This thematic publication of a group exhibition explores the confluence of nature and human intervention that has had both glorious and profoundly dispiriting effects on the world in which we live. Twelve artists approach the natural and built environment with anxiety, humor, irony, amazement and terror. Their vision in an ecotopian one, where the world is neither utopian nor dystopian, neither ideal nor nightmarish. They offer an alternative for postmodern living, where nature and technology can live more harmoniously, without wreaking great havoc on our environment. Through their work they suggest that while this world we live in may be upside down, the new and decaying structures that we have created possess a beauty of decay where objects, monuments, and sites that have been overtaken by weeds, graffiti, wildlife are in fact a new archaeology for a new generation. Participating artists: BGL, David Brooks, Dagmara Genda, Rodney Graham, Isabelle Hayeur,Tristram Lansdowne, Maude Leonard-Contant, Lynne Marsh, Lisa Sanditz, Jennifer Steinkamp, T & T and Kate Wilson.
Ecotopia is distributed by ABC Art Books Canada and can be purchased from ABC, book retailers, and co-publishing galleries.
Published by Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Nickle Galleries, and Kenderdine Art Gallery, 2013
80 pp 40 colour pages
9 x 8 in, hardcover
ISBN 978-1-897543-20-7
Amanda Cachia, Ernest Callenbach (excerpt), and Anthony Vidler (excerpt)
Interested in purchasing a copy? Contact Visitor Services at mail@kwag.on.ca or 519-579-5860 x0 for inquiries.