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Free Range Culture

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Free Range Culture: Biotech and Environmental Art

This page is a work in progress. Please visit the Discussion section for links to more projects.

Contents

Artistic Projects

7,000 Oak Trees

Some of the 7,000 Oaks planted between 1982 and 1987

Joseph Beuys's 7,000 Oak Trees 7,000 Oak Trees (1982) was a work of land art that was created for the Documenta 7, an exhibition of modern and contempoary art that happens every five years in Kassel, Germany.

First, Beuys delivered a large pile of basalt stones, which, when seen from above formed large arrow pointing to a single oak tree that he had planted. Next, he announced that the stones should not be moved unless an oak tree was planted in the new location of the stone. With the help of volunteers, the artist was able to plant seven thousand trees over several years, each with an accompanying basalt stone. The last tree was planted on the opening of Documenta 8.

Beuys intended this project to be the first stage in an ongoing program of tree planting throughout the world as part of a global mission to effect environmental and social change. On this note, he stated [1]:

The planting of seven thousand oak trees is thus only a symbolic beginning. And such a symbolic beginning requires a marker, in this instance a basalt column. The intention of such a tree-planting event is to point up the transformation of all of life, of society, and of the whole ecological system . . .

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AIR: Preemptive Media Project

AIR: Preemptive Media Project, 2006

Brooke Singer's AIR (2006) is a public, social experiment in which people are invited to use Preemptive Media's portable air monitoring devices to explore their neighborhoods and urban environments for pollution and fossil fuel burning hotspots.

According to the AIR website

Participants or "carriers" are able to see pollutant levels in their current locations, as well as simultaneously view measurements from the other AIR devices in the network. An on-board GPS unit and digital compass, combined with a database of known pollution sources such as power plants and heavy industries, allow carriers to see their distance from polluters as well. The AIR devices regularly transmit data to a central database allowing for real time data visualization on this website.

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Catch of the Day

Aerosol Valu Pack, 2009

Catch of the Day (2009) is a collaborative guerrilla ad campaign between the Surfrider Foundation and Saatchi & Saatchi LA to draw attention to the growing mounds of garbage polluting the oceans. Trash was collected from beaches across the United States and repackaged to resemble seafood. The packages were then sold at various farmers' markets.

According to Annie from Provisions Learning Project:

In their continuing efforts to battle the ever growing mounds of garbage polluting our oceans and coastlines, Surfrider Foundation joined forces with Saatchi & Saatchi LA to sponsor the aptly titled Catch of the Day guerrilla ad campaign. Trash was collected from beaches across the US, then sorted, packaged like seafood, and strategically placed around local farmers’ markets. Directly targeting seafood consumers, this creative campaign draws attention to the gross debris littering our oceans and highlights how this pollution affects the consumer directly through the food they eat. Even if you’re not partial to seafood, its hard to miss the message!

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Dow Does the Right Thing

Dow Does the Right Thing, 2004

The Yes Men's Dow Does the Right Thing (2004) was a media hoax in which a member of the Yes Men impersonated a spokesperson for Dow Chemical on the BBC World and discussed the company's position on the 1984 Bhopal disaster (on its 20th anniversary). Using the pseudonym Jude (patron saint of the impossible) Finestera (earth's end), he claimed that Dow had agreed to clean up the site and compensate those harmed in the incident. Immediately following this interview, Dow's share price fell 4.2% in 23 minutes, for a loss of $2 billion in market value. It later recovered after Dow issued a statement denouncing the compensation package and clarifying that Finestera's statements were part of a hoax.

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Environmental Health Clinic

Environmental Health Clinic - Mobile lab on site

Natalie Jeremijenko's Environmental Health Clinic at NYU is a mobile lab designed to address the environmental anxieties of visitors.

