Chicago photographer Judy Natal has been working in several sites around the world since 2006 to construct a future-based narrative about humans and the environment. Future Perfect, composed of photographs, writings, and sculptures created by Natal from found objects, begins in 2040 and moves backwards a decade at a time while utilizing imagery from three disparate locations.

The series takes us among the geo-engineered volcanic landscapes of Iceland, where people are shrouded in steam and nature is littered with inscrutable objects, and into the utopian science experiment of Biosphere 2, an experimental habitat constructed in Arizona from 1987 to 1991 by a group of engineers and artists. Meant to be inhabited as a sealed unit by a crew for a year at a time, “B2” led to a greater understanding of both natural and built ecologies. The third environment is the Las Vegas Springs Preserve, the site of the artesian well in the Las Vegas Valley that was first used by Native Americans, then Mormon farmers and the early railroads, and finally the city of Las Vegas. During the 1990s it was converted into a public theme park meant to educate visitors about the use and conservation of water in the desert.

Future Perfect is loosely a science fiction, but one based on science fact at each site, all of them engineered for studying and understanding the use of local ecologies for human purposes. Neither apocalyptic nor optimistic, the work allows the viewer to imagine different scenarios for the future.

Sponsor

John Ben Snow Memorial Trust

Lauren Bon and the Optics Division of her Metabolic Studio have set up residence in the old Pittsburgh Plate Glass plant at the edge of the Owens Dry Lake, where they are reclaiming the chemicals and silver necessary to make and process photographic film and paper. They then use the recaptured materials to make images of the lake in two camera obscuras, one built into a truck and another into one of the silos at the plant. Both are used to create panoramic images of the site. Paper negatives used are placed in large trays that are filled with water and left to evaporate over several months. This recreates the playa surface, allows for the silver to be re-recaptured—and creates the opportunity for making another print as a new iteration in the series.

All of this activity is part of a larger social practice that Bon is exercising in the Owens Valley, the goal of which is to establish new local businesses in a depressed region based around water issues. The exhibition will be drawn from the extensive project archives collected by the Center for Art + Environment, and will feature the walk-in, Vietnam-era, portable U.S. Army darkroom used to process the harvested chemicals.

Sponsor

John Ben Snow Memorial Trust

 

To read William L. Fox’s essay De-silvering the Mirror, click here (link)