Indianapolis Museum of Art Hosts Wetlands Project

Wednesday, 07 June 2006 09:53

Indianapolis, IN - A global, interdisciplinary collective of artists, architects and researchers is collaborating with local students and others and will present its findings in the exhibition, sub-merging: a wetland project, at the Indianapolis Museum of Art from June 11 to Dec. 3.

Known as spurse , the group was invited by IMA to use the future IMA Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park as the source for its “Off the Wall” project.  Spurse members took on the roles of nonconventional researchers, collaborating with local students and scientists to experiment with and document the ecosystems of the museum, its grounds and its visitors.  Their investigations are presented in maps of insect colonies in the museum walls, microscopy of bacteria found on site, and self-guided tours of the human body.  In addition, spurse worked with local volunteers to create experimental gardens on the IMA grounds that relate to the site’s history and ecology.  Much of this work will be incorporated into spurse ’s laboratory, The Center for the Study of the Collective, housed on the third-floor balcony of the museum.

According to Rebecca Uchill, assistant curator of contemporary art at IMA, the group’s intent was to examine the collective of living things that exists in the museum.  “Our adjacent art and nature park space inspired the group to consider the wetland ecosystem as a paradigm for investigating human beings and the museum,” said Uchill.  “The artists wanted to give visibility to some living parts of the museum ecosystem that are not often noticed by human visitors.”

Over a four-month period, the art collective conducted an unconventional but thorough field study of IMA: it tracked ladybugs, collected bacteria in petri dishes, germinated seeds used in African artifacts, wove together gardens of native and invasive plant species, and traced the movements of people, air, money and art objects. 

IMA’s Off the Wall series presents engaging new works by emerging or experimental artists in a gallery that runs along the third-floor balcony. The projects change twice annually.

Visit : www.ima-art.org