18 international artists and collectives look at the challenges of climate change in touring exhibition.
In 2006, a major earthquake rocked the island of Java causing massive destruction and loss of life. The disaster inspired Indonesian artist Arahmaiani to work with local students, asking what was needed in their community in the face of such a devastating environmental issue.
The students arrived on concepts of “intellect” and “courage,” words which were sewn onto brightly colored flags. Arahmaiani’s project has since grown into a global initiative with communities from Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Japan, China, Tibet, Germany and Belgium working with the artist to identify environmental problems in their region, think through solutions, and select keywords for new flags.
The participatory “Flag Project” is among the works of 18 international artists and collectives featured in the touring exhibition, “Actions for the Earth: Art, Care and Ecology,” on view at The Block Museum of Art from Jan. 26 to July 7.
Presented in collaboration with Independent Curators International (ICI), “Actions for the Earth” underscores artistic approaches that address the worldwide climate crisis while offering opportunities to reflect, respond and care for local environments.
“The Block is pleased to present Actions for Earth. The exhibition brings a global context into ongoing conversations around the impact of climate change on us individually and in our global community,” notes Lisa Corrin, The Block’s Ellen Philips Katz Executive Director.
“Artists can play an important role in helping us understand what it means to live within the impact of environmental change and in visualizing how the climate crisis intersects with our lives.”
Lisa Graziose Corrin, Ellen Philips Katz Executive Director, The Block Museum of Art
Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), New York.
“At The Block, we believe artists can play an important role in helping us understand what it means to live within the impact of environmental change and in visualizing how the climate crisis intersects with our lives including the eco-anxiety afflicting so many of us.
Through our existing work with the Climate Crisis + Media Arts initiative and the Center for Native American and Indigenous Research, The Block engages with the way that art can raise and reframe urgent issues around care, and climate.”
Actions for the Earth is curated by Western Australian-based curator Sharmila Wood and is guest curated at The Block by Chicago-based independent curator, writer, and arts leader Stephanie Smith, known for groundbreaking socially-engaged curatorial work.
Wood drew inspiration for the show from the way that the global health crisis during the pandemic became inseparable from rising awareness of climate change and entrenched social inequity.
“I think artists have an important role in promoting imagination and creativity as a way to solve some of the problems that we face, not only for the Earth but also within our own lives,” Wood says.
“I hope that the artists in the exhibition provide insight for people in terms of how we can reimagine ourselves and the world that we live in.”
Art & Action
“Actions for the Earth” presents work by artists and collectives who emphasize reciprocity and restorative healing practices. Work in the exhibition foregrounds the value of holding a global perspective while focusing locally and highlighting interconnections by drawing from multiple disciplines beyond established art practices.
Actions for the Earth is a resource for current times.
Sharmila Wood, Exhibition Curator
Actions for the Earth artists include: Ackroyd & Harvey, Lhola Amira, Arahmaiani, Sayan Chanda, Hylozoic/Desires (Himali Singh Soin & David Soin Tappeser), lololol, Ana Mendieta, Zarina Muhammad, Patrina Munuŋgurr , Pauline Oliveros, Yoko Ono, Eric-Paul Riege, Tabita Rezaire, Cecilia Vicuña, Katie West, and Zheng Bo
In the installation Clearing (2019) Katie West (Yindjibarndi & Australian, b. 1988), invites the audience to rest beneath a canopy of naturally dyed textiles. The earthen colors of these draped silks are memories of a landscape that is further recalled by the meditative soundscape of poetry and sounds recorded on the land.
In Calendrical Systems for the Afterlife (2002) artist Zarina Muhammad (Singaporean b. 1982) seeks to create space refuge in the turbulence of our world. The installation invites visitors to reflect and participate in an installation by adding a note or object that represents this sense of shelter, safety, and sanctuary.
Other works, such as Zheng Bo’s (b.1974) Ecosensibility Exercises and Pauline Oliveros (American, 1932–2016) Sonic Meditations, offer prompts that invite audiences to pay deep attention to the surroundings and to how we relate to the world around us.
“Actions for the Earth is a resource for current times, reminding us that we are connected within a constellation of living networks, inseparable from the Earth…If we have a more caring approach to each other, it can affect us socially, economically, and politically. It can be endlessly expansive,” says Wood.“‘
Reflection of Place
Though international in scope, Actions for the Earth resonates with ongoing conversations in its local context.
