Art for Earth’s Sake: The Medium is the Message: Clean Artmaking from Earth to Outer Space

The purity of an artwork often belies the dirty materials that went into its making: toxic paints and glazes in painting and ceramics; poisonous particulates in the process of sculpting and smelting objects. A current generation of artists views the materials themselves as part of the artistic narrative, especially when that narrative is an environmental one. Hear from Lily Kwong, whose installations made of plant materials comment on our relationship with flora and fauna; Julia Christensen, who protests e-waste and the upgrade economy through a conceptual spaceship flying light years that has to regenerate itself; and Elizabeth Corr, director of art partnerships at NRDC who curates projects that fuse art and advocacy. But is this didactic art also good art? And how effective is the message? The panel will close with a "bio-sonifying" performance by Modern Biology. The conversation will be moderated by design researcher Jason E.C. Wright.
About Art for Earth's Sake
Artists are increasingly exploring the climate crisis in their work. What about the art world’s contribution to the climate crisis, from its boundless international travel to the growth of energy-intensive art forms and installations? MOCA considers the creative ways in which the art world is addressing its own environmental footprint in Art for Earth’s Sake, a series of five public presentations and panels, taking place in fall, 2022. Invited artists, academics, activists, industry insiders and journalists will explore topics ranging from greening art facilities and art fairs to reckoning with environmental justice. Finally, the program will consider the impact of making the industry more sustainable on artistic expression itself.
About Julia Christensen
Julia Christensen is an artist and writer whose work explores systems of technology, time, change, and memory. She is President of the Space Song Foundation, a non-profit organization that designs technology for long-term space missions that transcend contemporary cycles of obsolescence.
About Elizabeth Corr
Elizabeth Corr collaborates with artists, writers, museums, and cultural institutions to heighten public awareness of and interest in environmental issues facing communities. Her work curating public art exhibitions and programming has created an innovative platform for thoughtful and sustained collaboration between art and environmental leaders.
About Lily Kwong
Lily Kwong is a next-generation landscape artist with roots in the urban planning and art worlds whose mission is to reconnect people to nature. Lily specializes in creating transformative environments that combine horticulture, design, education, and visual arts to create cultural experiences that harmonize people with their environment.
About Modern Biology
Modern Biology has brought 'plant music' to the masses. Originally educated as a biologist, veteran musician Tarun Nayar brings his passion for nature and sound together in an ambient project that is organismic, immediate, uplifting, and deeply contextual. He uses modular synthesis, home built synthesizers and other analog equipment to improvise with the natural vibrations of a certain place and time - via plant bioelectricity, latent electromagnetic radiation, and even the earth’s resonant hum.
About Jason E.C. Wright
Jason E.C. Wright is a designer, researcher, writer, and moderator. He is Founder and Director at Burntsienna Research Society, and author of ‘The Burntsienna Standards’, a rubric for responsible design research.
Art for Earth’s Sake is organized by Frances Anderton and Livia Mandoul.

MOCA’s environmental programming series highlights the museum’s work around climate, conservation, and environmental justice. Guided by the work of the MOCA Environmental Council, the first sustainability council at a major arts museum in the United States, this series presents artists, activists, and scholars committed to critical ecological issues in Los Angeles and globally.

The 2022 series is made possible by Nora McNeely Hurley and Manitou Fund.

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