Marie Celeste

May 12 – September 16, 2011
Artspace, New Haven, CT

Marie Celeste is a thematic group exhibition that uses the recent environmental phenomenon of “Colony Collapse Disorder” (CCD) or “Mary Celeste Disorder,” in which bees mysteriously disappear from their hives, as a metaphor for environmental consciousness and an exploration of the ethical sublime in our post-industrial era.

Ranging from site-specific installations to painting and photography, the diverse works in this exhibition enter a broad, polyphonic discourse on contemporary art practice and the environment that has been ongoing since the 1970s. The eleven artists participating in the exhibition ask viewers to see and think about humankind’s relationship to science and nature—both as a physical environment and an idea. Their works probe the boundaries that encompass our moral and ethical obligations to care for our surroundings, now, and in the future, and make manifest the interconnectedness of ecology and technology in the 21st century. And, while the artists in Marie Celeste explore the conflicts between individual and collective actions, preservation and transformation, production and reclamation, and notions of disenchantment and optimism, their works are created from a deeply personal artistic practice that is grounded in the production of emotional affect rather than in the production of meaning.

Artists include: Erika Blumenfeld, Stephen Bush, Nick Lamia, Jason Middlebrook, Shari Mendelson, Mayumi Nishida, Jessica Schwind, Joseph Smolinksi, Eva Struble, Tattfoo Tan, Alison Williams

Exhibition brochure: Marie Celeste_FINAL_brochure