According to Jeremijenko:

The Environmental Health Clinic at NYU is a clinic and lab, modeled on other health clinics at universities. However the project approaches health from an understanding of its dependence on external local environments; rather than on the internal biology and genetic predispositions of an individual. The clinic works like this: you make an appointment, just like you would at a traditional health clinic, to talk about your particular environmental health concerns. What differs is that you walk out with a prescription not for pharmaceuticals but for actions: local data collection and urban interventions directed at understanding and improving your environmental health; plus referrals, not to medical specialists but to specific art, design and participatory projects, local environmental organizations and local government or civil society groups: organizations that can use the data and actions prescribed as legitimate forms of participation to promote social change.

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eRiceCooker

eRiceCooker, 2007

Annina Rust's eRiceCooker (2007) tracks and visualizes Internet news about genetically modified rice.

According to Rust:

Whenever there is a new report about GM rice, a quarter cup of rice is dispensed into the cooker. When the cooker has enough rice for a meal, water is added automatically to the rice and the cooker is switched on. When the rice is done, an email is sent out to inviting people to eat the rice. The more news reports appear, the more rice is cooked, the more often invitations are sent out. The project is designed to create awareness to issues surrounding genetically modified organisms by producing excessive amounts of cooked rice and attempting to feed people with it.

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Flooded McDonald's

Flooded McDonald's, 2009

Superflex's Flooded McDonald's (2009) is a short film that simulates the flooding of a life-size McDonalds restaurant. The piece can be understood as a critique of the impotence of the West to cope with the mismanagement of its bloated corporations and the related threats of climate change.

According to Superflex:

Flooded McDonald's is a film work by Superflex in which a convincing life-size replica of the interior of a McDonald's burger bar, without any customers or staff present, gradually floods with water. Furniture is lifted up by the water, trays of food and drinks start to float around, electrics short circuit and eventually the space becomes completely submerged.

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Gardening Superfund Sites

Gardening Superfund Sites, 2005

Free Soil's Gardening Superfund Sites (2005) is an artistic research project designed to raise public awareness about superfund sites.

According to Future Farmer:

Gardending Superfund Sites is an art project which fosters discourse around the issues of nature preservation, industry, and activism. By providing information and facilitating activities with students and community groups we are making a call to action to high tech industries to take responsibility for their actions. This is a global issue that needs to be addressed locally!
Soil Sample Shoe

An important component of the project includes the use of Soil Sampling Shoes which covertly collect soil samples from superfund sites in an effort to obtain information about the history and current status of the toxic clean up.

According to Worldchanging:

The shoes gather information in the form of soil information that can be pure evidence. This soil presented in the form of a sculpture becomes suspended evidence. The shoes become charged objects in the sense that the glass vials filled with soil become a representation of the memory of each site. A record of the waste produced in the making of computer memory in the early 1980s.

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Homeless Polar Bears

Homeless Polar Bears, 2008

Mark Jenkins' Homeless Polar Bears (2008) is an artistic intervention consisting of a series of human-like polar bear sculptures being placed in public spaces. It is a collaboration with Greenpeace. Jenkins added polar bear heads and ragged clothing to human figures to convey a sense of displacement and homelessness. He then placed them in highly populated areas of Washington DC. According to one MSN Report, the bomb squad was called to "take down a "hobo polar bear" that had commuters alarmed outside a train station.

According to Jenkins:

We made a series of human-like homeless polar bears and installed them around DC to get people to think about the issue (of melting arctic ice) with more empathy. it seemed people liked them a lot and took pictures of their kids in front of them, etc. but most were removed pretty quickly by the authorities. the last image is one that was met with ill-fate after being deemed a "suspicious package" so the whole thing ended up have a touch of irony to it when compared to the actual situation.

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Inflatable Street Sculptures

Inflatable Street Sculptures, 2008

Joshua Allen Harris' Inflatable Street Sculptures (2008) are a series of animal-like creatures made of plastic shopping and trash bags and tape that are inflated and animated by the air escaping from subway grates.

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London Biotopes

London Biotopes, 2007

Tuur Van Balen's London Biotopes (2007) maps and visualizes tap water in a number of London neighborhoods.

