Human/Nature Exhibition
Public Programs at UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
(April 1–September 27, 2009)
The UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA) presents Human/Nature: Artists Respond to a Changing Planet from April 1 through September 27, 2009, in the museum’s galleries. In conjunction with the exhibition, BAM/PFA will present a variety of public programs and interactive opportunities for museum-goers to further explore the exhibition.
Curator’s Talk by Lucinda Barnes
April 1, 2009; 12:15 p.m.
Bancroft Lobby
Guided Tour
April 2, 2009; 12:15 p.m.
Graduate students from UC Berkeley departments including History of Art; Anthropology; Environmental Science, Policy, and Management; Geography; and Art Practice present tours of Human/Nature.
Conversation: Gretchen Daily and Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle
April 2, 2009 Rescheduled for September 26, 2009, at 3 p.m.
Museum Theater
Please note: Due to unforeseen circumstances, this event has been rescheduled for September 26, 2009, at 3 p.m.
In this public conversation, Stanford-based ecologist Gretchen Daily and Human/Nature artist Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle will share their ideas about value, ownership, biodiversity, the art world, and political economies of participation.
Gretchen Daily cofounded the Natural Capital Project in 2006. With projects in California, Hawaii, Tanzania, and China (so far), NCP works with governments and organizations to make environmental conservation economically attractive and commonplace worldwide.
For Human/Nature, Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle made a film featuring the Mitsubishi saltworks, adjacent to the northern end of the El Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve in Mexico (also known as the Whale Sanctuary of El Vizcaíno). The film presents the tension between the ecological fragility of this site and the industrial development that threatens it. In his artistic practice, Manglano-Ovalle investigates diverse subjects such as technology, climate, and the global impact of social, political, environmental, and scientific systems, often working in partnership with technical experts across multiple disciplines.
Guided Tours
April 5, 2009; 2:00 p.m.
April 9, 2009; 12:15 p.m.
Graduate students from UC Berkeley departments including History of Art; Anthropology; Environmental Science, Policy, and Management; Geography; and Art Practice present tours of Human/Nature.
Poetry Reading: Poetry and the Planet
April 11, 2009; 3:00 p.m.
Museum Theater
Can conservation inspire poetry? Can poetry inspire conservation? Seven Bay Area poets whose work provocatively intersects with environmental issues will read from their own writing and that of other poets. Participating are Camille Dungy, Robert Hass, Brenda Hillman, Paul Hoover, Juliana Spahr, Truong Tran, and Shanxing Wang.
Robert Hass, UC Berkeley professor of English, will introduce and frame the program as well as taking part in the reading. During his two terms as U.S. poet laureate, Hass became a spokesperson for literacy, poetry, and ecological awareness; at Berkeley, he regularly teaches a course in environmental studies.
Presented with support from the Consortium for the Arts at UC Berkeley.
Guided Tours
April 12, 2009; 2:00 p.m.
April 16, 2009; 12:15 p.m.
April 18, 2009; 11:00 a.m.
April 18, 2009; 1:00 p.m.
April 19, 2009; 2:00 p.m.
Graduate students from UC Berkeley departments including History of Art; Anthropology; Environmental Science, Policy, and Management; Geography; and Art Practice present tours of Human/Nature.
Conversation: Kurt Cuffey and Dario Robleto
April 19, 2009; 3:00 p.m.
Museum Theater
Reflecting on geologic time, human life, and the life of the planet, UC Berkeley glaciologist Kurt Cuffey and Human/Nature artist Dario Robleto will share their observations about glaciers and their meanings, and consider intersections between artistic and scientific practice.
Kurt Cuffey, who teaches in UC Berkeley’s geography department, speaks in compelling terms about the earth’s great ice sheets, and how environmental change in the polar regions offers insights into a very deep past and a far-reaching future.
In his project for Human/Nature, Dario Robleto combined sound recordings of melting glaciers with sculptural elements reflecting human loss and mourning to focus on the glaciers’ inevitable disappearance. He has often incorporated the physical residue of sound recordings—vinyl records, audiotape—into sculptural forms that explore history, memory, nostalgia, and loss. With this project, Robleto has begun to contemplate “last sounds,” for example those of an extinct species or a dying language.
Guided Tour
April 23, 2009; 12:15 p.m.
Graduate students from UC Berkeley departments including History of Art; Anthropology; Environmental Science, Policy, and Management; Geography; and Art Practice present tours of Human/Nature.
Symposium:
Creativity in the Face of Climate Change: The Role of the Visual Arts
April 24, 2009; 2:00 p.m.
Museum Theater
Admission Free
How have the arts guided societies in times of scarcity and environmental change? How can artists address the complex scientific issues involved in climate change?
Occasioned by Human/Nature, this symposium looks at the role of the visual arts in manifesting society’s values and challenging people to rethink their responsibility to the future of the planet. The program is the second in a series on creativity in the face of climate change, organized by the Berkeley Institute of the Environment, directed by Daniel McGrath.
Among the distinguished scholars and artists featured in the program will be Naomi Oreskes, professor of history and science studies and dean of the Sixth College at UC San Diego. Oreskes’s groundbreaking work, especially her 2004 essay “The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change,” has led to major media coverage nationwide and to the documentary film An Inconvenient Truth.
A reception will follow the program. For further information, please call (510) 642-1385 or visit bie.berkeley.edu.
Organized by the Berkeley Institute of the Environment and cosponsored by BAM/PFA, the UC Humanities Research Institute, and the Townsend Center for the Humanities.
Guided Tours
April 26, 2009; 2:00 p.m.
