Nature (Re)turns
03 Jun - 17 Sep 2017
Art Island, ARKEN Museum of Modern Art. Photo: Torben Petersen
Nanna Debois Buhl, Palm Tree Studies in South Tyrol and Beyond, 2016, Merano, Italy
NATURE (RE)TURNS
This summer’s outdoor exhibition explores the relationship between mankind and nature.
3 June - 17 September 2017
ARKEN has invited the two internationally recognized artists Nanna Debois Buhl (b. 1975) and Tue Greenfort (b.1973) to create new, site-specific works for the Art Island. NATURE (RE)TURNS explores the relationship between mankind and nature. The exhibition will look in a variety of ways at the forces of nature and mankind’s impact on the planet by asking questions such as “What is ‘natural’ nature?” and “How are mankind and nature interrelated?”
The Anthropocene
The starting point for NATURE (RE)TURNS is the idea of the anthropocene – the name given to a new geological epoch in which the human imprint on the planet has become so massive that it will be possible in future to read it off in the geological strata. We live at a time when plastic is accumulating in the oceans, manmade climatic change is accelerating and biodiversity on land and in the oceans is diminishing. In the anthropocene age, humanity itself has become a force of nature with dire consequences for its own future and that of the planet. Deeply rooted as we are in our own modern lifestyle, it can be easy to forget that we human beings are in fact involved in a complex network of animals, bacteria and plants. In this perspective it perhaps no longer makes sense to distinguish between culture and nature.
The works in the exhibition explore how art can help us to experience the changes in our natural surroundings. How do we affect nature, and how does nature affects us?NATURE (RE)TURNS takes place on the Art Island, which opened in 2015. The landscape around ARKEN has been artificially laid out, and is thus an anthropocene landscape. The Art Island is therefore an excellent setting for the exploration of how we humans understand nature, and where the borderline between nature and culture goes.
The exhibition has been developed in collaboration with the professor of anthropology Nils Bubandt and is part of the exhibition series Art in Sunshine that ARKEN started up in 2015.
NATURE (RE)TURNS can be experienced on the Art Island, in two satellite exhibitions at Ishøj Public Library from 3 June until 17 September, and at DIAS in Vallensbæk Station from 3 June until 6 August.
This summer’s outdoor exhibition explores the relationship between mankind and nature.
3 June - 17 September 2017
ARKEN has invited the two internationally recognized artists Nanna Debois Buhl (b. 1975) and Tue Greenfort (b.1973) to create new, site-specific works for the Art Island. NATURE (RE)TURNS explores the relationship between mankind and nature. The exhibition will look in a variety of ways at the forces of nature and mankind’s impact on the planet by asking questions such as “What is ‘natural’ nature?” and “How are mankind and nature interrelated?”
The Anthropocene
The starting point for NATURE (RE)TURNS is the idea of the anthropocene – the name given to a new geological epoch in which the human imprint on the planet has become so massive that it will be possible in future to read it off in the geological strata. We live at a time when plastic is accumulating in the oceans, manmade climatic change is accelerating and biodiversity on land and in the oceans is diminishing. In the anthropocene age, humanity itself has become a force of nature with dire consequences for its own future and that of the planet. Deeply rooted as we are in our own modern lifestyle, it can be easy to forget that we human beings are in fact involved in a complex network of animals, bacteria and plants. In this perspective it perhaps no longer makes sense to distinguish between culture and nature.
The works in the exhibition explore how art can help us to experience the changes in our natural surroundings. How do we affect nature, and how does nature affects us?NATURE (RE)TURNS takes place on the Art Island, which opened in 2015. The landscape around ARKEN has been artificially laid out, and is thus an anthropocene landscape. The Art Island is therefore an excellent setting for the exploration of how we humans understand nature, and where the borderline between nature and culture goes.
The exhibition has been developed in collaboration with the professor of anthropology Nils Bubandt and is part of the exhibition series Art in Sunshine that ARKEN started up in 2015.
NATURE (RE)TURNS can be experienced on the Art Island, in two satellite exhibitions at Ishøj Public Library from 3 June until 17 September, and at DIAS in Vallensbæk Station from 3 June until 6 August.