M - Antennae The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture

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I t has been written of artist Alan Sonfist that through the first of his Time Landscape pieces he pioneered the concept of placing nature back within the urban sphere. Artist Brandon Ballengée takes this further in offering both an understanding of nature around us, and also through making visible processes and knowledge gained from that very basic of acts, that of looking. Over more than a decade Ballengée has undertaken projects, working with, and often in, nature and his work toes him in with one of the increasing number of artists for whom a sense of urgency is coupled to the environmental consciousness central to their practice. Working both as a scientist carrying out primary biological research and also in collaboration with scientists and the public, Ballengée’s amphibian population ecology studies produce aesthetically rich imagery and intriguing installations. This offers us a further redefinition of the role artists and their art can play in the face of our utilitarian view of the world and our effect on mineral and biological resources. Results from his ecological surveys carried out back home in the US and here on a residency at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, 2008, reveal a substantial increase in the frequency and presence of physical deformities within wild amphibian populations. This becomes of greater importance when, as discussed in a recent National Geographic Magazine, we’re facing a major global decline in amphibian populations around the world. How do you see the role as artist facilitating your ideas of ‘wildlife conservation’? Being an artist allows me to bring the information I find in nature to a wide-audience. My belief is that art can contribute to society through inspiration, engagement and direct action. As an artist my practice facilitates activism, amateur biological studies and communication about ecological phenomenon to the public. Through this transdisciplinary technique, the model I employ is proactive environmental stewardship. While conducting primary research biological laboratory and field studies I utilize scientific methodologies and standards. As an activist, the involvement of local students and the public in these studies (Eco-Actions) is essential. Together we investigate and ‘experience’ ecosystems - the goal is to inspire people to learn more about their local ecology and play an active role in protecting it. My overall thinking is more about entire systems than ‘wildlife’ specific. Often my studies pertain to certain ‘bio-indicator’ groups of animals, such as amphibians and insects. Their ‘health’ often reflects the environmental condition of a site. Organisms exist in complex ecological networks made of interconnected life-forms and are sculpted by environmental factors. Protecting these natural systems is essential to individual species survival. 10 Should art be didactic? No, otherwise it falls into pure communication or a kind of mono-interpretative illustration. Though art can teach and deliver messages, being open to interpretation is fundamental. There is a kind of didacticism to my work (intended to increase environmental awareness) but the messages are often pluralistic, open to an amount of individual meaning. The installations and photographs are experienced- so the readings are open-ended. Even in the field and lab studies ideas from the participating public are explored and we experience the process of inquiry as a group. This is the praxis of my method, which diverges from standard pedagogical practices. Whether or not climate change is bearing down on us, species extinction and habitat loss is occurring at an unprecedented rate through human activities. This is something we are all at some level aware of therefore, to what extent can the subtleties of art play a role within such an environmental consciousness, and what is that role? Artists can play a significant role in increasing ecological awareness through their artworks about nature, the process by which these works are created and direct interventions into local communities. Art historian Lucy R. Lippard calls this ‘Framing’ environmental issues and bringing them to the realm of the public. For example in 2008, I established a temporary public bioart laboratory designed to investigate potential cause(s) for development deformities among Yorkshire frog and toad populations. Utilizing rigorous scientific methods and standards, many experiments were conducted over the course of the summer. Installed at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park numerous visitors and locals cooperated to implement these primary research studies and participated in field-surveys. The entire process was an artistic inquiry into nature. By being ‘open’ the lab attempted to facilitate an increase in local environmental consciousness. It created an important platform for public discussion. These thoughts ranged from local knowledge of natural history to eco-politics. Larger philosophical debates such as the ethical behavior of humans to non-human life-forms also ensued. The laboratory experiments resulted in significant findings that were accepted for scientific publication. This information may help other researchers better understand mechanisms responsible for abnormal frogs found globally. Photographs and videos are currently being developed into an upcoming ecological art installation. Through collaboration the community made the process of local environmental study participatory. Do you see your work as part of the re-knowing about nature by urbanized populations?
