Correspondences presents a summer series of short exhibitions, informal talks, and performances that address our desire to restore a natural equilibrium in opposition to the multitude of perils that threaten our environment, the body politic, our spirits, and sense of fairness and justice. Each artist presents works that promote our connection to the natural world, how we react and respond to the material and spiritual worlds in which we live, and our stewardship of the planet.
The title of the series, Correspondences, is inspired in some measure by the Swedish philosopher and mystic, Emanuel Swedenborg (1668-1772). Swedenborg, who influenced such important artists and writers as William Blake, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Ralph Waldo Emerson and the American Transcendentalists, proposed a binary construction of the universe and human activity — one in which societal ills could be mitigated through acts of goodness. These actions were intended to restore a natural equilibrium between two opposing forces. As a scientist and spiritual thinker, Swedenborg’s novel approach eschewed strict religious dogma and encouraged important social reform including the abolition of slavery.
Likewise, the Correspondences presented this summer at Poem 88 function as interventions, visual prescriptions and invitations to consider our present challenges, personal and global.
Art Vandenberg: Steles
Scott Silvey: soft border
Judy Henson: Swift Creek
performances by: Shana Robbins, Karen Tauches
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