E.P.A. (Environmental Performance Actions) at Exit Art TONIGHT

E.P.A. Environmental Performance Actions, E.P.A. Exit Art, E.P.A. ecoartspace, E.P.A. environmental art, E.P.A. performance art, E.P.A. Amy Lipton Patricia Watts, E.P.A. S.E.A., E.P. A. Social Environmental Aesthetics

There is quite a bit of eco-buzz circulating around the current E.P.A. exhibit at NYC’s Exit Art gallery, and with good reason as the tag ‘E-P-A’ has gained new momentum thanks to the show’s pro-active agenda. E.P.A. or “Environmental Performance Actions” is a group exhibition that sets a new stage for critical performance work that addresses contemporary environmental crises. One of our favorite green initiatives, ecoartspace, is the force behind E.P.A., providing thought-provoking curation as well as visual prompts that might finally move us to take notice and take action.

E.P.A. is on view at Exit Art in NYC until May 3, 2008 but we also want to let you know that there is a can’t miss HUMAN/NATURE panel discussion tonight (Wed, March 26th) at 7pm

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E.P.A. is the first project in Exit Art’s S.E.A. (Social Environmental Aesthetics) line up. The S.E.A. program launch includes exhibitions and events that seek to examine current environmental concerns and the way artists respond to them. E.P.A. is a co-curated group exhibition surveying videos, photographs, texts, related ephemera, and a film program documentation.

Both Amy Lipton and Patricia Watts, ecoartspace‘s curators, were invited to collaborate with Exit Art on the selection and presentation of the work of more than thirty international artists. “These works, created in the public sphere, draw attention to and engage the public in a dialogue about issues such as climate change, watersheds, urbanization and, ultimately, human survival. E.P.A. will set the precedence for future exhibitions of S.E.A. dealing with environmental issues including The End of Oil, about the global oil crisis and alternative energy, and Consume, about food production, agricultural and sustainable living practices. An exhibition of historical social-environmental art works is also planned to place this work in context.”

E.P.A. is a wide-ranging line up, everything from Erica Fielder’s Bird-Feeder Hat to Eve Mosher’s High Water Line to Chris Sollar’s Pile of Trash to Kathryn Miller’s Seed Bombs. Eco-art-stars like Futurefarmers, Fritz Haeg, Brandon Ballengée, and Andrea Polli are included as well as Anne-Katrin Spiess who rode her bike from NYC to the installation and opening of her 2007 exhibit in Maine in order to be carbon neutral!

Whether or not you think that art can change the world, or at least our views on the environment, is really not the message in E.P.A.’s overall performance. Instead one is lured in to take a closer look at ‘the idea of action’ and how ridiculous our patterns of behavior and habits of consumption really are. It’s not just what we choose to do to the environment, but also our ability to anticipate how we will perform when faced with new and unprecedented dilemmas.

E.P.A. is on view at Exit Art in NYC until May 3, 2008. There will be a HUMAN/NATURE panel discussion on Wednesday, March 26, at 7pm with Eve Mosher, artist of ‘High Water Line’, and David Van Luven, climate change scientist and Hudson River program director at The Nature Conservancy. Patricia Watts, founder and co-curator of ecoartspace will be the moderator. More info at Exit Art

+ E.P.A. at Exit Art
+ ecoartspace