January 29 – April 26, 2015
Jane Fulton Alt, March 19, 2009, 4:29pm, (Burn), 2009. Inkjet print. Courtesy of the artist.
Vaughn Bell, Metropolis, 2012. Acrylic, aluminum, rigging cables, hardware, soil, native plants. Courtesy of the artist. © Vaughn Bell, photo, Spike Mafford
Jenny Kendler, Milkweed Dispersal Balloons (performance), 2014–15. Digital print. Courtesy of the artist and the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Claire Pentecost, Our Bodies, Our Soils, 2013–15. Installation. Courtesy of the artist.
Soil is omnipresent: a life-sustaining but overlooked medium whose cycle of decomposition and regeneration forms the very basis of life itself. Yet human activities such as large-scale farming and deforestation are compromising the health of soil on a global scale. Rooted in Soil brought together works by contemporary artists that explore multiple aspects of soil, documenting natural processes and human interventions, and proposing radically innovative solutions that combine leading-edge scientific approaches and fresh artistic and philosophical perspectives.
Artists include Jane Fulton Alt, Vaughn Bell, Edward Burtynsky, John Gerrard, Julia Goodman, Jenny Kendler, Jae Rhim Lee, Sally Mann, Vik Muniz, Claire Pentecost, Justin Rang, Arthur Rothstein, Linda Swanson, Sam Taylor-Johnson, and Adriaen van Utrecht, as well as a special installation by Chicago Wildsounds.