aren't we beyond this?

while looking at the online exhibition of the "after nature" i couldn't help but think that the design was either the worst i've ever seen, with uncoded characters, chaotic and multiple links, poorly placed text, unsized and unrefrained images... etc, etc.. but then i thought maybe this exhibition must be viewed in firefox or some other browser. but no, this is a conceptual representation of the show that makes little sense to me. again, shouldn't we be beyond this in a post-nature era? if the human race comes to an end at a loss for the nature that supports life, won't our technologies be our only pristine presence? isn't that what we are giving nature up to; our carefully designed cinderblock and cyber-presence? this online exhibition is disjointed and fails in that respect. there is nothing organic about its presentation, if that is what it is trying to convey. i was simply disconcerted looking at this website, and not at all in an insightful way. the exhibition statement is articulate and equally poetic. it reflects the language of the concerns and the thinkers/makers of this verbal and visual dialog we continue to address in this corse; but it breaks down and abandons hope beyond that. i am not discouraged in our ability to approach a post-nature era, or at least not because of this exhibition, but rather our ability to articulate it in any cohesive sense as a movement. in this case, fragmentation, which i do believe is a growing burden in our technological expansion, does not strengthen the argument of the show or its premise centered around herzog's manifesto. the problem here is that we will continue to organize and articulate the human objective with such certainty and vigor, that nature will wither away for such cause. the work may do this, but its cyber-presence fails miserably. it is ironic that the slide show of the artists' work that the new museum felt inclined to add to the webpage, shows a comprehension of this growing concern for our future that the online exhibition does not.

with that said, there are some works in the exhibition that reflect the curatorial premise, which in tern, articulates the works further. first, we should consider the term "after nature;" what it may insinuate beyond this context. "after" in this case, can be used to denote replication, to be made in the image of; linearly, to come or to be made after; consecutive or cyclical, indicating the death and birth of two things connected or interrelated. this actually leaves a wide verity of interpretations and how i may interpret this show. the first paragraph of the curatorial statement seems to exclude these addition interpretations, but as you read further and encounter phrases such as, "fascination for personal cosmologies and visionary languages,""a peculiar form of magic realism," and "a renewed belief in art as a tool for mythmaking," the reader must get a sense that this show exhibits ideas and realities beyond environmental disaster and catastrophe within wilderness, resulting in ruin. there is a strange sense of life and optimism in these words and corresponding works that show a humanity and the nature "in" humanity; a single hope, not just disorder and degeneration. this brings us to the issue of conflict: human "and" nature. one interpretation of "after nature" may be based on our relationship to nature; that we no longer, some of us, see humans separate from nature... no longer in conflict with nature as something to dominate, to control, and to tame; but rather to live harmoniously with and integrate culture and nature. nature has been seen as the "other" since the death of pan and the pagan gods. but there is life after death that is in a linear and circular continuum simultaneously. in this regard, after nature is the same as pre-culture, pre-industrial, and concurrent with modern technology; concurrent with its own death.

Roger Ballen, "Children on bed"
i heard an npr show last week, that discussed how the western proclamation: "the death of god" has allowed for a reinterpretation, reinvigoration, and a renewed sense of god. "god is now alive," he has been reborn.

Maurizio Cattelan, Untitled, 2007
in maurizio cattelan's "untitled, 2007" piece, as ridiculous as it may seem, the re-presentation of a severed horse, elevated and protruding ass first from a wall, albeit real or not, has very similar connotations in this sense. if dead, as it is meant to be seen, there is a beautiful and inherent life in this piece that exists in contact with the viewer. through the reexamination of this familiar icon, in a way never, ever considered before, it takes on a whole new meaning that is poetic, comforting, and intriguing; at the same time cruel, frightening, and abject. this is the renewed vision of nature, of-the-human-hand, and natural that we must consider to move beyond that which we take for granted.