Foregrounding contemporary artists’ engagement with social issues and shaping institutions, Climate Changing raises critical questions as we face the entwined crises of systemic racism and a global health pandemic. What role do art and culture play in revealing legacies of oppression and violence? How might artists help imagine a different future? How can all of us create a real climate for change?

Shared among the multigenerational group of over 20 exhibiting artists and nine commissioned works is a use of criticism as a generative tool to reorient one’s position relative to unjust systems, structures, and effects of power—reenvisioning how these establishments and infrastructures might operate. The artists deal with a range of matters such as mass incarceration; global warming; labor, debt, and economic inequality; colonization; racism; education and democracy; and ableism. By presenting projects that span multiple themes and frameworks, the exhibition emphasizes the power of intersectionality and interdependence and encourages a collective reimagining of our social environment.

Climate Changing is organized by the Wex and curated by Lucy I. Zimmerman. It is accompanied by a robust, illustrated gallery guide featuring an essay by Zimmerman and commissioned and previously unpublished writings from Pope.L, Demian DinéYazhi’, Jibade-Khalil Huffman, and Park McArthur and Constantina Zavitsanos. Excerpts from a roundtable discussion with the advisory committee created for Climate Changing are also included.

ARTISTS IN CLIMATE CHANGING
Dave Hullfish Bailey+ • Chris Burden • Abraham Cruzvillegas with Tony Ball, Brianna Gluszak, Aaron Peters, Akeylah Wellington, and Bradley Weyandt+ • Demian DinéYazhi´+ • Torkwase Dyson+ (2020–21 Wexner Center Artist Residency Award project) • Futurefarmers+ • Jibade-Khalil Huffman+ • Baseera Khan+ • Carolyn Lazard • Park McArthur • Danielle Julian Norton+ • Pope.L • Raqs Media Collective • Related Tactics+ • Jacolby Satterwhite • Sable Elyse Smith • Constantina Zavitsanos

+ commissioned work

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