slg1025
Swoon, ICA, Boston, September 2011.
"Anthropocene Extinction" : Swoon is widely considered a leader in the genre of Street Art. Her concern for the environment drives her to use reclaimed or discarded materials whenever possible. Through a process she refers to as "the labor of scavenging", her large scale installations emerge from urban refuse. The installation Anthropocene Extinction is a meditation on humanity's irreversible impact on Earth's environment (Anthropocene, or "Age of Man", is the unofficial name used by scientists referring to our current geologic period). The piece begins in the atrium next to the ICA's signature glass elevator where a bamboo structure resembling a fabled Chinese temple is suspended from the ceiling. A variety of cut paper animals spill out of it, as though it were a germinating seedpod. Their silhouettes dance down through the structure, forming a flying river of flora and fauna. Spiders, hammerhead sharks, beetles, and sea horses flow from the temple across the lobby onto the Sandra and Gerald Fineberg Artwall, where they meet the monumental portrait of an Australian woman known as Ms. Bennett. This 90 year-old woman is reported to be the last aborigine to have lived as a nomad, a way of life no longer possible. Below her is a repeating image of a Tibetan demon who represents the human need to consume and destroy-- aspects of our nature that if uncontrolled can lead to global catastrophe. -ICA, Boston
Swoon, ICA, Boston, September 2011.
"Anthropocene Extinction" : Swoon is widely considered a leader in the genre of Street Art. Her concern for the environment drives her to use reclaimed or discarded materials whenever possible. Through a process she refers to as "the labor of scavenging", her large scale installations emerge from urban refuse. The installation Anthropocene Extinction is a meditation on humanity's irreversible impact on Earth's environment (Anthropocene, or "Age of Man", is the unofficial name used by scientists referring to our current geologic period). The piece begins in the atrium next to the ICA's signature glass elevator where a bamboo structure resembling a fabled Chinese temple is suspended from the ceiling. A variety of cut paper animals spill out of it, as though it were a germinating seedpod. Their silhouettes dance down through the structure, forming a flying river of flora and fauna. Spiders, hammerhead sharks, beetles, and sea horses flow from the temple across the lobby onto the Sandra and Gerald Fineberg Artwall, where they meet the monumental portrait of an Australian woman known as Ms. Bennett. This 90 year-old woman is reported to be the last aborigine to have lived as a nomad, a way of life no longer possible. Below her is a repeating image of a Tibetan demon who represents the human need to consume and destroy-- aspects of our nature that if uncontrolled can lead to global catastrophe. -ICA, Boston