The Gallatin Galleries will present “Press Your Ear to the Wind," a series of virtual artist talks that unearth the complexities of climate crises through artworks, conversation, and questioning, March 3, 17, and 31.
The Gallatin Galleries presents “Press Your Ear to the Wind," a series of virtual artist talks that unearth the complexities of climate crises through artworks, conversation, and questioning, March 3, 17, and 31.
Registration is required for each talk at the series’ event page; Zoom coordinates will be provided upon registration.
“Press Your Ear to the Wind” features performances, photography, film, and sculpture by six artists from around the globe. Artists will discuss how they engage with issues of climate destabilization and environmental injustice, which range from water crises and toxic exposures to the impacts of colonialism and industrialization. Their works are rooted in environments as varied as Fukushima’s “exclusion zone”, Kenya, New Zealand, Bangladesh, New Delhi, the United States, and Caribbean island nations.
“In their own ways, each of these artists investigates relationships with place, cultural inheritance, ritual, slowness, and embodiment as modes of resistance to the systems that spur climate crises,” says Elinor New, curator of the series. “Weaving art, conversation, and questioning across disciplinary and geographical boundaries, this series celebrates the power of art and artists to dismantle structures of oppression through acts of care, embodied imagination, and bold action.”
The series is an iteration of New’s broader curatorial research on the intersections of art and environmental activism. In organizing these events, New seeks to create space for audience members to learn from artists’ perspectives on climate crises and to amplify the potential of artworks to activate our collective power to imagine more equitable, habitable futures.
“Borrowing its title from Deborah Jack’s artwork ‘Foremothers’, this series is an invitation to listen to the wisdom held in the land, water, and our own bodies, and to trace the currents of resilience that flow from our inherited pasts into the futures we generate,” explains New.
Wednesday, March 3, 2–3 p.m. EST
“Fathoming Uncertainty: Performing with(in) Vulnerable Landscapes” features film, photography, and performance projects by Eiko Otake (Japan/USA) and Sarah Cameron Sunde (USA). The artists will discuss how their site-responsive, embodied engagements with changing landscapes around the globe articulate pressing issues of environmental injustice and collective vulnerability in the face of climate crises.
Wednesday, March 17, 10–11 a.m. EDT
In “Between Belief and Reality: Revealing Water Crises in Textile and Sculpture,” Vibha Galhotra (India) and Tali Weinberg (USA) will discuss how their artworks transform scientific observation to reveal the realities of water crises—including toxicity, drought, illness, and temperature change—in the face of denial, dismissal, and inaction.
Wednesday, March 31, 2–3 p.m. EDT
For “Currents of Memory: The Sea, Ritual, and Rebirth in Film,” Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons (Cuba/USA) and Deborah Jack (St. Maarten/Netherlands) will screen their multidisciplinary film-based works and discuss their creative engagement with the sea, ritual, and cultural inheritances in the context of climate crises in the Caribbean region and beyond.
For an image and promotional poster, along with captions and credits, please click this page.
The event series stems from ongoing curatorial research that is being developed with the support of the NYU Gallatin Dean’s Award for Graduating Seniors, the Gallatin Galleries, and WetLab.
Elinor New is a curator, producer, and writer. Her projects include exhibitions, events, and writing that connect art, environmental justice, and the emerging field of curatorial activism in order to catalyze the power of artists’ voices to generate alternative futures. New graduated from New York University with an Individualized B.A. titled “Art for Our Sake: Curatorial Activism and Cultural Institutions as Civic Assets” and a minor in Arts Politics from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts’ Department of Art & Public Policy. She is an alumna-in-residence and curatorial fellow with WetLab. www.ellienew.info
Editor’s Note:
The Gallatin Galleries, housed in New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study, showcases innovative and immersive work that blends multiple forms of artistic practice with themes that encompass economic, racial, and social justice. Founded in 2008 and curated by Keith Miller, the Galleries are home to complex and compelling displays that integrate video, photography, sound, painting and sculpture, illuminating the work of both up-and-coming and established artists while reflecting the interdisciplinary academic mission of the Gallatin School. For more information, please visit the galleries' webpage.
WetLab is a new initiative for art-science and curatorial practice at NYU Gallatin.
CONTACT:
Keith Miller, Curator
The Gallatin Galleries
km96@nyu.edu
212.998.7322
1 Washington Place
New York, NY 10003