Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art Presents in Collaboration With EcoArts
“Weather Report: Art and Climate Change” – Curated by Lucy Lippard

Dates: September 14–December 21, 2007
Public opening reception: Friday, September 14 from 6:30–8:00 p.m. FREE
Members’ preview reception: Friday, September 14 from 5:30–6:30 p.m.

Museum hours effective April 7–November 3:
Tuesday–Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 3 p.m.
Additional summer hours on Wednesday from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Boulder, Colo.—From September 14 through December 21, 2007, the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art in collaboration with EcoArts, presents “Weather Report: Art and Climate Change,” curated by internationally renowned art critic, historian, and writer Lucy R. Lippard. In presenting climate changes through a variety of aesthetic mediums, “Weather Report” underscores art’s potential to educate and motivate audiences. Issues regarding desertification, floods, changing watersheds, global warming, renewable energy, carbon profiling, reforestation, species transformation, ozone layer, ocean acidification, and soil subsidence are presented through artists’ eyes to provoke a tangible, immediate connection with the viewer. “Weather Report” is the largest component of this year’s EcoArts event—now in its second year—which is bringing together major science, environmental, arts, and other organizations to increase awareness about climate change and a sustainable future.

EcoArts, and its founding director Marda Kirn, are collaborating extensively with BMoCA in organizing the exhibit’s focus: The dialogue between science and art. The intent is to partner the scientific and art communities to create a visual dialogue surrounding climate change and empower audiences with a vision for a sustainable future. “Weather Report” will present artwork that will promote artistic excellence, scientific research, and environmental effectiveness to reach a diverse and multigenerational audience. This exhibit, along with public programs scheduled throughout the show, seeks to inspire audiences to reflect upon the status of our environment and to activate personal and public change. An eco-friendly “green” catalog of over 100 pages with writings by Lippard and major writers on environmental art and climate change issues is being produced. The exhibit opens Friday, September 14th with a public reception from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. and is free of charge.

Lippard was born in New York City and lived in New Orleans and Charlottesville, Virginia, before enrolling at Abbot Academy in 1952. After earning a B.A. degree from Smith College, she earned an M.A. degree in art history from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, six honorary fine arts degrees and recently was honored with a lifetime achievement award from the Women’s Caucus for the Arts. Since 1966, Lippard has published 20 books on cultural criticism, contemporary art, and place, and has received numerous awards and accolades from literary critics and art associations.

Co-founder of Printed Matter, the Heresies Collective, Political Art Documentation/Distribution, Artists Call Against U.S. Intervention in Central America, and other artists’ organizations, she has also curated over 50 exhibitions, done performances, guerrilla theater, and edited several independent publications, the latest of which is the decidedly local La Puente de Galisteo in her home community in Galisteo, New Mexico. This exhibition, “Weather Report” is the first show Lippard has curated in over 20 years. What follows is an excerpt from her curatorial statement:

I was drawn to curating Weather Report (before global warming hit the news in such a big way) because I cannot imagine a more crucial issue facing the entire world. I asked artists to participate who had already addressed the subject or were fully involved in environmental issues. [These artists] are willing to be in the world, make art in a global arena, and are knowledgeable enough to enter into dialogues with scientists. Among the issues they are tackling are renewable energy sources, food production, habitat restoration, suburban sprawl, water shortages, desertification, biological mutation, and economic ramifications. I have always said that art cannot change the world…alone. But working with other disciplines and audiences, and given the chance to be seriously considered outside the rather narrow world of art, artists can contribute a certain visual jolt to reigning clichés. They are freer to imagine outcomes than scholars and at best can make the realities of climate change more vivid and immediate than any other medium in this visually oriented society.

“Weather Report” comprises various indoor and outdoor venues in Boulder. There are 51 artists slated for inclusion in the show, with 34 regional, national and international artists whose works will be exhibited at BMoCA, The Fiske Planetarium, Norlin Library Galleries, The ATLAS Center at the University of Colorado, and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). The other 17 regional, national and international artists will be creating, installing and exhibiting site-specific outdoor pieces throughout the city of Boulder.

