UAE | Environment
A stimulating twist to art and ecology
One of the highlights at the Sharjah Biennial 8 (SB8) will be Gustav Metzger's installation work, where 120 cars will be arranged around a cubic transparent structure, which will be filled with the cars' exhaust fumes.
- By Vinita Bharadwaj, Special to Gulf News
- Published: 00:00 March 24, 2007
- Image Credit: Press Release
- Contributions by regional and international artists to the Biennial 8 exhibit in Sharjah titled Still Life: Art, Ecology and the Politics of Change are not limited to global warming.
Sharjah: One of the highlights at the Sharjah Biennial 8 (SB8) will be Gustav Metzger's installation work, where 120 cars will be arranged around a cubic transparent structure, which will be filled with the cars' exhaust fumes.
Curators Jonathan Watkins, Eva Scharrer and Mohammad Kazim agree that such a work is not high on the morality quotient for the theme of Still Life: Art, Ecology and the Politics of Change. However, it was never, according to them, the intent of the SB8 to act as a virtuous force in efforts against, say, global warming.
Strategies
"We're not experts in the scientific aspects of these issues. But, the Biennial 8 acts less as a problem solver and more as a forum to explore strategies," says Scharrer. The idea, for instance, was never to take on the position of environmental activist.
Watkins adds that curating an artistic event of this scale on such a pressing issue meant that they steered clear of the preachy perspective.
"It's not a didactic exhibition which it would have been had it been handled by eco-warriors. We have been in touch with experts, who will be present at the symposiums (April 5 to 7), but we're also ensuring that space is shared equally with the sceptics," he says.
Within the group of sceptics, Watkins includes himself. Not as someone who doubts the enormity of the ecological and environmental problems, but as one, who questions the egocentric approach of scientists.
"I find it disturbing that most efforts are concentrating on how do we save humans, as opposed to how do we save the planet?" he explains.
Given that the theme was decided more than a year ago, Watkins, Scharrer and Kazim admit that it was quite prescient on the part of the Biennial's Director, Shaikha Hoor Al Qasimi. "The international noise now is definitely much more than what it was at the time the theme was decided," says Kazim, who has curated artists' works from the region, while Watkins and Scharrer have explored the international scene.
Given the overall subject, the curators approached artists known to work around the theme and also others, who hadn't but would bring a stimulating twist to it. Returning to the eco-friendly nature of the exhibition, Watkins talks of another exhibit, by Graham Gussin, whose project involves lots of theatre lights on an island in a lagoon.
"In a way he's consuming electricity, which to some might be an utter waste, but when you view the work itself, you will get a better sense of what the artist is trying to show society," he says cautious of not wanting to give away too much detail. "We did think about the whole eco thing and whether we should have restrictions on materials used, but then if it were all made out of biodegradable materials or recycled paper, we would be looking at a very literal solution to the problem," says Watkins.
Conditions
The organisers have clearly not imposed any conditions on the presenting artists.
A political dimension is brought in by Michael Rakowitz in his installation. "One part of Michael's work will recreate all the artefacts lost in the Baghdad Museum after the invasion and these artefacts will be made of recycled materials," Scharrer says.
"There are many aspects to the theme at large and it's not limited to global warming, which is attracting the maximum media at the moment. There are other sides to the story such as the fact that the Iraq war was about oil or other issues of conservation that are often overlooked," says Watkins.
"Like the viewer, the artists' own interpretations will be subjective and it will definitely be interesting to see what the world's different cultures bring to a place when asked to interpret an important international issue," says Kazim.
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