Beyond Green: Toward a Sustainable Art

February 2, 2006 - May 7, 2006

Sustainable design, which balances environmental, social, economic and aesthetic concerns, has the potential to transform everyday life and is already reshaping the fields of architecture and product design. Beyond Green explores how this design philosophy resonates with an emerging generation of international artists who combine a fresh aesthetic sensibility with a constructively critical approach to the production, dissemination and display of art. While "green" architecture has been widely explored, this is one of the first exhibitions to focus exclusively on sustainability in art and design.

These artists—working in cities such as Chicago, Copenhagen, London, New York, San Francisco, San Juan and Vienna—use sustainable design strategies for metaphoric, practical, critical or even playful ends. Beyond Green includes existing works, commissions and previously presented work that has been “recycled,” spotlighting ways in which artists are building paths to new forms of practice. The holistic approach of sustainability seeks to transform the ways people make, use and dispose of the stuff of everyday life. Beyond Green is co-organized by the David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago and by iCI (Independent Curators International), New York, and circulated by iCI.