"Fragile Ecologies: Artists' Interpretations and Solutions," a traveling
exhibition integrating art, ecology, and environmental ethics, opens
Dec. 4 at the Madison (WI) Arts Center and runs thru Jan. 30. It
presents the work of 11 ecological artists who collaborate w/
scientists and environmentalists. Artists featured include Mel Chin,
whose landfill detoxification work "Revival Field" is located on a
Superfund priority site in St. Paul, MN; Mierle Laderman Ukeles, who
became artist-in-residence at the NY City Dept of Sanitation in 1977;
and Heather McGill and John Roloff, who created sculptures that
provide hummingbird habitat in one of California's few remaining
wetlands. Will a fragile agricultural ecology be included? I don't know.
But I'm going to check it out and see.
This is a major exhibition, and, if you're in the U.S. Midwest, Madison is
the ONLY Midwest stop in its national tour. Otherwise, keep your eyes
peeled in the nation's East, West, and South. It was organized by the
Queens Museum of New York and the Smithsonian Institution
Traveling Exhibition Service. More info: (608) 257-0158.
Michele Gale-Sinex
UW-Madison