Opening January 17 at ICA Philadelphia, Carl Cheng: Nature By no means Loses marks the primary in-depth museum survey of multidisciplinary artist Carl Cheng. Encompassing greater than 60 works in addition to archival supplies on view all through each flooring of the ICA, the exhibition brings collectively six a long time of Cheng’s prescient, genre-defying work which operates on the intersection of identification, know-how, and ecology. Nature By no means Loses highlights the progressive and interdisciplinary nature of Cheng’s apply — one which has been largely excluded from artwork historic narratives so far. The present animates the arc of the artist’s profession by means of a multidisciplinary, ephemeral, process-based, and interactive presentation.

Cheng first developed his apply in Southern California within the Sixties amid political unrest, an interdisciplinary artwork scene, a booming post-war aerospace business, and the fast improvement of the area’s panorama. Over the past 60 years, he has created an ever-evolving physique of labor that includes quite a lot of supplies and media, engages with environmental change, investigates the relevance of artwork establishments to the general public, and scrutinizes the function of know-how in society — matters which are more and more pressing in our up to date second.
Whereas Cheng initially gained recognition for his photographic sculptures, his ingenious lexicon consists of the creation of “artwork instruments” employed within the manufacturing of artworks, “nature machines” that anticipate a man-made world formed by people, and site-specific interventions aimed toward partaking broad audiences. His work has constantly probed questions of pure company and the extractive affect of people on the setting. These investigations are tied to his distinctive strategy to know-how as a creative instrument and his critique of neoliberal notions of progress that undergird each the artwork market and the tech business.

On view at ICA Philadelphia by means of April 6, Carl Cheng: Nature By no means Loses is curated by Alex Klein, Head Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs at The Modern Austin; with Denise Ryner, Andrea B. Laporte Curator; as ICA’s receiving curator. Klein beforehand served as Senior Curator at ICA and has labored carefully with Cheng over the past 4 years, meticulously distilling the artist’s huge oeuvre and archival materials right into a survey that features documentation of not often seen previous installations and public artworks. The exhibition premiered at The Modern Austin and shall be offered all through North America and Europe following its presentation at ICA.
To be taught extra, go to icaphila.org.

