Artists Within the Anthropocene

Artists Within the Anthropocene is a three-part Friday evening series (April 21, May 26, June 23, 5pm-7pm) presented in partnership with the Belkin Gallery and hosted at the Institute. The series was conceived and developed by PWIAS Interim Director, Vanessa Andreotti and Belkin Curator of Academic Programs, Shelly Rosenblum.

In the alarming context of an increasingly endangered planet, art practices that directly address and respond to the environment gain new urgency, as artists dare to tread where other practitioners often do not. These artists’ work centres on the recognition that we have entered into the Anthropocene, a new geologic era marked by the impact of human activity on the earth. Working in a variety of modes, ranging from critique to practical demonstrations, and shading into other currents like social practice, relational aesthetics, environmental activism and systems theory, these artists express the hope that art can point the way to a more ecologically sustainable future.

Participants come from a wide variety of disciplines and contexts, such as sound, performance, photography, dance, film and poetry, including political, curatorial, artistic and scholarly activism.

The sessions are open to the public and will be held in the Seminar Room at the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies, 6331 Crescent Road, UBC.

Learn more about the participating artists and read the event descriptions by clicking the links below.

Friday, April 21 | 5pm – 7pm
Earth Day Celebration: An Evening with Kayah George, Ayasha Guerin, Sandra Semchuk and Gudrun Lock

Friday, May 26 | 5pm – 7pm
Expanding Capacity (for pulsing lives and inevitable deaths)

Friday, June 23 | 5pm – 7pm
Listening to Lhq’a:lets / Vancouver

Artists in the Anthropocene is a partnership between the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies and the Belkin Art Gallery. Listening to Lhq’a:lets / Vancouver is part of a week-long artist residency organized with The Score: Performing, Listening and Decolonization UBC Research Excellence Cluster, in partnership with the UBC School of Music and Evergreen.

IMAGE (ABOVE): HOLLY SCHMIDT, FIREWEED FIELDS, 2021-ONGOING. PHOTO: RACHEL TOPHAM PHOTOGRAPHY