Collaborating with artists Snaebjornsdottir/Wilson, this project gleaned from two years of site work explores cultural the networked effects of conservation in Arizona by focusing on endangered species the California Condor and the Humpback Chub. Images and essays are in the accompanying book You Must Carry Me Now.
The project investigates tensions and cooperation among scientific, public, and corporate stakeholders in how we have managed the wilds and the public lands. As the artists capture the complexity of groups each vying for their ideas about the future of endangered species their work becomes a figure for the larger difficulty of realizing any sustainable future. Who is included in the future and at what cost? The exhibition explores how we perceive and communicate ideas of sustainability and how effectively we can engender collective responsibility regarding the environment.
Whilst scientists make nature a laboratory—segmenting areas for the collection and processing of hard data—as artists they broaden the enterprise by inviting a range of humans and nonhumans to the conversation and deploying a broad range of affective, speculative, and creative agencies. They consider the science within cultural and social contexts.