2021 Human Nature

Covid-19 pan­de­mic, cli­ma­te chan­ge, envi­ron­men­tal pol­lu­ti­on and spe­ci­es extinc­tion, all of which have been acce­le­ra­ted by glo­ba­liz­a­ti­on and an explo­ita­ti­ve sys­tem of pro­duc­tion and con­sump­ti­on and have long sin­ce beco­me a pal­p­a­ble reality—it has beco­me ine­vi­ta­ble to dis­cuss the rela­ti­ons­hip of humans and natu­re. Humans have long felt safe in their sup­po­sed supe­rio­ri­ty, put­ting them­sel­ves abo­ve natu­re and its pro­ces­ses in a ges­tu­re of power and domesti­ca­ti­on. With serious con­se­quen­ces. A shift away from this human-cen­te­red per­spec­ti­ve has long been cal­led for, as well as a turn towards holistic views, becau­se we are a part of natu­re and its sys­tem. If we des­troy it, it will des­troy us, too.

In its 2021 pro­gram, D21 Artspace will dis­cuss the rela­ti­ons­hip of human and natu­re from nume­rous per­spec­ti­ves in exhi­bi­ti­ons, sym­po­sia, film scree­nings, and inter­ac­ti­ve for­mats. This inclu­des ques­ti­ons about human per­spec­ti­ves on natu­re as well as ques­ti­ons about sus­tainab­le pro­duc­tion and usage—also in the art sys­tem its­elf. What solu­ti­ons to our eco­lo­gi­cal pro­blems are imaginable?