The second lecture in the Co-Evolution Series, which is part of the Co-Evolution: Art and Biology in the Museum seminar, will be held Thursday, March 29 beginning at 5 p.m. in rm. 102 at the Science & Math Learning Center (SMLC). The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will feature visual artist and theorist Suzanne Anker.
The theme of the seminar and workshop series is "Morphology and Geographic Variation," on the relationship of form to place. With the natural history collection as a starting point, participants will hear from scientists, artists, designers, programmers, musicians and more on place-based study. The three visiting artists that comprise the series are featured leading a class in two-day intensive workshops from the UNM Museum of Southwestern Biology and in the field. During their visit to UNM, each artist gives a talk that is free and open to the public.
Anker is a visual artist and theorist working at the intersection of art and the biological sciences. She works in a variety of mediums ranging from digital sculpture and installation to large-scale photography to plants grown by LED lights. Her work has been shown both nationally and internationally in museums and galleries including the Walker Art Center, the Smithsonian Institute, the Phillips Collection, P.S.1 Museum and the JP Getty Museum to name a few. Her books include The Molecular Gaze: Art in the Genetic Age, co-authored with the late sociologist Dorothy Nelkin, published in 2004 by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Visual Culture and Bioscience, co-published by University of Maryland and the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C.
The Co-Evolution Visiting Artist lectures and workshops are supported by the National Science Foundation AIM-UP! Research Coordination Network, UNM Department of Biology, UNM Art & Ecology and the UNM College of Fine Arts. The lectures are part of the Spring 2012 course, CO-EVOLUTION: Art + Biology in the Museum, co-taught by Joseph Cook and Szu-Han Ho.
For more information and to learn about upcoming lectures, relevant articles, artists and other resources on the intersection of art and natural history, visit the course blog Co-Evolution: Art and Biology in the Museum or email Szu-Han Ho, at szho@unm.edu.