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Everyone knows petroleum has become essential to our everyday lives from the packaging of the foods we eat to our daily commute. For better AND worse, these products have not only transformed our lives but the landscape in which we live. Canadian Artist Mia Feuer’s exhibition, Totems of the Anthropocene, envisions what our environment might become after prolonged exposure to petroleum products!
Feuer’s interest in petroleum has taken her around the globe. Her experiences have deepened her understanding of the consequences of mining petroleum, not only from an environmental perspective, but from a social and political one as well. Feuer’s unique and challenging sculptures question mankind’s exploitation of our environment. And yet, her work is created out of materials that result from that exploitation! Through her use of these materials, the works in this exhibition demonstrate their inescapability.
Visitors to the exhibition will encounter this reality in the form of several unique installations and a one-person indoor synthetic ice rink on which visitors will be invited to skate under a swirling vortex of ravens and uprooted trees. The ravens and trees reference the environmental realities facing the Alberta tar sands of Feuer’s Canada and to the decline of winter pond skating. The ponds on which many Canadians first learn to skate are disappearing as global temperatures continue to rise. The sensation of skating in this desolate landscape hints at the possible future we may all be facing.
Rules for one-person skating rink
WATCH AN INTERVIEW WITH MIA FEUER
Our Sponsors
This exhibition is presented in partnership with the Center for Polar Studies at Augustana College and Davenport Parks and Recreation. Skates donated through The River’s Edge.
Companion Events
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Thursday, September 19Figge Art MuseumArtist Mia Feuer will introduce her exhibition and discuss her philosophical approach to artmaking and share her vast knowledge of the effects of petroleum on our environment. Come early for a meet and greet with light refreshments at 5:30 p.m. -
Thursday, October 3Figge Art MuseumDr. Grant Deane is an ocean acoustician and research oceanographer in the Marine Physical Laboratory at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. He will speak about his recording work as it relates to the Mia Feuer exhibition.
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Thursday, November 7Figge Art MuseumDonald and Theresa Dardar of the Pointeau-Chien Indian tribe are fighting global warming on tribal land and will discuss their ongoing efforts to combat it.
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Thursday, November 21Figge Art MuseumThe Figge will present a screening of the documentary Paris to Pittsburgh in the John Deere Auditorium followed by a panel presentation by local environmental experts. This event will take place during the Truth in Action’s “24 Hours of Reality."
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Saturday, November 23Figge Art MuseumFamilies and fans will dive into the current exhibitions with special activities throughout the museum. Free admission all day!
Sunday April 14th