April 30, 2009; 12:15 p.m.
May 3, 2009; 2:00 p.m.
Graduate students from UC Berkeley departments including History of Art; Anthropology; Environmental Science, Policy, and Management; Geography; and Art Practice present tours of Human/Nature.
Gallery Talk and Workshop: Environmentalism and Art in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil
May 3, 2009; 3:00 p.m.
Gallery B
Artisans and other members of three indigenous groups living in the Atlantic Forest in southeastern Brazil will join artist Rigo 23 in a presentation about the two-part installation Sapukay—Cry for Help and Teko Mbarate—Struggle for Life, the product of a multiyear collaborative effort involving over a hundred community members. Their discussion will touch on the environmental issues that inform the artwork and the indigenous crafts it incorporates.
Sérgio Carlos Neves, a member of the Caiçara from Ilha do Cardoso, is a fisherman and artisan who created the bamboo framework for both sculptures. Renato da Silva Mariano, a member of the Guaraní, is a community leader from Pindoty Village. José Rodrigues da Silva is a political leader, community organizer, and oral historian of the Quilombo.
Ignacio Chapela, an associate professor in UC Berkeley’s School of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, and Gonzalo Hidalgo, an environmentalist and cultural activist who collaborated on the on-site fabrication of the sculptures, will contribute questions and observations to the discussion.
Guided Tours
May 7, 2009; 12:15 p.m.
May 10, 2009; 2:00 p.m.
May 14, 2009; 12:15 p.m.
May 17, 2009; 2:00 p.m.
May 21, 2009; 12:15 p.m.
May 24, 2009; 2:00 p.m.
May 28, 2009; 12:15 p.m.
May 31, 2009; 2:00 p.m.
June 4, 2009; 12:15 p.m.
Graduate students from UC Berkeley departments including History of Art; Anthropology; Environmental Science, Policy, and Management; Geography; and Art Practice present tours of Human/Nature.
Community Day: Localize! Environmental Activism at the Grassroots
June 7, 2009; 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Sculpture Garden, Terraces, and Human/Nature Galleries
Admission to the galleries is free all day, including guided tours and all Localize! activities!
RIDE! Free valet bike parking by Centro Comunitario de Bicicletas.
Engaging the need and desire for community-based responses to ecological and economic realities, Localize! offers hands-on activities, demonstrations, performance, and information-sharing with representatives from urban neighborhood-based art and ecology projects and similar student-organized efforts. Plus enjoy refreshments and Human/Nature tours with UC Berkeley grad students!
Please visit http://bampfa.berkeley.edu/community_day or the Localize! Facebook page to see a full list of participating projects and artists.
Guided Tours
June 7, 2009; 12:00 p.m., 1:30 p.m., and 2:30 p.m.
June 11, 2009; 12:15 p.m.
Graduate students from UC Berkeley departments including History of Art; Anthropology; Environmental Science, Policy, and Management; Geography; and Art Practice present tours of Human/Nature.
Sign Language-Interpreted Tour
June 13, 2009; 1:30 p.m.
Interpreted by Patricia Lessard.
Guided Tours
June 14, 2009; 2:00 p.m.
June 18, 2009; 12:15 p.m.
June 21, 2009; 2:00 p.m.
June 25, 2009; 12:15 p.m.
June 28, 2009; 2:00 p.m.
Graduate students from UC Berkeley departments including History of Art; Anthropology; Environmental Science, Policy, and Management; Geography; and Art Practice present tours of Human/Nature.
Guided Tours
July 9, 2009; 12:15 p.m.
July 19, 2009; 2:00 p.m.
July 26, 2009; 2:00 p.m.
August 6, 2009; 12:15 p.m.
August 16, 2009; 2:00 p.m.
August 23, 2009; 2:00 p.m.
September 10, 2009; 12:15 p.m.
September 13, 2009; 12:00 p.m.
September 17, 2009; 12:15 p.m.
September 20, 2009; 12:00 p.m.
September 24, 2009; 12:15 p.m.
Graduate students Miguel Arzabe (Art Practice); Catherine Guimond, Greta Marchesi, and Jessica Taal (Geography); Aglaya Glebova and Justin Underhill (History of Art); and Francisco Pontual (Environmental Science, Policy, and Management) present tours of Human/Nature.
Conversation: Gretchen Daily and Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle
September 26, 2009; 3 p.m.
Museum Theater
In this public conversation, Stanford-based ecologist Gretchen Daily and Human/Nature artist Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle will share their ideas about value, ownership, biodiversity, the art world, and political economies of participation.
Gretchen Daily cofounded the Natural Capital Project in 2006. With projects in California, Hawaii, Tanzania, and China (so far), NCP works with governments and organizations to make environmental conservation economically attractive and commonplace worldwide.
For Human/Nature, Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle made a film featuring the Mitsubishi saltworks, adjacent to the northern end of the El Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve in Mexico (also known as the Whale Sanctuary of El Vizcaíno). The film presents the tension between the ecological fragility of this site and the industrial development that threatens it. In his artistic practice, Manglano-Ovalle investigates diverse subjects such as technology, climate, and the global impact of social, political, environmental, and scientific systems, often working in partnership with technical experts across multiple disciplines.
Guided Tour
September 27, 2009; 2:00 p.m.
Graduate students Miguel Arzabe (Art Practice); Catherine Guimond, Greta Marchesi, and Jessica Taal (Geography); Aglaya Glebova and Justin Underhill (History of Art); and Francisco Pontual (Environmental Science, Policy, and Management) present tours of Human/Nature.
