GREEN ACRES Exhibition: June 29 – October 13, 2013

The Arlington Arts Center will be hosting GREEN ACRES: Artists Farming Fields, Greenhouses, and Abandoned Lots, a multi-faceted contemporary art exhibition that explores the relationship between art and agriculture.  The GREEN ACRES exhibition approaches topics and concerns about the environment and agriculture through contemporary art.  Fine art, interactive art, outdoor public art, and site projects and programs engage its viewers in a dialogue with the topics of food quality and production, urban agriculture, sustainable farming, and the concerns of urban density and livability.  The exhibition is a continuing discussion of how artists are using art to approach these subjects.

GREEN ACRES was conceived and curated by Sue Spaid for the Cincinnati Contemporary Art Center, where the exhibition received rave reviews.  GREEN ACRES is sure to be a blockbuster exhibition that spans from June 29, 2013 to October 13, 2013 and will culminate with a harvest festival at the beginning of October.  The acclaimed GREEN ACRES exhibition at AAC will also be hosted in tandem at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center in the Fall of 2013.  Through various mediums, artists in the GREEN ACRES exhibition present a cohesive exploration of farming-as-art. Some of the works that will be on display and will be further explored in this blog include:

•  The historically significant re-fabrication of Newton and Helen Harrison’s Survival Series (1970-1973).
•  The Arlington site project, the Gourd Palace, created by Doug Retzler.  This is a community designed project that will be the site for community events throughout the exhibition.
•  An interactive art installation about organic soil, called Soil Olympics, that was designed by The Permaganic Company and features local organic farms.
• Photographs and video installations by Dan Devine which document and explore the genealogy of a family of sheep.
• Shannon Young’s outdoor art installation, How Does Your Garden Grow? that incorporates shopping carts as transportable gardens.

The full list of artists affiliated with the venture of GREEN ACRES: Artists Farming Fields, Greenhouses, and Abandoned Lots include: The Permaganic Company, NOFA, Newton and Helen Harrison, JJ McCracken, N55, Patricia Johnson, Anya Gallaciio, Hom Mei-ling, Ein Sherman Ecological Greenhouse, Mara Adamitz Scrupe, Dan Devine, Land Foundation, Matthew Moore, Sakarin Krue-On, Shannon Young, Susan Leibowitz Steinman, and Doug Retzler.

AAC will be blogging about GREEN ACRES prior to and throughout our exhibition!  For more information about this large endeavor follow us on Facebook (Arlington Arts Center), Twitter, and on our website!

– Written by Carolyn Bauer, AAC GREEN ACRES Curatorial Intern

This exhibition is made possible by an Emily Hall Tremaine Exhibition Award. The Exhibition Award program was founded in 1998 to honor Emily Hall Tremaine. It rewards innovation and experimentation among curators by supporting thematic exhibitions that challenge audiences and expand the boundaries of contemporary art.