Anthropocene Extinction by SWOON

September 15, 2011

Swoon is one of my favorite artists and a lovely person. She just did a great install at the Boston ICA. If you are in New England check it out in person, or see it on the website.
-Shepard

On the occasion of its 75th anniversary this fall, the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA) has commissioned Brooklyn-based artist Swoon to create the fifth installation of the Sandra and Gerald Fineberg Art Wall. Extending from the elevator atrium to the lobby and soaring forty feet up to the ceiling, Swoon’s new installation is the largest to occupy the Fineberg Art Wall. The work, titled Anthropocene Extinction, is composed of streams of intricately cut paper which connect key sculptural elements within the installation-including a 400-pound, suspended bamboo sculpture. Swoon is on view at the ICA from Sept. 3, 2011 to Dec. 30, 2012.

In both her art and her own life, Swoon is deeply engaged with social issues and humanitarian projects. Anthropocene Extinction looks at the effects of industrialized society on people and the environment, and includes a portrait of one of the last Australian Aboriginals to have experienced traditional nomadic culture. The term “anthropocene” refers to the “age of man” and was recently coined by geologists to describe the outsized influence of man on the natural environment.