SOLAR FIELD, A CURATORIAL PROJECT ADDRESSING RENEWABLE ENERGY
By Artist-Curator Nathaniel Cas Ancheta, presented by Art In Residence and until November 1st, the project includes the participation and exhibition of artists Debra Scacco, Beatriz Cortez and Rafa Esparza. Solar Field is a curatorial project that serves as a catalyst to stimulate discussion for future research in the field of the integration of solar farms and its aesthetic impact.
To begin to address this issue we must examine the functional and aesthetic dichotomy that exists within the technology. How do we feel for something that is inanimate? How do we sympathize for something that does not feel emotion? How do we relate to something that feels almost alien? How do we see past what it is and see what it could be? These are some of the questions at the core of this exhibition.
The concerns underlying this exhibition calls attention to a larger issue of environmental sustainability. Though these solar panels come with many benefits, they come at a price. This technology affects the environment in and around their locations; from the clearing of land which could cause desert degradation and dust abatement to disrupting the habitat of indigenous native plants animals and people. By aestheticizing solar farms, we can begin to change our perspective and address the question of how we can advance solar energy with all of these considerations in mind.
This curatorial project takes on the form of a group exhibition, showcasing Platform, a 32′ x 32′ (9.8x9.8 meters) mirrored stage which will serve as a stage for a series of works by invited artists. Each artist will display one work for the duration of one month during the course of the six month exhibition, and their work responds to the formal, political and or ecological aspects of solar farms in the Antelope Valley.
Nathaniel Ancheta is a contemporary artist, designer and curator. Nathaniel’s art practice functions within the thresholds between interior and exterior, passive and active, and the natural and the artificial. Nathaniel creates work that catalyzes engagement with the individual, public, and its environment. Nathaniel lives and works in Antelope Valley, California. He earned his BFA from Dominican University of California in 2009 and his MFA in 2016 from Art Center College of Design.
On the project’s framework, coming this October, Debra Scacco will present Networks of Power, which oppugns the priority of industry over community by addressing physical and systemic power structures. Inspired by the proliferation of solar fields in the Antelope Valley, Networks of Power constructs and deconstructs the extractive nature of urban development. While solar power is vital in eliminating reliance on fossil fuels, there is little published research to aid understanding of long-term consequences. The majority of this rapidly expanding industry is held in private control, and lacks a centralized body governing long-term impacts on ancestral lands and local communities nation-wide.
Art In Residence was founded by Nathaniel Ancheta, David Edward Martin and Janice Ngan. Their mission is to explore the potential of public art in Antelope Valley, CA by engaging with the community through active practice, outreach, and education.
