(Above) Agnes Denes, Wheatfield – A Confrontation (1982). Two acres of wheat planted and harvested in Battery Park landfill, downtown Manhattan. Commissioned by Public Art Fund, New York City. Picture © Agnes Denes, courtesy the artist
Exhibition: Radical Nature: Art and Architecture for a Changing Planet, Barbican, London, until October 18 2009
The Barbican Gallery's newest exhibition, Radical Nature, merges visionary works from a variety of disciplines to reflect the changing planet. Radical Nature draws upon Land Art movements, activism, experimental architecture and utopianism. The show displays nature both as a simultaneous source of inspiration and a victim.
In an effort to bring sustainability into the gallery design, the exhibition includes re-used Barbican posters, recycled paper printed with soy ink and recycled seating for visitors. It truly attempts to bring the outdoors indoors with a proliferation of works using natural and living materials.
The first level contains the largest works while the second level nurtures smaller artistic productions. The most astonishing pieces include a Green Room by the architectural collective A12, Tomas Saraceno's Flying Gardens and Henrik Häkansson's Fallen Forest.
(Above) Mark Dion, Mobile Wilderness Unit – Wolf (2006). Courtesy Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna. Picture: Lisa Rastl
A12's work is comprised of a wooden structure you climb into to discover a small utopian grassy British garden. Naturally lit from above and encased in mirrors, the structure gives the illusion of infinite miles of garden. Despite its kaleidoscopic and fragmented reflections, the garden provides a calm and contemplative space, suggesting how it could easily provide refuge in overcrowded cities of the future.
Häkansson's work displays an apparently ridiculous manipulation of nature, drawing attention to man's frequently destructive tendencies. Huge trees and bushes lie in a bizarre and artificial state, the plants are turned on their side and drooping due to gravity, yet kept alive as they grow horizontally through an irrigation system. Häkansson's work is dramatically lit by a spotlight, lending an air of distressed starlet to the flora.
(Above) Tomas Saraceno, Flying Garden (detail) (2006). Picture courtesy the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York
Flying Gardens, by Tomas Saraceno revolves around Air-Port-City. Suspended bubble-like structures are webbed together and host Tillandsia plants which derive nutrition from air. Tue Greenfort, on the top floor, presents humorous animal self-portraits. Agnes Denes' remarkable land art is also represented as well as fantastical drawings by Wolf Hilbertz which create an underwater island made of natural building materials.
Meanwhile, Lara Almarcegui shapes an overview of abandoned sites at risk in the forthcoming 2012 Olympic Games in London, thus bringing the visitors' focus back to their immediate urban environment.
Radical Nature is timely in a climate where there is concern that the recession has prompted short-sighted and non-sustainable solutions from builders and developers. It presents a number of interesting ideas, sustainable projects and artistic representations to reveal the rich diversity of the planet.
Open 11am-8pm (6pm Wednesdays, 10pm Thursdays). Admission £8 / £6 (all online tickets £6). Visit Barbican ticketing online to book.
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