A new exhibition examining themes related to art and ecology will open at the Syracuse University Art
Museum on Thursday, Jan. 25, and be on view through May 12.
“Assembly: Syracuse University Voices on Art and Ecology’ features artworks made by faculty and recent alumni that contribute to emergent forms of ecological understanding. By placing these works in dialogue with objects from the museum’s permanent collection, the installation considers a broad cultural evolution from an environmentalism of the sublime to an ecology of intimacy.
Sarah McCoubrey, “Floating Oil,” 2012. Courtesy of the artist.
The exhibition is curated by Sayler/Morris (Susannah Sayler and Edward Morris, co-directors of The Canary Lab at Syracuse University), with Mike Goode, William P. Tolley Distinguished Professor in the Humanities in the College of Arts and Sciences and Melissa Yuen, the art museum’s interim chief curator, assisted by Jeffrey Adams (Ph.D. Candidate in English), Jeanelle Cho ’24 (architecture and art history) and Abi Greenfield ’25 (history and political philosophy).
As stated by Sayler/ Morris, “The theme of this exhibition is ecology and any ecology properly regarded is an assembly of disparate beings, each with a distinct voice. We like the word assembly in this context
because it connotes more than a mere collection of voices; it implies that each voice will be heard and given space. Beyond this general meaning, we also intend the title to stand for the specific assembly of artistic voices all working within the Syracuse community that we have brought together here.”
In correlation to the exhibition, and in partnership with Goode, the museum will launch the Art,
Ecology and Climate Project, composed of 15 online galleries highlighting works from the collection,
each devoted to a different ecological topic, idea or issue. A general instructor’s guide offers
assignments applicable to any of the e-museums, and detailed guides to individual e-museums offer
additional tools for teaching ecology and climate through art, as well as instructional techniques for
approaching art in the classroom–or on your own–through the lenses of ecology and climate.
“I have focused my Tolley Professorship on helping create tools for Humanities courses to
engage more with ecological and climatological issues, and Sayler/Morris have been working tirelessly
for years to foster ecological thought and activism through their amazing art and their connections to
other ecologically minded artists,” says Goode. “It made perfect sense to partner with them to curate an exhibit whose cross-artwork dialogues could at once anchor courses and foster greater ecological mindfulness in museum visitors more generally.”
Robert Rauschenberg, “Calf Startena,” 1977. Gift of Mr. Gerald B. Cramer,’52, H’10, 1978.
The exhibition and related programs have been made possible by generous support from the Humanities
Center (Syracuse Symposium); Department of English; The Canary Lab; College of Engineering and
Computer Science; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Undergraduate Program in
Environment, Sustainability and Policy; and the Environmental Storytelling of Central New York.
Featured events accompanying the exhibition include:
Art Break: ‘Assembly’ gallery tour with Melissa Yuen
Jan. 31, 12:15 to 1 p.m.
Syracuse University Art Museum
All Art is Ecological
Feb. 22, 4 to 8 p.m.
Syracuse University Art Museum and Shemin Auditorium
Art and Ecology Teaching Guides Launch (4 to 5 p.m.)
Gallery reception (5 to 6:30 p.m.)
Public lecture by Timothy Morton from Rice University (6:30 to 8 p.m.)
Environmental Storytelling CNY: Forging Ecological Awareness Through Art
March 7, 6 to 7:30 p.m.
Art Break: Bird Collisions in the Anthropocene with Holly Greenberg
March 19, noon to 4 p.m.
Syracuse University Art Museum
Community Day
April 13, noon to 4 p.m.
Syracuse University Art Museum
Visit the museum’s website for more public programs surrounding the exhibition.
