Degrees of Concern
Aquifer: Art + Climate + Water. Territory wide arts program.
SODA Gallery, Australian National University
8 February - 18 March 2022
Curated by Megan Hinton + Irina Agaronyan.
Artists - Hannah Brontë, Alexander Boynes, Ngaio Fitzpatrick, Mandy Martin, Rebecca McEwan, Michaela McHugh, Thomas O’Hara, Anna Madeleine Raupach, Adam Sébire, Jasmine Targett and Yandell Walton.
Image - Degrees of Concern - Exhibition Catalogue
This exhibition is part of Aquifer, a Territory-wide program of dialogue, events and exhibitions responding to the current climate crisis.
Aquifer brings a Territory-wide focus to incite the activation of conversations on the impacts of climate change drawing attention to our citizen responsibilities to act now at a time when the global pandemic dominates media cycles.
We believe artists are integral in the provocation of meaningful dialogue around the existential threats of fire, drought, and ecocide due to human-induced climate change through their practice.
Local and interstate artists and galleries from across Canberra have joined forces in vigorous unison to engage in the climate crisis dialogue to coincide with the ANU Institute for Climate, Energy & Disaster Solutions (ICEDS) ANU Climate Update 2022.
This suite of exhibitions across the ACT demonstrate the inherent urgency for us to all act now to preserve the fragility of our environment for future generations.
Artwork Presented -
Noctilucent Canary, 2017.
Series of three prints on silk
L620 W700mm - each
The series Noctilucent Canary explores the edges of vision. Employing the idea of a satellite as ‘an all seeing eye in the sky’, telemetry, data and images of Noctilucent phenomena are filtered through a series of lenses and prisms to explore the transitory process through which super-ecological[i] phenomena become visible.
Visible only in Earth’s shadow at deep twilight, Noctilucent clouds[ii] are visual signifiers of climate change in Earth’s upper atmosphere. Increasing in frequency, brightness and extent, Noctilucent clouds are being flagged by scientists as Earth’s ‘atmospheric climate canary’ heralding the visible beginning of the anthropogenic era.
[i] Super Ecology – The concept that the natural and artificial have become inextricably bound within one greater super ecological system.
[ii] Noctilucent (night shining) clouds exist in the upper atmosphere at an altitude of 76,000 – 85,000 meters. There is no record of them existing before 1885.
This artwork was first exhibited in Time and Tide at Alcaston Gallery 2017, in Super Ecology at Stockroom 2018 and in Degrees of Concern at Australian National University Gallery, ACT 2022.
To view a virtual walkthrough of Degrees of Concern with Megan Hinton, Senior Gallery Coordinator, please follow the link - https://www.instagram.com/tv/CbJdFO_hAEU/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Panel Discussion as part of Degrees of Concern exhibition -
Presented by ANU College of Arts & Social Sciences
For decades science has shown that global warming is real and upon us. Yet urgency for climate action, communicated by scholars, citizens and activists is at an impasse. What then is the contribution of artistic practice and research in shifting this inaction?
Please join us for a lively panel discussion with;
Alexander Boynes, exhibiting artist and curator
Ngaio Fitzpatrick, exhibiting artist and Visiting Fellow with the ANU Institute for Energy, Climate and Disaster Solutions
Professor Mark Howden, Director, ANU Institute for Climate, Energy & Disaster Solutions
Facilitated by Dr Rebecca Mayo, Artist, Lecturer in Printmedia & Drawing, ANU School of Art & Design
This panel discussion and exhibition is part of Aquifer, a Territory-wide program of dialogue, events and exhibitions responding to the current climate crisis.
Aquifer brings a Territory-wide focus to incite the activation of conversations on the impacts of climate change drawing attention to our citizen responsibilities to act now at a time when the global pandemic dominates media cycles.
See full Aquifer program online https://www.belcoarts.com.au/aquifer/