According to Van Balen:

The pharmaceuticals and chemicals we take eventually end up in our drinking water again. This results in local differences in tapwater, based on the food we eat and the drugs we take. Notting Hill tapwater benefits from the highest density of organic shops, tapwater in the city of London is enhanced with various stimulants and Golders Green 'produces' a very fertile water due to the low concentration of people taking anti-conception pills. This website helps you share and discover these sources.

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N=1=NPK=KIMCHI=N

N=1=NPK=KIMCHI=N, 2006

Jae Rim Lee's N=1=NPK=KIMCHI=N (2006) is a mobile urine recycling system featuring a hydroponic napa cabbage garden that is fed by nutrients derived from the artist's urine.

According to Jae Rim Lee:

In April 2006 I sent my urine to a floriculture lab and learned that it contained all the nutrients required for plant growth, just not in the optimal concentrations. Using diet planning software, I developed and followed a vegan diet that transformed my urine into a more ideal nutrient solution for plants. I built a mobile urine recycling system with a urinal, urine processing system, foam bed, serving table, and a hydroponic napa cabbage garden. I ate lots of spinach, tofu, and nuts; collected and processed my urine; grew napa cabbages hydroponically with the urine, made kimchi from the napa cabbages, and served the kimchi to the public.

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Moving Forest

Moving Forest, 2008

NL Architects' Moving Forest (2008) is a temporary forest of trees installed in 100 shopping carts. The project was inspired by a children’s story about a forest that moves at night so that people trapped in it can never escape. The installation was part of the 2008 Urban Play event in Amsterdam.

According to NL Architects:

‘Moving Forest’ is NL Architects’ answer to the lack of green in contemporary urban environments. One might occasionally find a carefully designed patch of plants or shrubbery there, but nothing like the majestic parks and shady trees that can be found in historical city centres. So they designed a park on wheels, with trees in shopping carts. Around a small street bench, the public can rearrange their own little park and thus create a nice green view and a bit of shade.

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Nuage Vert

Nuage Vert, 2008

HeHe's (Helen Evans and Heiki Hansen) Nuage Vert (Green Cloud) (2008) was a site specific week long public installation that used laser tracking to project a green illumination onto the chimney emissions of the Salmisaari power plant in Helsinki, Finland. The illumination adjusted its shape and size to the contours of the vapor with the dimensions of the green glow directly reflecting the electrical consumption of nearby residents.

According to HeHe:

Nuage Vert is based on the idea that public forms can embody an ecological project, materialising environmental issues so that they become a subject within our collective daily lives. Its material, collective and aesthetic dimension distinguishes it from other approaches. A city scale light installation onto the ultimate icon of industrial pollution, alerts the public, generates discussion and can persuade people to change patterns of consumption.

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PARKcycle

PARKcycle, 2007

REBAR's PARKcycle (2007) is a human-powered park on wheels. It was built in collaboration with the kinetic sculptor Reuben Margolin.

According to REBAR:

While its physical dimensions synchronize with the automotive “softscape” of lane stripes and metered stalls, the PARKcycle effectively re-programs the urban hardscape by delivering massive quantities of green open space—up to 4,320 square-foot-minutes of park per stop—thus temporarily reframing the right-of-way as green space, not just a car space. Using a plug-and-play approach, the PARKcycle provides open space benefits to neighborhoods that need it, when they need it, as soon as it is parked.

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PARK(ing) Day

PARK(ing) Day Perth, 2008

REBAR's PARK(ing) Day is an annual and open event in which citizens transform urban street parking spots into temporary public parks. The event was created in 2005 and has grown to become a global event with over 150 public parking spots transformed in 2007. It is co-sponsored by the Trust for Public Land. REBAR has created a PARK(ing) Day Assembly Manual and Streetscape Intervention Toolkit that can be freely downloaded and used.

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Photosynthesis Robot

Photosynthesis Robot, 2003

Amy Franceschini's Photosynthesis Robot (2003) is a prototype of a perpetual motion device propelled by phototropism - the movement of plants towards the direction of the sun.

