The Fur That Jams the Social Gears: Ecology, Art and Worlds to Come

Dear Humans, how was 2020 for you? Well, now you know how the rest of us critters on the planet feel, and the planet itself for that matter.

For a long time you earthlings haven’t been good roommates. So, let’s talk about it.

Join multi-disciplinary artist Marina Zurkow and humanities professor Ron Broglio for a conversation about Zurkow's years of ecological work and how art can impact environmental thinking.

We’ll take a socioeconomic, post-natural foray into the infrastructure of global trade with Zurkow’s "MORE&MORE" and in "Oceans Like Us" watch an animated dark ecology unfold as sea life is entangled by commodity detritus. We'll cultivate an affection for the climate and recognize its ancient, complex relationship to cultures though the collective letters, posters and audio meditations of "Dear Climate." We'll see crowds participate in a ritual festive funeral for the human species hosted by dandelions in MTBoI Eulogies, "Making the Best of It" (MTBoI).

We'll hear about her latest work including mass transit animation ads for the environment and illustrations of animals in revolt. We’ll have a frank conversation about methods, media, social practice and possible worlds to come.

This event is sponsored by the Institute for Humanities Research Desert Humanities initiative and the ASU School of Art.

Speaker Bio

Marina Zurkow is a multi-disciplinary artist focused on near-impossible nature and culture intersections. She uses life science, materials and technologies — including food, software, animation, clay and other biomaterials — to foster intimate connections between people and non-human agents. Zurkow is a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellow. She has also been granted awards from the New York Foundation for the Arts, New York State Council for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation and Creative Capital. She is a teaching fellow in the Masters in Public Action Program at Bennington College, a fellow at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) in Tisch School of the Arts, NYU, and resides in Vermont and Brooklyn, NY. She is represented by bitforms gallery. www.o-matic.com

Zoom details for this event will be emailed to you by 8 a.m. Arizona time the morning of the event. If you register after this time, details will be included in the "Additional Information" section of your confirmation email. Please check your junk/spam folder for an email from Eventbrite. For any issues or concerns with receiving the Zoom link, contact Lauren Whitby at lawhitby@asu.edu.

Image: Marina Zurkow animation still.