One such work is Arahmaiani’s Memory of Nature (2013), which explores the link between nature and religion by taking the form of a garden bed that mirrors a mandala design. Memory of Nature changes every time it is presented. At The Block, the project will begin to grow outside the museum in mid-April with native flowers selected by anthropologist Eli Suzukovich III, a lecturer in Northwestern’s Environmental Policy and Culture and a faculty affiliate of the Native American and Indigenous Research Institute, and his students.
“The Chicago region has a long history of socially engaged, ecologically attuned art practice,” says consulting curator Stephanie Smith.
Projects considering environmental and social sustainability have been a cornerstone of Smith’s long career, including the curation of the landmark touring exhibition Beyond Green: Toward a Sustainable Art, co-organized by the University of Chicago’s Smart Museum of Art and Independent Curators International. The 2005 exhibition traveled to nine venues nationally through 2009.
“Actions for the Earth will resonate with past and current work in our region; it brings a rich mix of international and intergenerational perspectives to the shared, urgent work of taking better care of each other and the planet.” Smith said.
The Chicago region has a long history of socially engaged, ecologically attuned art practice
Stephanie Smith, Consulting Curator
channel sound, film still. Image courtesy of SMAC Gallery, copyright Lhola Amira.
Exhibition Credits
Actions for the Earth: Art, Care & Ecology is curated by Sharmila Wood and produced by Independent Curators International (ICI), New York. Lead funding is provided by the Hartfield Foundation as part of an initiative to support ICI’s commitment to new curatorial voices who will shape the future of the field. Actions for the Earth is made possible with the generous support of ICI’s Board of Trustees and International Forum. Exhibition graphics by Untitled Agency, Marrakesh. The Block’s presentation of this exhibition is supported in part by the Illinois Arts Council Agency, the Bernstein Family Contemporary Art Fund, the Dorothy J. Speidel Gift, and the Alsdorf Gallery at The Block Museum Endowment. The Block Museum presentation of the exhibition was coordinated by consulting guest curator Stephanie Smith.
About the Curators
Sharmila Wood applies a multidisciplinary approach to curating that weaves together writing, research, design and communications. Wood is a Perth, Western Australia-based independent curator who works on creative and cultural initiatives producing, curating, and commissioning artwork. She is interested in interdisciplinary approaches around environmental, social, and spatial justice and conceptualizes socially engaged processes to make art interventions. Wood has held arts positions in New Delhi, Los Angeles, Sydney, and Perth, edits books and writes regularly for arts publications and journals. She holds a Masters of Art History & Curatorship from the University of Sydney and is currently Director of Tarruru, where she continues her work across borders.
Stephanie Smith serves as consulting guest curator on The Block museum presentation of Actions for the Earth. Smith is a Chicago-based curator, writer, and arts leader whose collaborative, socially engaged projects assert art’s power to envision and enact other futures. She values place-responsive, generous, and hospitable ways of working—honed through 25+ years of curatorial practice including senior roles at the University of Chicago’s Smart Museum of Art; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; and Institute for Contemporary Art in Richmond, Virginia. In 2022, Smith joined Awi’nakola (“we are one with the land and the sea”), a project based in British Columbia in which artists, scientists, and Indigenous knowledge keepers are seeking effective responses to the climate crisis and working together to regenerate land and culture.
About ICI
Independent Curators International (ICI) supports the work of curators to help create stronger
art communities through experimentation, collaboration and international engagement. Curators are arts community leaders and organizers who champion artistic practice, build essential infrastructures and institutions, and generate public engagement with art. Our collaborative programs connect curators across generations and across social, political and cultural borders. They form an international framework for sharing knowledge and resources—promoting cultural exchange, access to art, and public awareness for the curator’s role.
ICI’s flagship professional development program for curators, The Curatorial Intensive, supports emerging curators by bringing them together to gain new skills and perspectives on curating in partnership with advanced-career faculty. Since 2010, the program has taken place in more than 25 cities around the world and served 500 curators from 70 countries, who form an unparalleled, dynamic alumni network. http://www.curatorsintl.org/
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