What are the antinomies of landscape and life? The juxtaposition of the word “landscape” against “life” is an attempt to force our recognition of the ways in which the former is not guaranteed to be inclusive of the latter. In fact, the concept of landscape has historically been mobilized to deny the existence, agency and rights of those lifeforms which have inhabited the spaces designated as landscapes. This exhibition series is a rebuttal against this terra nullian framework which has insisted upon the lifelessness of land. Such thinking has allowed for practices of extraction, dispossession and ruination that continues to shape our lives today. In contrast, the artists participating in this series draw our attention to the imminence of life within the landscape, making visible and audible the presence of human and non-human vitality in what in art, geography and law has too often been represented as empty space. Each of the artists accomplish this using visual, aural and conceptual techniques, while also drawing into their work an aesthetics of relationality and social collaboration. In addition to three exhibitions over the 2021-2022 season, Landscape & Life will explore these concerns through public talks, performances and workshops. The exhibition series will be archived online and in a publication produced after its conclusion.

This series is curated by Gabriel Saloman, and features exhibitions by Paige Emery & Suzy Poling (Oct/Nov 2021), Raven Chacon (Jan/Feb 2022), and Paul Walde (Apr/May 2022).