Issue 15-6

One man’s trash is another man’s misfortune. There has been devastation of epic proportions in the natural world recently and nowhere is immune, which is why Olafur Eliasson’s work at the Tate Modern and his Weather Project is so timely. So is the recent exhibition at Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Trees (Nous les Arbres) where we learnt that there are 3,000 billion trees in the world, while humans make up less than 0.01 percent. The Istanbul Biennial is named The Seventh Continent after the man-made island of plastic trash and the Sharjah Architecture Triennial The Rights of Future Generations explores the urban implications of this ecological collapse. Other events like FIAC, Chicago EXPO, the Dhaka Art Summit fittingly titled Seismic Movements this year and the Helsinki Biennial in 2020 have made evident that the climate crisis is on artists’ minds globally. At home, artists are also responding at SEAF’s latest exhibition at Warehosue421 and at NYUAD Art Gallery’s Speculative Landscapes show. We hope this issue leaves readers with thoughts on our human imprint and footprint and on environmentally conscious ways of being in the world.