Brandon Ballengée DFA 83, Karkinos, Scanner Photograph of Cleared and Stained Multi-limbed Pacific Tree frog from Aptos, California in Scientific Collaboration with Stanley K. Sessions. MALAMP titles in collaboration with the poet KuyDelair. H 47.5 inches x W 35.5 inches � I see my work as reaction to what I find in nature. These results are shared with wide audiences and often people living in cities. Urbanites have always been fascinated with nature. In the middle 19 th Century, artist/ornithologist John Gould received over 75,000 visitors to his display of taxidermy hummingbirds in London’s Hyde Park. In North America the naturalist, John Muir commented on the large numbers of city-dwellers that benefited from 11 visiting forests. So many that he was concerned they might destroy the natural habitats they had come to visit. Instead of urban exodus into nature or the Victorian gaze, I see this as a continued post Silent Spring rise in ecological consciousness. Though this is not exclusive to urbanites, as William Cronon and others have alluded to, there is a growing awareness that we as human-beings have altered the planet and there is an
Page 1 and 2: Antennae Issue 10 - Summer 2009 ISS
Page 3 and 4: T his issue of Antennae is fully de
Page 5 and 6: ‘Y ou don’t need a Ph.D. in lin
Page 7 and 8: Simon Starling Kakteenhaus, 2002, V
Page 9: BEYOND CLASSIC FIELD BIOLOGY: BATRA
Page 13 and 14: empathy in viewers. The intention i
Page 15 and 16: Brandon Ballengée The Ever Changin
Page 17 and 18: investigations; for example, explor
Page 19 and 20: F ood production, energy consumptio
Page 21 and 22: W hat is a Translocal Curator? We u
Page 23 and 24: The feminist challenge to patriarch
Page 25 and 26: O ver the last several decades, the
Page 27 and 28: Julian Montague The Stray Shopping
Page 29 and 30: Julian Montague The Stray Shopping
Page 31 and 32: L ondon Fieldworks’ latest projec
Page 33 and 34: London Fieldworks Stalin Animal Sho
Page 35 and 36: and violence; keeping urban reality
Page 37 and 38: E ndangered Species began as a resp
Page 39 and 40: Todd Gilens Top images: Waiting at
Page 41 and 42: Todd Gilens Foldable Pelican Bus
Page 43 and 44: MAINTAINING A GREEN NEWS AGENDA Thi
Page 45 and 46: coverage shaped in this way appeare
Page 47 and 48: CAPE FAREWELL: THE ULTIMATE JOURNEY
Page 49 and 50: David Hinton Director David Hinton
Page 51 and 52: Nathan Gallagher Ryuichi Sakamoto o
Page 53 and 54: Patrick Huse Bølgende landskap, wa
Page 55 and 56: Which brings me back to what origin
Page 57 and 58: nature. The affirmation is one that
Page 59 and 60: Max Eastley Max Eastley recording s
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and leave land behind. This region
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Max Eastley Exposición CAPE FAREWE
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I t can be argued that culturally a
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Ana Mendieta Untitled, from the ser
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Ackroyd & Harvey FlyTower 2007, Nat
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Ackroyd & Harvey Green brick, green
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Ken Yonetani The Dead Sea, 2008, ce
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Mark Wilson and Bryndís Snæbjörn
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Georgina Reid For the Baby, In Ligh
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Art Orienté Objet have been creati
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Art Orienté Objet Bwiti Turning, 2
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and his environment emerges from th
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Art Orienté Objet The Happy Hen, 2
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M INE is a documentary film by Gera
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Geralyn Pezanoski Mine: Taken By Ka
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91 MAUSOLEUM The extraordinary bota
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Gregory Pryor Herbarium, Naturhisto
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Gregory Pryor Top Image: Black Sola
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Brandon Ballengée DFA 2, Héphaist
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M - Antennae The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture

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