Human/Nature: Artists Respond to a Changing Planet

August 17, 2008 – February 1, 2009
(MCASD Jacobs Building
and 1001 Kettner)
February 25, 2009 – June 28, 2009
(BAM/PFA)

Xu Bing attempting the Masai warrior jumping dance during his Human/Nature residency in Mount Kenya National Park, Kenya, 2005.
Photograph by Zheng Hu.

Organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego and the University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, in partnership with the international conservation organization Rare, Human/Nature: Artists Respond to a Changing Planet is a pioneering artist residency and collaborative exhibition project that uses contemporary art to investigate the relationships between fragile natural environments and the human communities that depend upon them.

This collaborative multi-year exhibition project sent eight leading artists to eight UNESCO World Heritage sites around the globe to create new work informed and inspired by their experiences in these diverse cultural and natural regions. The exhibition features new commissioned works by Mark Dion, Ann Hamilton, Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Marcos Ramírez ERRE, Rigo 23, Dario Robleto, Diana Thater, and Xu Bing. The artists each traveled to a World Heritage site of their choice and completed two or more mini-residencies, creating works based on their experiences.

Working in a range of media, this group of artists has a collective history of risk-taking and has created, for this exhibition, thoughtful and thought-provoking work that challenges the boundaries of artistic categories and tests the limits of what art can do. Human/Nature encourages global support for the protection of cultural and biological diversity and provokes new questions regarding conservation, cultural understanding, and artistic inspiration.

At MCASD, Human/Nature is complemented by two interactive galleries for visitors to further investigate the exhibition’s themes, concepts, and artists, as well as share their own thoughts and ideas about the exhibition and create their own works of art in activities designed by Dario Robleto and Xu Bing. Both of these interactive spaces feature furniture made from sustainable, found materials—including sofas made from paper-pulp egg crates—all designed by Tijuana-based architect Giacomo Castagnola.

Exhibition Support

Human/Nature: Artists Respond to a Changing Planet is co-organized by the University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive and the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, in partnership with the international conservation organization Rare. The exhibition is supported by The Christensen Fund; the Columbia Foundation; the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency; the Nimoy Foundation; the East Bay Community Foundation; the Baum Foundation; the Rotasa Foundation; and individual donors. The project’s Web site is made possible through the efforts of the Studio for Social Sculpture and the Annenberg Foundation. Dwell Magazine is the exhibition’s official media sponsor.

The San Diego presentation is made possible by generous gifts from Mary Keough Lyman and Patsy and David Marino. Additional support comes from the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture, the County of San Diego, The James Irvine Foundation, and Sempra Energy.

About MCASD

Founded in 1941, MCASD is the preeminent contemporary visual arts institution in San Diego County, with locations in downtown San Diego and La Jolla, and a collection of more than 4,000 works of art created since 1950.

Admission is free for ages 25 and under, and is generously supported by Qualcomm.
http://www.mcasd.org

Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Downtown
1100 & 1001 Kettner Boulevard
San Diego, CA 92101
General Information:
(858) 454-3541

University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
2626 Bancroft Way
Berkeley, CA 94720-2250
General Information:
(510) 642-0808

http://www.artistsrespond.org