In 2024, the effects of global warming were felt around the world, and 2025 is a crucial year for environmental action. Artists’ commitment will be essential. To get the year off to an optimistic start, here is a selection of 14 international exhibitions that are currently highlighting our interdependent relationship with the living world, raising awareness and inviting us to take action for the environment.
Night garden
Mary Mattingly
Robert Mann Gallery, New York, USA
Until February 7, 2025
Iconic New York based ecological artist Mary Mattingly’s enchanting night gardens conceal the painful threat of rising sea levels.
States of Earth
Rozelin Akgün, Judy Chicago, Berna Dolmacı, Sibel Horada, Ekin Kano, Begüm Mütevellioglu, Cengiz Tekin, Busra Tunç, Gözde Mimiko Türkkan, Murat Yıldız, Müge Yılmaz
Yapı Kredi Galeri, Istanbul, Turkey
Until March 30, 2025
In Istanbul, eleven contemporary artists take stock of the “State of the Earth”, question access to resources and denounce the impact of capitalism and colonization on the environment.
Tara, art and science to reveal the Ocean
François Aurat, Yann Bagot, Antoine Bertin, Samuel Bollendorff, Christian Cailleaux, Lorraine Féline, Benjamin Flao, Nicolas Floc’h, Cécile Fouillade – Siqou, Ellie Ga, Ensaders, Giulia Grossmann, Elsa Guillaume, Mara G. Haseltine, Rémi Hamoir, Pierre Huyghe, Katia Kameli, Irene Kopelman, Manon Lanjouère, Francis Latreille, Yoann Lelong, Ariane Michel, Leslie Moquin, Aurore de la Morinerie, Wilfried N’Sondé, Malik Nejmi, Claire Nicolet, Maki Ohkojima, François Olislæger, Arianna Pace, Renata Padovan, Lola Reboud, Emmanuel Régent, Christian Revest, Sebastião Salgado, Christian Sardet et les Macronautes, Noémie Sauve, Robertina Šebjanic, Carly Steinbrunn, Lara Tabet, Xavier Veilhan, Laure Winants.
CENTQUATRE, Paris, France
Until March 2, 2025
This major exhibition retraces 20 years of artistic collaboration between the Tara Foundation and artists. The 40 artists-in-residence aboard the schooner Tara bear witness to both their wonder and their concern for the future of the oceans.
Teleconnections
Tekla Aslanishvili, Tega Brain & Sam Lavigne, Simone Fehlinger, Mia Heidler, Sonja Hornung & Daniele Tognozzi, João Enxuto & Erica Love, Sybille Neumeyer, Oliver Ressler, Stefania Smolkina, open-weather / Soph Dyer & Sasha Engelmann
D21 Kunstraum, Leipzig, Germany
Until March 9, 2025
Curator and artist Sybille Neumeyer and twelve other artists explore the correlations between meteorology, political, cultural and social atmospheres, and the influence of the media.
“Out-of-cell time”, Series of natural honey combs built by honeybees inside a beehive crown board, placed upside down over the nest by the beekeeper, Tomás Saraceno, In collaboration with âseméil, Pinksummer contemporary art
Anima∞le
Tomás Saraceno
Pinksummer contemporary art, Genova, Italy
Until March 1, 2025
Artist anti-speciesist, Tomás Saraceno intends to welcome both humans and non-humans, such as birds and insects, in his new solo show! One third of the proceeds will be donated to an association for the protection of bees.
Ocean
John Akomfrah, Anna Atkins, Peder Balke, Nina Beier, Jeanette Ehlers, Caspar David Friedrich, Ellen Gallagher, Susan Hiller, Pierre Huyghe, Kirsten Justesen, Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Niceaunties, Georgia O’Keeffe, Jean Painlevé, Howardena Pindell, Pipilotti Rist, Allan Sekula, Emilija Škarnulytė, August Strindberg, Superflex, Wolfgang Tillmans, Yuyan Wang, Francesca Woodman
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark
Until April 27, 2025
This ambitious and educational exhibition brings together past and present, exploring the themes of art and science, the sublime, mythology and the Anthropocene ocean.
Exposition view, Scenarios for Coexistence, Nicolás Lamas, Cukrarna, Ljubljana, Photos © Blaž Gutman
Scenarios for Coexistence
Nicolás Lamas
Cukrarna, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Until January 12, 2025
The genius of Nicolás Lamas shines through once again, with hybrid, temporal, biological and technological compositions that invite us to reflect on new modes of coexistence.
Life goes on – Energy/Imaginary
Fabrice Hyber
Wooson gallery, Seoul, Korea
Until February 8, 2025
Linking art, anthropology and science, French forest artist Fabrice Hyber probes energy and imagination to inspire positive solutions for the future.