According to Franceschini:

This piece was made at a time where I was a bit disheartened by "New Media" works. Rather than a "Why the Future Doesn't Need Us" robot take over, I proposed a nature take over - or a way of working with nature rather than trying to mimic it or replace it. The larger question this points to is the perceived separation between humans and nature. This piece is about that paradox. It fits into a larger thematic in my work in terms of a concern about our role as humans within the greater body of the nature we are part of. Much of my work is about balance. In the case of Photosynthesis Robot, it is dependent on several variables in order to propel itself forward. Who will provide water, lighting conditions and space for it to move about and do its business? In this case chasing after SUV's capturing CO2 emissions. Go [little] robot, go!

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Post Global Warming Survival Kit

Post Global Warming Survival Kit, 2008

Petko Dourmana's Post Global Warming Survival Kit (2008) is an interactive multimedia installation. It features a two-channel-projection that shows infrared pictures of the North Sea as an apocalyptic scene that are only viewable via night vision devices.

According to Artistic Director of Edith Russ House for Media Art Sabine Himmelsbach:

In his infrared installation Post Global Warming Survival Kit, the Bulgarian artist Petko Dourmana plunges viewers into a post-apocalyptic eschatological scenario of the kind described so compellingly in countless science fiction novels or Hollywood films. Dourmana makes the fear of an invisible menace palpable, something to be physically experienced. On entering the room, viewers at first think there is nothing in it but an old caravan. Only the use of a night vision device enables viewers to experience the landscape surrounding them.

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Running the Numbers

Barbie Dolls, 2007

Chris Jordan's Running the Numbers (2007) looks at contemporary American culture through the lens of statistics. His images provide a glimpse into our real consumer culture, a sobering visual representation of the statistics we normally fail to "see."

According to Jordan:

Running the Numbers looks at contemporary American culture through the austere lens of statistics. Each image portrays a specific quantity of something: fifteen million sheets of office paper (five minutes of paper use); 106,000 aluminum cans (thirty seconds of can consumption) and so on. My hope is that images representing these quantities might have a different effect than the raw numbers alone, such as we find daily in articles and books. Statistics can feel abstract and anesthetizing, making it difficult to connect with and make meaning of 3.6 million SUV sales in one year, for example, or 2.3 million Americans in prison, or 32,000 breast augmentation surgeries in the U.S. every month. This project visually examines these vast and bizarre measures of our society, in large intricately detailed prints assembled from thousands of smaller photographs. Employing themes such as the near versus the far, and the one versus the many, I hope to raise some questions about the role of the individual in a society that is increasingly enormous, incomprehensible, and overwhelming. ~chris jordan, Seattle, 2007

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Superfund365

Superfund365, 2007

Brooke Singer's Superfund365, A Site-A-Day, is an online data visualization application with an accompanying RSS-feed and email alert system. It provides 365 visualizations of some of the worst toxic sites in the U.S. (this is roughly a quarter of the total number on the Superfund's National Priorities List). Superfund is the federal government's program to clean up the nation's uncontrolled hazardous waste sites.

According to Singer:

Each day for a year, starting on September 1, 2007, Superfund365 visited one toxic site in the Superfund program run by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). We began the journey in the New York City area and worked our way across the country, ending the year in Hawaii. Today the archive consists of 365 visualizations of some of the worst toxic sites in the U.S., roughly a quarter of the total number on the Superfund's National Priorities List (NPL).

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SymbioticA

SymbioticA

SymbioticA is an artistic laboratory that focuses on the research, learning and critique of life sciences. It was established in 2000 by cell biologist Professor Miranda Grounds, neuroscientist Professor Stuart Bunt and artist Oron Catts from the Tissue Culture and Art Project (TC&A).

