Category Archives: News

Committed screening tomorrow @ Viafarini DOCVA, Milan, Italy

November 12 7pm-9pm
Committed
Brandon Ballengée
Viafarini DOCVA (Fabbrica del vapore), Project Room DOCVA
7.30 Talk with : Simone Frangi, Maurizio Guerri, Rossella Moratto e Orio Vergani

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Committed (16’13’’, color, BP advertisemnets with running text in rebutal). In collaboration with Aurore Ballengée, Phillip Henken, Mike Madden and Gillian Wilson.

Showed for the first time during the solo show “Collapse: the cry of the silent form” at Ronald Feldman Gallery in 2012, Committed it s a counter attack against the BP advertising in U.S.A. after Deepwater Horizon tragedy. With scientific data and direct evidence Ballengée refute the position held by PB (aimed at minimizing the damage).

For this special event we thank:
Ronald Feldman Gallery, New York.
Nowhere, Milano.

Viafarini DOCVA
Fabbrica del Vapore
via Procaccini 4
20154 Milano

NAS Kavli Frontiers of Science Symposium @ UC Irvine, California

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This week I will be presenting my paper “The Art and Science of Predation-Induced Limb Deformities in Southern Quebec Amphibians” at the National Academy of Sciences Kavli Frontiers of Science 25th Annual U.S. Symposium

November 7-9, 2013

University of California Irvine, California


Abstract

Hind limb deformities (sometimes called “malformations”) in natural populations of amphibians have been an important environmental issue for more than a decade. The most commonly reported abnormalities in Quebec and the rest of North America are those featuring missing, partial or truncated hind limbs, yet specific causes for this phenomenon have remained unclear. Only recently have aquatic predators such as dragonfly nymphs (Odonata) and some fishes (and even tadpoles themselves) been linked to tadpole injuries resulting in these types of limb abnormalities. Here I present evidence from both field and laboratory studies that selective predation by Odonate nymphs may play a significant role in inducing limb deformities in natural populations of anuran amphibians in Southern Quebec. Transdisciplinary art and participatory science programs were utilized during these studies to engage public volunteers (citizen scientists). Participants achieved increased awareness of amphibian conservation issues through direct participation in primary scientific studies.

 

For further information about the event please see:

http://www.nasonline.org/programs/kavli-frontiers-of-science/past-symposia/2013-usfos.html#Art-Science

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A Habit of Deciding Influence – Limited Edition Portfolio

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I am thrilled to announce that “A Habit of Deciding Influence: Pigeons from Charles Darwin’s Breeding Experiments”, a limited edition portfolio, has just been completed by the Williams Center for the Arts at Lafayette College. These are my first limited edition prints in over a decade. The portfolio is made in an edition of ten, with ten prints in each portfolio, each signed and numbered, 15.5 by 22 inches (39 by 56 cm.). The medium is water-based inks on cold press watercolor paper.

A Habit of Deciding Influence - DP no34

This portfolio took three years to complete and depicts a selection of ten of Charles Darwin’s pigeon specimens. These important specimens were bred by Darwin as part of his research into evolution and were discussed extensively in his “Origin of Species” (1859) and his later book “The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication” (1868).

A Habit of Deciding Influence - DP no11

Through carefully controlled breeding experiments Darwin attempted to “breed-back” a wild form of pigeon from the Fancy domesticated varieties common in his day. These experiments were critical to his hypothesis about the way selection occurs in nature as well as under human influence. In many important ways, they were like the Rosetta Stone of evolutionary theory.

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My work on this series began in 2003 while an artist in residence at the Natural History Museum in London. I was amazed to learn that the specimens had never been photographed, and I immediately jumped at the chance when offered the opportunity. I later combined the photographic images of these priceless specimens with backgrounds meant to recall the painted clouds depicted in works by Joseph Mallord William Turner, whose work I have grown to love as much as Darwins. In reality, the “clouds” in my works are single micron high-resolution scans of laboratory grade cotton used during my own scientific experiments.

A Habit of Deciding Influence - DP no13

For more information or to view these works please contact Marco Nocella at marco@feldmangallery.com or call (212) 226-3232 at Ronald Feldman Fine Arts in New York.

IMAGINARY LANDSCAPE @ I.D.E.A.S. 40203, Louisville, KY

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IMAGINARY LANDSCAPE: Eco-Sustainability + Urban Environments

Imaginary landscape curated by Lara Pan is an exhibition introducing three artists: Brandon Ballengée (USA), Marian Tubbs (AUS), and Shohei Katayama (USA).

September 27 through November 15, 2013

The exhibition title refers directly to a series of live performance pieces composed by John Cage that he called Imaginary Landscape. Cage remarked on the title, “It’s not a physical landscape. It’s a term reserved for the new technologies. It’s a landscape in the future. It’s as though you used technology to take you off the ground and go like Alice through the looking glass.”

Artists in this project are closely connected to the universe of technology, science, and civic cultural activism. The dialogue between the works and ideas of the artists creates an open platform that concerns with environmental, ecological, and sustainability issues. As the project assists and integrates cross-disciplinary coordination, it aims to advance basic understanding of the dynamics of human-environment systems.

Brandon Ballengée creates trans-disciplinary artworks inspired from his ecological field and laboratory research. Ballengée has created a new version of his ongoing project, Love Motel for Insects for the exhibition. Love Motel for Insects is a series of outdoor installations intended to construct situations between humans and arthropods. The works use ultra-violet lights on enormous sculpted canvases to attract insects and create an opportunity for public interactions with nocturnal arthropods, which are not often seen.

Shohei Katayama constructs narratives for contemporary issues of ecology and spirituality: the increase of natural disasters and pollution, the demand for alternative energy, the gradual collapse and rebirth of communities, and the steady emergence of highly individualized identities.

Marian Tubbs uses familiar materials in assemblage, photography and paint to investigate philosophical questions with form. A recurring theme in her work is how materiality intersects with notions of value, pleasure, and reality. Her Open Model for an Affective Landscape, Virtual Becomes Real When Necessary is a 100% non-organic meditation on virtual simulations of natural ecologies.

http://ideas40203.com/news/current-exhibitions/

I.D.E.A.S. 40203
1217 S. 4th St
Louisville, KY 40203

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