PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- The Brown Arts Institute and Creature Conserve host Re-Examining Conservation, a three-day symposium inviting viewers to examine how, where, and why each of us may seek to establish “a biological balance” in our human-animal relationships.
About the Exhibition
Re-Examining Conservation is curated around a series of specific, targeted questions encouraging the viewer to re-examine what conservation is (or is not) from multiple perspectives. They include: What is the nature of the shared space we inhabit with animals? How do we tell the stories of conservation? What informs our understanding of what needs to be done to slow or reverse the tide of extinction? What questions should we be more persistent in asking about conservation? Each painting, poem, print, sculpture, video, and more raises the question: “what is conservation.” Each artist tackles the same challenge: how to visualize the complex relationships between humans and animals. The exhibition is on view in the Granoff Center’s Cohen and Atrium Galleries, 154 Angell Street, Providence, RI, through June 10, 2022, with an opening reception on Thursday, April 21 at 5:30pm.
Curated by Creature Conserve Arts Curator Heather McMordie with support from Curatorial Scholars Haley Johnson & Lynsea Montanari. Creature Conserve is working in conjunction with Tomaquag Museum’s Indigenous Empowerment Network (IEN) in efforts to further amplify the voices of the Indigenous community in Rhode Island. Tomaquagmuseum.org/ien
For more about the exhibition, including images of artwork for media use, visit this link: https://sites.google.com/brown.edu/reexaminingconservation/exhibition
About the Symposium
The three-day accompanying symposium brings together an incredible interdisciplinary roster of faculty, students, and guest artists exploring a wide variety of perspectives on ways that humans are brought to bear on our current relationships with animals. The symposium kicks off following the opening reception with an evening of performances featuring Ada Smailbegović (Department of English) and Thalia Field (Department of Literary Arts).
The symposium continues on Friday with a day-long series of talks, conversations, and readings by an interdisciplinary group of Brown and RISD faculty affiliated with the campus Animal Studies group. Presenters include: Bathsheba Demuth (Department of History), David Frank (Department of Philosophy), Thangam Ravindranathan (Department of French and Francophone Studies), Iris Montero (Department of Hispanic Studies), Sheida Solemeini (BAI Visiting Artist Fellow), and others. Friday evening features a series of readings, starting with a keynote by Linda Hogan, influential and award-winning activist, teacher, and writer of fiction, poetry, and essays. Hogan will be followed by additional readings from Alberto Ríos, as well as Brown students.
The symposium concludes on Saturday with a generative workshop for writers and visual artists interested in creating new work inspired and/or informed by science relevant to the conservation of animals and their habitats. Following a lecture by Creature Conserve Founder & Executive Director Dr. Lucy Spelman, artist Samantha Dempsey and writer Susan Tacent will lead a craft discussion and provide prompts through which participants will generate stories and artwork.
Schedule at a Glance
All activities take place at the Granoff Center for the Creative Arts, 154 Angell Street, Providence RI
April 4 - June 10 Re-Examining Conservation Exhibition
April 21, 5:30pm Re-Examining Conservation Exhibition Opening
April 21, 7:00pm Evening of Performance
April 22, 9:00am Panel Discussions until 5:00pm (refreshments available at 8:15am, and 6:30pm)
April 22, 7:00pm Evening of Readings
April 23, 9:00am Workshops (refreshments available at 8:15am)
For more about the symposium, including a detailed schedule of presenters and registration links, visit: https://sites.google.com/brown.edu/reexaminingconservation/symposium/event-schedule
Note: Symposium events on Thursday, April 21 are in-person only. Symposium events on Friday, April 22 and Saturday, April 23 can be attended in person in Martinos Auditorium, Granoff Center or virtually, via Zoom.
About Brown Arts Institute
The Brown Arts Institute (BAI) at Brown University seeks to cultivate creative expression and foster an interdisciplinary environment where faculty and students learn from one another and from artists and scholars in a wide range of fields across the campus and around the world. The BAI seeks to build on Brown’s reputation as a destination for arts exploration, contributing to cultural enterprise through the integration of theory, practice, and scholarship with an emphasis on innovation and discovery that results from rigorous artmaking and experimentation. arts.brown.edu
About Creature Conserve
Creature Conserve is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) outreach organization based in Rhode Island dedicated to bringing artists, creative writers, and scientists together to foster informed and sustained support for animal conservation. We believe that art informed by science has the power to direct our attention to the ongoing loss of species and what we can do about it. creatureconserve.com
Image: Elevation Change, Faith Williams Dyrsten