GAMA announces Reclamation: Recovering Our Relationship with Place part of the global art project Extraction: Art on the Edge of the Abyss [PDF]
Colorado State University
University Center for the Arts
1778 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1778
Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE; MEDIA TOOLKIT
June 21, 2021
GREGORY ALLICAR MUSEUM OF ART PRESENTS “RECLAMATION: RECOVERING OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH PLACE,” PART OF THE GLOBAL PROJECT “EXTRACTION: ART ON THE EDGE OF THE ABYSS”
Fort Collins, Colorado—Artists are visionaries, capable of reimagining the industrialized world and its practical systems. Featured as part of the global art project Extraction: Art on the Edge of the Abyss and held in collaboration with the Colorado State University Energy Institute, Gregory Allicar Museum of Art (GAMA) proudly presents the exhibition Reclamation: Recovering Our Relationship with Place, which asks what might happen if artists, instead of or working alongside mining companies, engineers, and scientists, are given the opportunity to envision resource removal and post-extraction sites. The exhibition will be on view in the Griffin Foundation Gallery from July 7 to September 19, 2021 and is free to the public.
Reclamation is curated by Erika Osborne, Associate Professor of Painting, and features the work of celebrated artists Matt Kenyon, Cannupa Hanska Luger, Mary Mattingly, John Sabraw, Beth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle, and Cedra Wood. The artists were chosen for their radical ecological perspectives, using humor, poetry, beauty, and science to present futures in which human action enables the land to reassert its rights and extraction no longer decimates ecosystems.
“We are honored to be exhibiting such important work from these amazing artists,” says Osborne. “We hope that this exhibition, along with those happening as part of the larger Extraction project, will bring to light the myriad issues surrounding our unending thirst for energy—by not only highlighting the problems, but by demonstrating possible paths forward, towards a post-fossil fuel future.”
Extraction: Art on the Edge of the Abyss is “a multimedia, multi-venue, cross-border art intervention” that investigates the industrial extractive industry. The project interrogates resource extraction’s negative societal and environmental consequences, from the injury done to people (particularly in Indigenous and marginalized communities) to the harm caused in natural landscapes. The project is also “de-centered, non-hierarchical, and self-organizing,” which has allowed GAMA to develop Reclamation independently.
Support for this exhibition has been generously provided by the FUNd Endowment at Colorado State University, the City of Fort Collins Fort Fund, Colorado Creative Industries, and the Lilla B. Morgan Memorial Endowment, a premier supporter of arts and culture at CSU. GAMA also thanks the CSU Energy Institute for their help and collaboration.
“Now more than ever, it’s critical for society to understand and address the pressing need for bold, courageous changes to our energy landscape,” said Bryan Willson, Executive Director for the Energy Institute. “This partnership with the Gregory Allicar Museum is a unique opportunity to highlight the resilience and creativity of the human spirit as we work together to solve these global challenges and create a sustainable future for all.”
GAMA will also host a series of related programs in connection with Reclamation and in collaboration with the CSU Art and Art History Department. Stephens and Sprinkle’s 2017 film Water Makes Us Wet is scheduled to screen September 9, followed by an “Ecosex Walking Tour” with the artists on September 10. On September 17, GAMA will feature a program by Luger and on September 18, the museum will host Family Day with the Little Shop of Physics and the Energy Institute. More information about programming locations and times is forthcoming.
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GREGORY ALLICAR MUSEUM OF ART invites individuals to engage with art and each other to inspire fresh perspectives and wonder. The museum is a catalyst for visual literacy and critical thinking that instills a passion for learning. For updated museum information, go to artmuseum.colostate.edu.