Opening Reception: Saturday, February 17, 5-8 PM

With artist talk by John Durham Peters at 6 PM

“Why talk of the elements, this seemingly archaic idea, instead of something like nature or ecologies?” asks Karsten Lund, curator of Unthought Environments, in the exhibition essay. “Nature is a deeply familiar term, of course, one that can be used in conversation unguardedly and yet its outlines can still be oddly hard to draw, leading into thickets of debate after all. Where does nature end and culture begin?”

Please join us on Saturday to celebrate the opening of this group exhibition, which features videos, sculptures, photographs, installations, and digital images from 13 international artists. These works consider in various ways how our elemental surroundings become a kind of vital infrastructure.

We are delighted to welcome media theorist and historian John Durham Peters to speak during the opening reception at 6pm in Swift Hall, a short walk from the gallery. Peters is the author of the 2015 book The Marvelous Clouds: Toward a Philosophy of Elemental Media, from which the exhibition title is borrowed.