Curatorial Note for the Opening of In Context: Public.Art.Ecology – Phase II

“Everything moves according to only one law – life...All is all and one...We have always been hate-


love-mother-child-planet-earth-light-lightning – world giver of worlds – universes and universal 


cells.”

(Frida Kahlo: trained in art, loved medicine)

Perhaps the poignance of the interstitial space between art and ecology/science lies not in the politics of

purpose, but in the poetics of the unknown.  These artworks, all incorporative of or investigative of nature,

have the ability to drive us to an instinctual point of inquiry.  And it is this antidote to the anaesthesia of our

quotidian, ritualistic, and urban lives in which lies the potential for these artworks to humanize us.



But as opposed to much “eco-art” there is no didactic overtone here and there is no underlying socio-political

agenda. Instead these ecologically-activated artists use science, technology and architecture to create public

observatories or “gathering spaces.”  Here, the inhabitants of various ecosystems, including humans, are

invited to momentarily (re)connect.  It is in the exploration, experimentation and extrapolation of these

interdisciplinary interventions, that we are given the opportunity to stop and re-examine our sense of self and

place in the world.



And ultimately that is where scientists, doctors, artists and writers are able to share common ground, as

translators of the environment around them; microcosms and macrocosms - universes and universal cells.

(Critic-in-residence: trained in medicine, loves art)