at The Albuquerque Museum of Art and History
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.......................................................................................................... The Albuquerque Museum Foundation enables The Albuquerque Museum of Art and History
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You are driving through a desert landscape,
along a two lane road stretching before you
in a straight line to a faraway horizon of hazy
mountain peaks. You perceive the familiar shape
of a yellow highway sign by the side of the road,
and as you pass it you perceive its message:
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING
NEXT 72 MILES
Your journey continues, subtly changed by this
experience. Experimental Geography reveals new
and different perspectives of the interface
between human and environment. It builds on the
land art tradition of the 1960s and 70s which
brought artists out of their studios and into
natural and urban settings, often transforming
the landscape itself into a work of art. It explores
the distinctions between geographical study and
artistic experience of the earth, as well as the
juncture where the two realms collide and
possibly make a new field altogether.
This exhibition encourages us to think about and
look at land, and human effects on it, in a
different way - with a heightened awareness of
the richness and complexity of these interactions.
These artists study how humanity works with,
subsumes, replaces and displaces land. Images are
not judged solely by esthetics, and there are
geologic, geographic, chemical, sociological and
physical elements illuminated in this creative post-modern inquiry. There is humor, irony and more ambiguity than certainty in this exhibition, as these artists respond to their world through their own innate humanity.
It is a challenging exhibition to mount in a museum. We may not see the work of art itself, but the resultant findings and documentation of the artists’ explorations in a variety of media – interactive computer units, sound and video installations, photography, sculpture, and experimental cartography created by 19 artists or artist teams from six countries as well as the United States.
The result is a show that provokes thought, inspires creative interpretations and stimulates some reconsideration of what we often take for granted. Visitors are not told what to think; they are challenged to think.
Andrew Connors, Curator of Art at The Museum, sums it up this way. “We have been looking at landscapes in basically the same way for thousands of years; as sources of inspiration and awe, expanses of perceived permanence and majesty, moving us to attempt to express and celebrate our experiences poetically and artistically through allegory and symbolism. Experimental Geography explores a reconceptualization of the visual world; it’s not merely the difference between classical landscape artists and Impressionists, it’s more like the difference between the Impressionists and astronauts.”
The Albuquerque Museum’s presentation of Experimental Geography is part of a larger project of New Mexico arts organizations known as LAND/ART, which will explore relationships of land, art and community through exhibitions, site-specific art works, lectures and a culminating book. For a complete listing of LAND/ART activities visit www.landartnm.org.
Experimental Geography is a traveling exhibition organized and circulated by iCI (Independent Curators International),
New York. The guest curator for the exhibition is Nato Thompson. The exhibition, tour and catalogue are made possible,
in part, by the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, the iCI Advocates, the iCI Partners, Gerrit L. & Sydie Lansing,
and Barbara & John Robinson.
The Museum is most grateful to the FUNd at the Albuquerque Museum Foundation for their generous support of
Experimental Geography in Albuquerque.
Through September 20, 2009