The exhibit’s artists include: Kim Abeles, Lillian Ball, Subhankar Banerjee, Iain Baxter&, Bobbe Besold, Cape Farewell, Mary Ellen Carroll (Precipice Alliance), CLUI (Center for Land Use Interpretation), Brian Collier, Xavier Cortada, Gayle Crites, Agnes Denes, Steven Deo, Rebecca DiDomenico, Future Farmers (Amy Franceschini and Michael Swaine), Bill Gilbert, Isabella Gonzales, Green Fabrication (via Rick Sommerfeld, University of Colorado, College of Architecture and Planning), Newton Harrison & Helen Mayer Harrison, Judit Hersko, Lynne Hull, Pierre Huyghe, Basia Irland, Patricia Johanson, Chris Jordan, Marguerite Kahrl, Janet Koenig & Greg Sholette, Eve Andrée Laramée, Learning Site (Cecilia Wendt and Rikke Luther), Ellen Levy, Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Patrick Marold, Natasha Mayers, Jane McMahan, Mary Miss, Joan Myers, Beverly Naidus, Chrissie Orr, Melanie Walker & George Peters, Andrea Polli, Marjetica Potrc, Aviva Rahmani, Rapid Response, Buster Simpson, Kristine Smock, Joel Sternfeld, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Ruth Wallen, Sherry Wiggins, The Yes Men, and Shai Zakai.  Please see the accompanying attachment for more information about the artists.

Artists producing site-specific works in and around the Boulder area include:  Bobbe Besold, Brian Collier, Future Farmers, Bill Gilbert, Lynne Hull, Basia Irland, Marguerite Kahrl, Janet Koenig & Greg Sholette, Eve Andreé Larameé, Jane McMahan, Mary Miss, Chrissie Or, Kristine Smock, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Melanie Walker & George Peters, Learning Site, and Sherry Wiggins.

A documentation of significant projects will also be included in the exhibit.  Those artists include:  Cape Farewell, Rapid Response, Natasha Mayers, Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Pierre Huyghe, Mary Ellen Carroll (Precipice Alliance), Patrick Marold and Shai Zakai.

“Weather Report” is generously supported by these sponsors and donors: Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Roche Colorado, Jared Polis Foundation, Compton Foundation, Scientific and Cultural Facilities District Funds, the Louis P. Singer Foundation, Clean and Green, Outlook Hotel, 29th Street, Boulder Convention and Visitors’ Bureau, City of Boulder, University of Colorado, and Vermilion Inc.

EcoArts includes a wide variety of collaborating organizations and institutions, among them NCAR, NOAA, the Boulder Culinary Project, Boulder Public Library, Center for Resource Conservation, City of Boulder Office of Environmental Affairs, Colorado Renewable Energy Society, Curious Theatre, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Eco-Cycle, Native American Rights Fund, Society for Creative Aging, and a number of departments at the University of Colorado at Boulder. In addition to “Weather Report,” EcoArts will include a symposium on “Indigenous Perspectives on Climate Change” with indigenous leaders from North, South, and Central America on September 21 through 23. Performances, panels, talks, and tours will also be held September 14 through October 7 in Boulder and Denver. For a full schedule, see www.ecoartsonline.org.

The Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art is a dynamic venue dedicated to the presentation of significant art of our time. Through an innovative program of regional, national and international exhibition and performance, the museum inspires and educates its communities and visitors from around the world to explore the forefront and evolution of contemporary art.

The Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art is located at 1750 13th Street in downtown Boulder,
Colorado. Museum hours starting April 7 are Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Sunday noon to 3 p.m.; closed Monday. Expanded Wednesday hours from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. effective May 2 through October 3. Regular museum admission is $5 for adults; $4 for students and seniors. Free to museum members and children under 12. Free admission on Saturdays is offered to visitors, April through September, and free admission on Wednesday nights is offered May through October 3. For public information call 303.443.2122 or visit our website, bmoca.org.

For additional information, photo and interview opportunities please contact Kirsten Gerdes, 303-443-2122, Ext. 22.

Agnes Denes, “Grand Unification Theory,” 2002

Xavier Cortada, “The Markers,” 2007.  Installation at the South Pole