Adaptation - Local Notes
October 10 - November 22, 2024
Opening reception October 10 | 6-8 pm
Adaptedness is a heritable trait that helps an organism complete a life cycle in a given environment. Adaptation – Local Notes gathers the works of 13 artists based in and around the Allegheny County region to examine our communal ability to influence, intersect, and adapt to natural and human-made ecosystems. With these artworks, artists demonstrate how the organic or synthetic materials available in such sites often affect our relationships with each other and the places we inhabit.
These artists explore our interdependence with the environment through heterogeneous approaches and encourage viewers to consider the interstitial spaces and lines of communication within. For instance, the works of Melissa Catanese, Finn Dugan, and Adrienne Borkowski are captivated by the hidden stories of plant life, the underwater world, the architecture of bird nests, and the biorhythm of invasive species. Investigations into the landscape—utilizing tree branches, soil, clay, and charcoal—are in the sculptures by Tammy Skiver Maxson, Manami Ishimura, and Elizabeth Scutt and Karen Antonelli's photography. More speculative narratives are told through manufactured and daily objects, as in the works by Barbara Weissberger, Jonathan Lohr, Sean P. Morrissey, and April Friges. Unexpected interpretations are in Loring Taoka's painting and the video essay by Anisha Baid.
Adaptation – Local Notes tells interlaced stories about times and geographies—from socioeconomic concerns to biological processes and post-deindustrialized communities in the aftermath of urban renewal, the diversity of plants, and the bodies of water coexisting with technological intervention—with a focus on some of the cultural issues shaping Pittsburgh and Allegheny County.
This exhibition is juried by Michaela Blanc and organized by Nina Friedman, Director, Tomayko Foundation.
The Adaptation Film Screening
Tuesday, October 16 | 6:30 - 8:30
At Silver Eye Center for PhotographyThe Adaptation Screening Program presents the cinematic compositions of seven artists working in myriad time-based processes – from animation to documentary, visual poetry, and sound. Participating artists include Andrew W. Allison, Anisha Baid, Catherine Drabkin, Chantal DeSouza-Feitosa, Inbar Hagai, Lorenzo Baker, and Ségolène Pihut. This one night film screening will be held at Silver Eye Center for Photography on October 16 from 6:30 - 8:30 pm. This event is free and open to the public with advanced registration required. Please register HERE.
About Silver Eye Center for Photography
Silver Eye promotes the power of contemporary photography as a fine art medium by creating original exhibitions, unique educational programming, and a space for artists to learn, create, and connect through their digital lab and education center, The Lab @ Silver Eye. Silver Eye’s programs are dedicated to supporting the work of emerging, mid-career, and under-recognized artists and sharing that work with their diverse audience in engaging and meaningful ways.