According to SymbioticA:

SymbioticA is an artistic laboratory within the School of Anatomy and Human Biology at The University of Western Australia. It is dedicated to the research, learning and critique of life sciences. It is the first research laboratory of its kind, in that it enables artists to engage in wet biology practices in a biological science department. SymbioticA hosts residents, runs workshops, produces exhibitions and organises symposiums as part of the core activities. SymbioticA was established to provide a situation where interdisciplinary research and other knowledge and concept generating activities can take place. SymbioticA offers a new means of artistic inquiry, one in which artists actively use the tools and technologies of science - not just to comment about them - but also to explore their possibilities. It also provides an opportunity for researchers to pursue curiosity-based explorations free of the demands and constraints associated with the current culture of scientific research while still complying with regulations. SymbioticA represents an outstanding example of how an artistic research community effectively identifies new fields of engagement towards systemically meaningful art forms.

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Tag a Dummer

Tag a Dummer, 2008

Tag a Hummer is a culture jamming project created by Ji Lee. He’s encouraging Hummer owners and others to download his specially designed “D” stickers in order to rebrand the tank-sized vehicles. He’s also provided a Tagged Dummers Gallery where taggers can upload and share photos of their work.

According to Ji Lee:

In the time of environmental urgency, catastrophic wars, soaring gas prices and economic gloom, can there be a car more senseless, stupid and offensive than Hummer? When someone drives a Hummer, it’s like saying: “HEY, LOOK AT MY TOOL. AND BTW, I’M RICH AND FUCK YOU AND YOUR ENVIRONMENT!” So, here’s a small way to get back at them: Introducing the all-new Dummer. The next time you see a Hummer, tag the logo and turn it into a Dummer.

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TRASH: anycoloryoulike

TRASH: anycoloryoulike, 2008

Adrian Kondratowicz's TRASH: anycoloryoulike (2008) is an art intervention that uses colorful biodegradable trash bags to draw attention to the urban and ecological impacts of garbage.

According to Kondratowicz:

TRASH: anycoloryoulike is a vivid art intervention for urban beautification and environmental awareness. The project consists of select city blocks in which new artist-created bags transform standard piles of trash into vivid sculptures of color through the participation of local business owners and residents. Each TRASH bag is 100% biodegradable and naturally scented to repel insects and vermin. TRASH was developed by artist Adrian Kondratowicz. The first intervention took place in New York City during the Summer of 2008.

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Trilogy

Trilogy, 2004-2008

Marco Evaristti's Trilogy (2004-2008) is an artistic project to raise awareness of territoriality and environmental pollution.

According to transmediale:

Trilogy comprises three projects that deal with the themes of territories and states. Using fruit color and fabric, Evaristti coloured an ice cube in Greenland, areas of Mont Blanc and a sand dune in the Sahara, red. He then declared them all as his territory and named it 'Pink State'. The work is a series of transient changes in nature, touching on issues of environmental pollution, territorial demands and political methods.

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Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill

Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill, 2008

Banksy's Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill (2008) is a mock pet supply shop, filled with animatronic creatures like a rhesus monkey and would-be creatures like fish sticks swimming in a tank.

According to Banksy:

I wanted to make art that questioned our relationship with animals and the ethics and sustainability of factory farming but it ended up as chicken nuggets singing.

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You Have the Right to Know

You Have the Right to Know

Free Soil's You Have the Right to Know is a consumer awareness project in which pieces of fruit are covered with wrappers containing information about alternative food systems and urban farming. The wrappers are designed to teach consumers about every phase of a product's life including how it influences the environment and ourselves.

According to Free Soil:

Free Soil has produced a run of FRUIT wrappers, a website, and a traveling installation as part of an initiative to inform people about alternative food systems and local food movements. The wrappers are disseminated throughout the food chain by piggybacking on oranges. Information will be carried through the food system and into the hands of consumers. The wrapper holds information on a variety of aspects concerning food movements, transport and urban farming. Get your daily dose!

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Key Terms and Concepts

  • Greenwash

Greenwash describes a Public Relations strategy in which a company deliberately overstates its environmental practices and/or the environmental benefits of a product or service. According to CorpWatch, greenwashing is "the phenomena of socially and environmentally destructive corporations, attempting to preserve and expand their markets or power by posing as friends of the environment."

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External Links

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