Turn Again to the Earth
LaToya Ruby Frazier, Firelei Báez, Alejandro Piñero Bello, Teresita Fernández, Sky Hopinka, Tyler Mitchell, Wangechi Mutu, Jaune, Quick-to-See Smith, Yinka Shonibare, Henri Matisse, Claude Monet, James McNeill Whistler and many others
Baltimore Museum of Art
Until March 8, 2026
While the Baltimore Museum of Art is above all famous for its 18th to 20th century collections, in 2025 the Baltimore Museum of Art’s programming will be entirely devoted to the environment, with the Turn Again to the Earth programme, featuring 9 exhibitions and a sustainable development action plan. Contemporary artists such as Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Yinka Shonibare and Teresita Fernández will be featured in the programme. The first of these exhibitions is already underway:
Monument for Community Health Workers of Baltimore, Maryland 2021-2022, Until March 23, 2025
Joiri Minaya, Container #1 and Container #5, photography installation, 2015-2020; part of HOMO SARGASSUM, Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts, Sept. 9, 2024 – March 8, 2025. (Kelly Hendrickson)
HOMO SARGASSUM
Artists: Minia Biabiany, Camille Chedda, Ronald Cyrille, Nicolas Derné, Morel Doucet, Edouard Duval-Carrié, Felder + Felder, Billy Gérard Frank, Guy Gabon, Gwladys Gambie, Sheldon Green, Annabel Guérédrat, Jordan Harrison, Nadia Huggins, Dominique Hunter, Deborah Jack, Mirtho Linguet, Louisa Marajo, Medhi Michalon, Joiri Minaya, Ricardo Ozier-Lafontaine, Maria Isabel Rueda, Oneika Russell, Henri Tauliaut, Caecilia Tripp
Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts, Tallahassee, USA
In partnership with TOUT-MONDE Art Foundation and the Winthrop King Institute.
Until March 8, 2025
The proliferation of sargassum, which has become a plague in Florida and the Caribbean, is addressed by 23 contemporary Caribbean artists, who discuss the consequences of this algae and human activity on the environment.
The Smell of Freshly Chopped Wood
Dušica Dražić, Nermin Duraković, Ana Hušman, Maria Lai, Polonca Lovšin, Plateauresidue, No Name Kitchen, Masa Nazzal, Marko Pogačnik, Anton Vidokle, Karla Crnčević and Zemlja za nas (Land for Us)
Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb, Croatia
Until February 23, 2025
The geography of the Balkans and the Mediterranean (Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Italy) is revealed in this exhibition through its natural riches (water, forests…) and through the memory it carries, the traditions and knowledge linked to it.
Les cimes de l’asphalte, Duy Anh Nhan Duc, Espace Richaud, Versailles, photo © Clémence Danon-Boileau
Les cimes de l’asphalte
Duy Anh Nhan Duc
Espace Richaud, Versailles, France
Until January 26, 2025
Discover works by Duy Anh Nhan Duc based on linen and different tree species, questioning man’s relationship with nature in the rehabilitated former royal hospital.
The Ecologies of peace
Lawrence Abu Hamdan, John Akomfrah, Allora & Calzadilla, Lucas Arruda, Mirna Bamieh, Fiona Banner, Neïl Beloufa, Monica Bonvicini, Candice Breitz, Janet Cardiff, The Center for Spatial Technologies supported by Forensic Architecture, Manthia Diawara, Ryan Gander, Cristina Garrido, Ayrson Heráclito, Jenny Holzer, Marine Hugonnier, Saodat Ismailova, Sanja Iveković, Nikita Kadan, Samson Kambalu, Amar Kanwar, Armin Linke, Cristina Lucas, Goshka Macuga, Pavlo Makov, Ursula Mayer, Joiri Minaya, Olaf Nicolai, Daniel Otero Torres, Jasbir Puar and Dima Srouji, The Propeller Group, Walid Raad/The Atlas Group, Lisa Rave, Lorenzo Sandoval, Allan Sekula, Vivian Suter, Sissel Tolaas, Suzanne Treister, Álvaro Urbano and Akram Zaatari.
Until March 30, 2025
Co-organized by TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary and C3A Centro de Creación Contemporánea de Andalucía, Córdoba, Spain
Curated by Daniela Zyman, Ecologies of Peace presents a deeper understanding of the concept of peace than a binary opposition to war, addressing its stakes in a polarized world, the consequences of colonization, and alternative approaches to peace-building.
L’Aveu musclé
Sara Favriau
Galerie Maubert, Paris, France
Until February 8, 2025
The modesty of Favriau’s Petits riens, born of a minimal gesture and a process of hybridization of fragments salvaged from a specific territory, bears strong witness to an art that respects the environment.
Translation : Eliza Morris
Selected by Alice Audouin, Pauline Lisowski and Sana Tekaïa
Cover image : Mary Mattingly, Tidepool, 2024, Archival pigment print, 20 x 20 inches, Edition of 5, plus 2 APs
Impact Art News, janvier #51
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