2024-10-03 14:01:55
Third EcoStories symposium brings rewilding methods to artists, curators and researchers
The Musée d’Art Assis de Chateaubriand (MASP) in São Paulo promotes its third edition Seminar “The Story of Ecology”the incident deepened the debate about the intersection between art and the environment. With the participation of internationally renowned scholars, artists, and curators, themes such as new perspectives on “rewilding,” black feminist ecology, and artistic practices in cultural ecosystems are explored. The discussions that took place also anticipated the museum’s curatorial focus for the coming year, which will be dedicated to the same themes as the symposium.
Sheroanawi Harkivi, henna riya riya [Folha verde]2021, MASP Collection
The first panel began with the introduction of curator André Mesquita, one of the organizers of the conference, followed by a speech Ross Gray The theme is “Rewilding after Imperial Ecology”. In her work as a researcher, Gray collaborates with artists, curators, scientists and activists to explore the process of “rewilding” the Earth, which she understands as an ecological development approach that restores the biodiversity of ecosystems , so that nature can be concretely restored.
As Director of the MA Arts and Ecology Program and Co-Director of the Center for Arts and Ecology at Goldsmiths, University of London, she sees climate justice issues as central to ecological care. Among the works she presents with an ecocentric and decolonial perspective stand out the projects of Asa Sonjasdotter and Asa Elzen, who set out on a feminist project in Sweden ism queer communities conducted research focusing on the role of women in agricultural and ecological practices.
Another example is Nida Sinnokrot’s Storytelling Stones (2022), in which sculptures made from stacked stones explore different natural sounds, such as wind and animal sounds. By amplifying local voices, the building offers a new way to connect people to the environment—for Gray, a strategy for a regenerative future that respects the commons and climate justice. These works therefore emphasize a critique of extractivism and a return to more conscious agricultural production.
After Rose Gray’s deliberations, Mesquita turned the floor over to her second guest at the table, a feminist ecocritic Chelsea FrazierProfessor of English Literature at Cornell University in New York. She is the founder of Ask Amazon, an educational center designed to support the intellectual and creative development of students and professionals in organizations, and is currently working on the manuscript of her first book.
In a talk titled “Visualizing Black Feminist Ecology,” Frazier explored how to incorporate Black feminist ecology into curatorial and collection creation, emphasizing the importance of considering Black women’s cultural histories when shaping alternative ecological practices. importance. The presentation included analysis of works such as Maya Lin’s Phases of the Moon (1998), which uses beeswax to represent lunar cycles and the connection between natural satellites and environmental cycles. The work criticizes aspects of nature that are often overlooked in our daily lives.
Another work discussed is Silver River Mississippi (2007), also by Maya Lin, which questions the inversion of value between metal and water (both found in our rivers), emphasizing the of critical importance and the ecological crisis associated with water. Fraser believes that black feminist practices and perspectives break the colonial framework of environmental studies and allow for the construction of new ecological ethical concepts.
In the afternoon, the seminar continued under the chairmanship of curator Isabela Rjeille farid raccoona member of the Ruangrupa collective, founded in Jakarta, Indonesia, in the 2000s. Titled “From ruangrupa, GUDSKUL and Lumbung: About and Beyond Ecosystem”, He discusses an expanded and transversal vision of how artistic practices interact with urban and cultural contexts – a debate relevant to the practice of Ruangrupa, known for his focus on artistic practices that challenge extractivism and promote collaborative and sustainable visions.
Farid explains that, initially, the collective needed to establish its own structure, creating an art space that challenged the established norms of the art scene and promoted non-competitive practices. He highlights the importance of creating these horizontal and perpetuating networks in response to colonial and mining practices in cultural landscapes. Through the video, he explains how Ruangrupa transforms private space into public space, reinforcing the idea that art must be intrinsically connected to the larger ecosystem, including social and environmental aspects. This is what is different about the collective, which understands the entire paradigm within which artists find themselves: for them, the only way to prevent or interrupt the colonial mechanisms of extractivism is to create transversal and sustainable networks.
The conversation between Farid and Rjeille concluded the event, as it will be guaraniThe leader of the village of Kalipety, an indigenous land of Tenondé Porã, was unable to attend. The symposium thus highlighted that the intersection between art and ecology is not just an aesthetic or conceptual matter, but an urgent need to rethink relationships with the environment and marginalized communities.
By questioning ecological practices rooted in colonial models, guests marked a new moment for reflection on the climate crisis and the search for a more sustainable future – an issue that is central not only in the realm of public policy, but also in culture. The symposium provides a space to reflect on how we can move toward a more just and sustainable future through artistic practice and critical theory.
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