CALL FOR ARTISTS/WRITERS
The New Geologic Epoch
OPEN FOR APPLICATIONS APRIL 1, 2023
DEADLINE May 31, 2023
The New Geologic Epoch is the annual ecoartspace members online exhibition + book for 2023.
For this exhibition, we will illuminate the transformations that have led us to the current human epoch, now referred to as the Anthropocene.
The New Geologic Epoch will present works that relate to or comment on geological transformations in the land including commentary on previous works by Earth or Land artists. We are looking for work that references this evolution leading to our precarious situation today with massive scarring of the planet's surfaces due to mining and the built environment with dams, bridges, roads, and the development of sprawling urban cities. We are also looking for work that addresses interventions in the land as it relates to soil, rock, minerals, and how water and wind interact with these elements, and especially how colonial extraction has marked and disrupted ecological systems. We are interested in the new dynamics between these alterations with regards to the nonhuman world, vegetal and animal, and the resulting impacts on all life. What are the shifting baselines that over time have become the new normal?
Elements to consider in your work:
- acid mine drainage
- aluminum
- arsenic trioxide dust
- basalt
- bauxite
- black sand mining, blasting
- butadiene
- calcite
- calcium oxide
- caustic soda
- chromium
- clay
- coal
- cobalt
- copper
- cryolite
- dolomite
- fly ash
- granite
- gravel water
- land grab
- large-scale disturbance of hydro and geological systems
- lead
- limestone
- lithium
- malachite
- manganese
- marble
- mercury
- methane
- mine tailing spills
- mining of silica sands
- mold releasing agents
- mud disposal areas
- mudflow
- nepheline
- nickel
- oil shale
- open pit mines
- ore
- peat
- pebbles
- platinum
- porous volcanic tuff
- quartzite
- reduced ecological and hydrological connectivity
- rock flours of volcanic origin
- sand, sand stone and sand sediments
- silica dust
- slate
- soda ash
- soil contamination
- soil erosion
- tin
- titanium
- uranium
- vanadium
- zinc
Human inventions that have altered the landscape through extraction from land surfaces and contamination of waterways to consider:
- plastics/plastiglomerates
- computers/cell phones
- manufacturing of gas burning cars/tires and electric cars
- photovoltaics
- logging trees to build boats during war times
- nuclear bombs
- corporate scale farming
- pesticides/insecticides, etc.
We are also optimistically interested in visionary works that propose solutions, projects designed to be regenerative and bio-dynamic, to heal and repair what has been disturbed, which is essential for our survival.
Image: Plastiglomerate featured in Pam Longobardi's new monograph titled Ocean Gleaning.
JUROR: Mary Mattingly
Mary Mattingly is an interdisciplinary artist and educator who founded Swale, an edible landscape on a public barge in New York City. She has exhibited sculpture and photography at institutions around the world and has received grants and foundations such as the James L. Knight Foundation, the Harpo Foundation, and the Art Matters Foundation. Her work has also been featured in publications like Aperture Magazine, Art in America, Sculpture Magazine, The New York Times, Le Monde Magazine, and on PBS's Art21. It has been included in books such as the Whitechapel/MIT Press Documents of Contemporary Art series titled “Nature”, and Henry Sayre’s "A World of Art", 8th edition, published by Pearson Education Inc. In 2022, a monograph of Mattingly's work titled "What Happens After" was published by the Anchorage Museum and Hirmer.
Image: Photo by Greg Lindquist included in Curbed interview, October 17, 2022 (click on image)