Seeds: Containers Of A World To Come
At a moment when ecological concerns are becoming increasingly urgent, Seeds: Containers of a World to Come brings into dialogue work by ten contemporary artists whose research-based practices are defined by sustained inquiry into plant鈥揾uman鈥搇and relations. For the artists Shiraz Bayjoo, Carolina Caycedo, Juan William Ch谩vez, Beatriz Cortez, Ellie Irons, Kapwani Kiwanga, Jumana Manna, Anne Percoco, Cecilia Vicu帽a, and Emmi Whitehorse, the seed is the kernel, literally and metaphorically, of their investigations into issues of fragility, preservation, and possibility in the face of the global climate crisis.
Working with and from a diversity of geographical and cultural contexts鈥擜frica, the Americas, the Middle East, and Western Europe鈥攖he artists in the exhibition create captivating sculptures, films, installations, and paintings that range from abstract to speculative to documentary. They share an anticolonial perspective critical of extractive capitalism. Jumana Manna鈥檚 poetic film Wild Relatives (2018), for example, follows the 2017 journey of seeds across different geographies, exploring the relationships among the war in Syria, the geopolitics of seed banking, and the loss of biodiversity due to industrial agriculture. Kapwani Kiwanga鈥檚 biomorphic, inflatable sculptures from the Vivarium series reimagine the nineteenth-century Wardian case, a type of portable greenhouse that enabled the transport of live plants across the globe, impacting ecosystems worldwide and underscoring our controlling relationship with nature. Beatriz Cortez鈥檚 hand-crafted steel sculpture Chult煤n El Semillero (2021) exudes a futuristic sensibility鈥攁n imagined space capsule, a living garden of plants indigenous to the Americas, and a seed bank preserving seeds for the future.
Together the artworks in the exhibition suggest the seed as a timely means to address existential matters. Seeds are the first link in the food chain, the embodiment of biological and cultural diversity, and the repository of life鈥檚 future evolution. Cultivated by humans for millennia, seed varieties carry with them local histories as well as histories of migration and survival, bridging cultures, territories, and time periods. As Cecilia Vicu帽a puts it, 鈥淓very seed is a spaceship, a nomad planet waiting to sprout.鈥� The exhibition aims to spark active and imaginative responses through encounters with visually arresting artworks that reflect on and reframe our understanding of current environmental challenges and our connection to the natural world.
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At a moment when ecological concerns are becoming increasingly urgent, Seeds: Containers of a World to Come brings into dialogue work by ten contemporary artists whose research-based practices are defined by sustained inquiry into plant鈥揾uman鈥搇and relations. For the artists Shiraz Bayjoo, Carolina Caycedo, Juan William Ch谩vez, Beatriz Cortez, Ellie Irons, Kapwani Kiwanga, Jumana Manna, Anne Percoco, Cecilia Vicu帽a, and Emmi Whitehorse, the seed is the kernel, literally and metaphorically, of their investigations into issues of fragility, preservation, and possibility in the face of the global climate crisis.
Working with and from a diversity of geographical and cultural contexts鈥擜frica, the Americas, the Middle East, and Western Europe鈥攖he artists in the exhibition create captivating sculptures, films, installations, and paintings that range from abstract to speculative to documentary. They share an anticolonial perspective critical of extractive capitalism. Jumana Manna鈥檚 poetic film Wild Relatives (2018), for example, follows the 2017 journey of seeds across different geographies, exploring the relationships among the war in Syria, the geopolitics of seed banking, and the loss of biodiversity due to industrial agriculture. Kapwani Kiwanga鈥檚 biomorphic, inflatable sculptures from the Vivarium series reimagine the nineteenth-century Wardian case, a type of portable greenhouse that enabled the transport of live plants across the globe, impacting ecosystems worldwide and underscoring our controlling relationship with nature. Beatriz Cortez鈥檚 hand-crafted steel sculpture Chult煤n El Semillero (2021) exudes a futuristic sensibility鈥攁n imagined space capsule, a living garden of plants indigenous to the Americas, and a seed bank preserving seeds for the future.
Together the artworks in the exhibition suggest the seed as a timely means to address existential matters. Seeds are the first link in the food chain, the embodiment of biological and cultural diversity, and the repository of life鈥檚 future evolution. Cultivated by humans for millennia, seed varieties carry with them local histories as well as histories of migration and survival, bridging cultures, territories, and time periods. As Cecilia Vicu帽a puts it, 鈥淓very seed is a spaceship, a nomad planet waiting to sprout.鈥� The exhibition aims to spark active and imaginative responses through encounters with visually arresting artworks that reflect on and reframe our understanding of current environmental challenges and our connection to the natural world.
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The Kemper Art Museum at Washington University in St. Louis presents聽Seeds: Containers of a World to Come.
The Kemper Art Museum at Washington University in St. Louis presents Seeds: Containers of a World to Come.
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