At the Precipice considers the role of physical and emotional reactions in the era of climate disaster. Given the proliferation of dire headlines and a public response that vacillates between denial and fatalism, the exhibition explores the use of color, tactility, material, and data not to avoid or disguise the issues but to instead offer accessible entry points.

Featured works utilize a wide scope of art and design methodologies to give shape to aspects of a daunting crisis as they interpret the real-world changes of rising temperatures, environmental destruction, forced migration, and the stark consequences of unsustainable lifestyles enjoyed by few at the expense of many. Included are works by Selva Aparicio, Morel Doucet, Zaria Forman, Luftwerk, Nathalie Miebach, Chris Pappan, Redemptive Plastics, The Tempestry Project, Migwa Nthiga, and Jean Shin.

At the Precipice explores how it feels to inhabit an irreversibly damaged planet facing a precarious future and considers the purpose of art and design in understanding how our collective trajectory must rapidly change direction.

The exhibition is curated by Colossal and runs July 14-October 30, 2023. Please check the Design Museum of Chicago’s website for hours and information before planning your visit.

 

Selva Aparicio “Our Garden Remains”

Comprised of real and plastic flowers and assorted decorations collected from the trash bins of Chicago’s cemeteries, “Our Garden Remains” explores how we experience bereavement and share our grief. The use of synthetic materials questions the enduring effects of mourning, the commodification of death, and the environmental footprint of loss.

 

Morel Doucet “Black Maiden in Veil of Midnight,” “The Hills We Die On,” and “Olokun”

Using porcelain ceramic adorned with native flora and fauna of South Florida, Doucet delves into the impact of environmental racism, forced migration, and climate gentrification on the Black and Brown residents of Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood.

 

Zaria Forman “Overview”

“Overview” flies across 12 miles of Lincoln Sea in the Arctic Ocean north of Greenland, beginning at 80°53’33.86′ N 59°18’18.37’W and moving south to 83° 42’41.77’N 59° 24’6.56’W. The work was filmed on July 24, 2014. The cumulative ice loss in Greenland from 1992 to 2015 is estimated near 3,600 gigatonnes, contributing to global sea level rise by approximately 10 millimeters.

 

Luftwerk “White Wanderer”

“White Wanderer” is an ongoing investigation into the rapid disintegration of the Antarctic ice shelf. Inspired by Larsen-C, a 120-mile-long crack along the Antarctic ice shelf that broke into a trillion-ton iceberg in 2017, the work translates seismic data collected by glaciologist Douglas MacAyeal, connecting this remote place to an emotional artistic experience to deepen public understanding of the connection between climate change and sea level rise.

 

Nathalie Miebach “Build Me a Platform, High in the Trees”

This work draws on four different weather events that caused significant flooding in Louisiana since Hurricane Katrina. In each of these instances, the water arrived differently—river flood, sea level rise, storm surge, and rain.

 

Migwa Nthiga “The Warriors of the North”

Lake Turkana has long been a site of food and economic opportunity for the people of northern Kenya, including the Indigenous Nilotic people. As recurring and worsening droughts plague the region, distant communities are forced to migrate closer to the lake, putting it at risk for over-consumption. Half submerged and wearing traditional dress, the three men in “The Warriors of the North” defend the body of water and their way of life.

 

Chris Pappan “Howageji Nizhuje Akipé (Where the Rivers Meet)”

The “Y” shape is an official municipal device within the city of Chicago and evokes the confluence of the Chicago River as it reaches Wolf Point. Pappan evokes this symbol by weaving it into three distorted portraits that signify the abusive alteration of land and water, the forced removal of people, and the effects of colonialism.

 

Redemptive Plastics

Collecting laundry detergent jugs from laundromats in the Austin neighborhood, Redemptive Plastics repurposes waste into functional designs. The team melts and reshapes the material into lumber-like material that can be used for a variety of building projects.

 

Jean Shin “Waste River Beds”

“Waste River Beds” is a series of three boulder-like sculptures, each constructed from materials sourced from Philadelphia’s waste stream and encrusted with clusters of freshwater mussel shells. The shells, collected from the banks of the Delaware River over a series of months, mimic the appearance of a healthy mussel bed. Each sculpture is topped with samples of still, unfiltered water samples collected recently from Lake Michigan and the Chicago River System. The use of recycled jars alludes to how the quality of our water is directly linked to the health of our watershed ecologies.

 

The Tempestry Project “Paleo New Normal Tempestry”

The study of climate data before instrumental records is referred to as “paleoclimatology” and the data sets are often called Paleo climate data. Asy Connelly and Emily McNeil of The Tempestry Project maintain this nomenclature with the “Paleo New Normal Tempestry,” which traces the stark rise in yearly temperatures back 2,021 years to the Early Common Era. This piece depicts the global annual deviation-from-average temperature in one row per year—the darker the blue the colder than average, the darker the red the hotter than average.

The Tempestry Project Chicago Collection

The Chicago Tempestry Collection is an ongoing project that shows the changes in local weather patterns during the last 120 years. Each piece shows one year of daily high temperatures, one row per day. Originating with 12 knitted “Tempestries” commissioned by the Design Museum of Chicago and created by volunteers, the project continues to grow as knitters and crafters translate the data into textiles and add their works to the collection.

 

Selected Press

Design Museum Explores the Climate Crisis in At the Precipice—It’s Beautiful and Tragic —Third Coast Review

Design at the Edge: A Deep Dive into “At the Precipice” with the Colossal Curators —NewCity