Plastic Entanglements: Ecology, Aesthetics, Materials
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Chazen Museum of Art 750 University Ave., Madison, Wisconsin 53706
press release: Plastic Entanglements: Ecology, Aesthetics, Materials
September 13 to January 5, 2020. Closed 12/24-25, 12/31-1/1. Also, the Chazen will be closed for maintenance 1/6-10.
Plastic Entanglements: Ecology, Aesthetics, Materials features contemporary artwork investigating the complex cultural and material nexus that is “Plastic.”
Artists: Morehshin Allahyari, Ifeoma U. Anyaeji, Han Bing, Dianna Cohen, Willie Cole, Bonnie Collura, Gisela Colon, Emmanuel Bakary Daou, Mark Dion, Katrin Hornek, Kelly Jazvac, Chris Jordan, Brian Jungen, Pamela Longobardi, Steve McPherson, Zanele Muholi, Vik Muniz, Matthew Northridge, Aurora Robson, Evelyn Rydz, Tejal Shah, Jessica Stockholder, Rebecca Strzelec, Ann Tarantino, Christine Wertheim, Margaret Wertheim, Deb Todd Wheeler, Kelly Wood, Pinar Yoldas, and Marina Zurkow.
Reception and Costume Party: Friday, October 25, 5:30-8:30pm, Mead Witter Lobby
Director's Conversation: Saturday, October 26, 12pm, Chazen Auditorium
Sixty works exploring the complex story of plastic—from drawings and photographs to video installations and sculptures fabricated from found plastic—are featured in Plastic Entanglements: Ecology, Aesthetics, Materials at the Chazen Museum of Art now through January 5, 2020. The exhibition examines the environmental, aesthetic, and technological implications of plastic and how it infiltrates virtually every aspect of our lives.
“With the constantly changing landscape of our environment, deeper awareness of the materials we as humans are creating, and indeed leaving, on the planet is increasingly important,” said Amy Gilman, director the Chazen Museum of Art. “Plastic Entanglements reminds viewers that a material we often use fleetingly—plastic—has a lifetime much longer than our own, and that it also has nearly endless possibilities for creativity and innovation. The Chazen is proud to present exhibitions such as Plastic Entanglements that encourage discourse around timely issues and provide unique learning opportunities for our campus and community visitors.”
Plastic Entanglements unfolds in three sections, charting a timeline—past, present, and future—of our relationship with plastic. “The Archive” examines the ways in which plastic objects make up an inadvertent record of daily life from the mid-20th century onwards. “The Entangled Present” reveals the ways in which plastic binds people, plants, and animals together across diverse geographical locations and through global systems. The works of art in this section focus attention on the complex effects of the reach of plastic on ecological networks as well as on current artistic practice. The exhibition concludes with a section dedicated to “Speculative Futures,” asking what unknown worlds are emerging from the omnipresence of plastic, including new geologic and biologic forms.
Organized by the Palmer Museum of Art, this exhibition includes work by 30 emerging and mid-career contemporary artists from around the globe, including Mark Dion, Marina Zurkow, Zanele Muholi, Vik Muniz, Jessica Stockholder, Chris Jordan, Brian Jungen, Aurora Robson, Willie Cole, Pinar Yoldas, Tejal Shah, and Moreshin Allahyari.
Plastic Entanglements: Ecology, Aesthetics, Materials was curated by Joyce Robinson, curator at the Palmer Museum of Art; Jennifer Wagner-Lawlor, professor of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies and English at Penn State; and Heather Davis, independent scholar.
“Part of the excitement around Plastic Entanglements will emerge from the fact that plastic is ubiquitous,” states Robinson. “Those who might be intimidated by a ‘contemporary art’ exhibition will find themselves immediately drawn in by the familiarity of plastic, which actually makes the world we live in possible.”
Wagner-Lawlor adds, “We hope the exhibition offers viewers a new perspective—more than one, actually—on a material so common that we don't think about where it comes from, how we use it, how it is impacting the environment, local and global ecologies, and even our own health. The exhibition explores different sides of our lives with plastic, balancing the ecological concerns many artists bring to their work, with their simultaneous appreciation of the versatile material properties of plastic.”