The consequences of inefficient and excessive consumption are now being realized worldwide. Fixed beliefs about our environment and long-term sustainability must give way to imaginative alternatives. Out of my concern over humanity's failure to forge a sympathetic accord between culture and nature, I initiate projects in the hope of salvaging a sense of sanctuary in a troubled world.
My use of horticultural installation, intervention, and performance fosters discussion and generates action in the area of ecological awareness. Common materials are collected and repurposed/refashioned in order to comment on the real costs of over-consumption. I often encourage my audience to consider art-making a collaborative research laboratory, empowering the community. At times I also employ disruptive, solo actions that promote social responsibility and a more accountable use of natural resources.
Using Chia in my work has created another means of engaging the public. The novelty of the Chia Pet™ and the nutritious and easily grown Chia super-grain inspires projects that utilize Chia as both an art form and a sustainable food source. Creating soil-less works which employ Chia, as well as other food plants, allows me to demonstrate the benefits offered by hydroponics. These benefits include an increase in crop yields of high quality, lower water and space requirements, as well as the fact that hydroponics can be used in places where ordinary agriculture or gardening is impossible.
My work also functions as an autobiographical garden recreating a lost landscape, a reinvented awareness of identity, and an expansion of possibilities. Whimsically functional yet serious hydroponic plant growth systems such as mobile garden machines, botanic “enhancements”, and “portable fields’ represent the lack of permanence I experienced in the wake of Hurricane Katrina's devastation. Each work is fashioned to mutate and adapt to new situations and environments. The ephemeral life cycle of these living organic elements echoes the reality of our own fragility.
There is no better time than now to investigate and promote sustainable answers to the dynamics of consumption. I address current wasteful practices, food shortages, and environmental stresses by linking ecological issues to a diverse array of artistic operations and tactics. In the end, I aspire to create projects that are rigorous and poetic in their conceptual processes where passive viewers become empowered participants playing a significant role in creating a truly sustainable future.
Jeff Schmuki
My use of horticultural installation, intervention, and performance fosters discussion and generates action in the area of ecological awareness. Common materials are collected and repurposed/refashioned in order to comment on the real costs of over-consumption. I often encourage my audience to consider art-making a collaborative research laboratory, empowering the community. At times I also employ disruptive, solo actions that promote social responsibility and a more accountable use of natural resources.
Using Chia in my work has created another means of engaging the public. The novelty of the Chia Pet™ and the nutritious and easily grown Chia super-grain inspires projects that utilize Chia as both an art form and a sustainable food source. Creating soil-less works which employ Chia, as well as other food plants, allows me to demonstrate the benefits offered by hydroponics. These benefits include an increase in crop yields of high quality, lower water and space requirements, as well as the fact that hydroponics can be used in places where ordinary agriculture or gardening is impossible.
My work also functions as an autobiographical garden recreating a lost landscape, a reinvented awareness of identity, and an expansion of possibilities. Whimsically functional yet serious hydroponic plant growth systems such as mobile garden machines, botanic “enhancements”, and “portable fields’ represent the lack of permanence I experienced in the wake of Hurricane Katrina's devastation. Each work is fashioned to mutate and adapt to new situations and environments. The ephemeral life cycle of these living organic elements echoes the reality of our own fragility.
There is no better time than now to investigate and promote sustainable answers to the dynamics of consumption. I address current wasteful practices, food shortages, and environmental stresses by linking ecological issues to a diverse array of artistic operations and tactics. In the end, I aspire to create projects that are rigorous and poetic in their conceptual processes where passive viewers become empowered participants playing a significant role in creating a truly sustainable future.
Jeff Schmuki
