Climate Change as Muse
When artist David Buckland talks about his expeditions to the high Arctic in 2007 and 2008, he sounds like someone recounting a bizarre dream.
Canadian songstress Leslie Feist was there, shooting video of the frozen landscape with an old, borrowed 8 mm camera. English musician Jarvis Cocker, on the same trip, got teary-eyed over the disappearing glaciers. Meanwhile, novelist Ian McEwan took in the scene and was moved to pen an environmentally themed book.
The eclectic group was joined by more than a dozen other artists, musicians, writers, and scientists from around the world, who plied the northern scenery for inspiration and a deeper understanding of the effects of climate change. The Arctic expedition was one of several organized by Cape Farewell, a London-based nonprofit that pairs scientific and creative minds and sends them to far-flung locales in hopes that art founded on scientific research will emerge. "You’re together with somebody for two weeks," Buckland explained. "It’s amazing how you inspire each other."
Buckland, founder and director of Cape Farewell, was perched on a windowsill at the Shelia C. Johnson Design Center at Parsons The New School for Design, in New York City, ahead of the opening night of U-n-f-o-l-d: A Cultural Response to Climate Change. The exhibition is made up of work from 25 artists, including sculptors, musicians, and writers, all of whom were inspired by their trips to the Arctic and the Andes.
The point of Cape Farewell’s excursions -- there have been ten so far, most recently to Scotland’s island communities -- is to convert climate change from a scientific issue into an emotional one. "Scientists keep giving us figures, and it doesn’t make sense. But if you turn it into an emotional issue," Buckland said, it can have more impact.
The show runs the gamut from quirky to thought-provoking, showcasing art that has both explicit environmental messages and more subtle themes. Photos, sculptures, film, and even one painting by a colony of ants add up to an eclectic offering that demonstrates how different artistic minds take and process inspiration.
The exhibition doesn’t exploit the artists’ high-profile names, but rather highlights the art, save for a row of portraits of musicians and artists wrapped in parka hoods and toques snapped by Buckland himself. Next to photos are quotes from the subjects about their experience in the Arctic. Though it feels more like a travelogue than art, the piece offers a fascinating glimpse into the trip and reveals what the artists took away from it.
One of the exhibition’s highlights is Ackroyd & Harvey’s "Polar Diamond." At first glance the work appears to be a moderate-sized sparkling rock, perched on the head of a pin within a glass box. But it turns out the pair of artists acquired a polar bear bone while on the trip and decided to transform it into a diamond using technology that speeds up the process of converting cremated ash into a precious stone. It’s not especially striking visually, but the question it poses is worth contemplating: In which state is the animal more valued?
Not composed of bone, but clay, British artist Clare Twomey’s "Specimen" includes dozens of beautiful flowers scattered over and around a wooden trunk. The delicate, layered petals of some are chipped away. As Buckland walked through the exhibition with me, he picked one up and ran his fingers over it -- a startling act in a gallery setting. But handling the fragile items was part of the piece. The flowers’ slow destruction -- by travel or rough handling -- seems to symbolize how humans treat the earth, Buckland said. We may not intend to do harm, but when we don’t tread lightly enough, that’s often the byproduct.
Aside from the portraits, Buckland’s other compelling piece in the show, titled "Ice Texts," projects its message on an iceberg. Five photos feature mounds of ice at dusk as the sky fades from deep blue to black, with phrases like "The Great White Sale," "Discounting the Future," and "A Hot Wind More Terrible Than Darkness." Their ethereal quality and askew text gives the images a dream-like quality.
Collectively, the exhibition lives up to its title, laying out a truly diverse cultural response to climate change. Unsurprisingly, work submitted by professional visual artists, as opposed to musicians and writers, is the most aesthetically pleasing. But the inspired effort by those who have honed their skills elsewhere adds a level of sincerity. And while some pieces hit the viewer over the head with their message, these are interspersed with subtler offerings that leave room for interpretation. Ultimately it’s this balance that makes the show accessible.
U-n-f-o-l-d runs until December 15. The gallery is hosting environmentally themed talks, lectures, and interactive events throughout the run. Learn more about the exhibition and Cape Farewell.
