpredictable surface for viewers to explore and experience.
Elevators access the 6th floor after 6p.m.
All events are FREE and subject to last minute change or cancellation.
