EnterState: Sensing the Natural World

The artists in EnterState: Sensing the Natural World explore connectivity, biology, nature, and ecology.  Their varied practices emerge from a place of curiosity, experimentation, and whimsy, asking us to enter into a place of wonder in order to sense, touch, and hear the natural world more intimately.  

About the Artists

The work of Interspecifics Collective exists at the intersection of art and science. They translate the electrical signals generated by different bacteria and microorganisms into alluring sounds and rhythmic patterns. On opening night, they will present a 15-minute performance using bacteria from our nation’s capitol. 

The curious experiments of Alex Arzt allow us to touch and be touched by nature. Here she presents a soap sculpture composed from elements gleaned from Richmond's James River waterbed.  Viewers are encouraged to wash themselves with it as a reminder that we are not separate from the natural world but rather deeply connected to it.  

Laure Drogoul’s Teetering x Tottering (on the brink) builds an awareness of water as a common resource by inviting viewers to play on a kinetic sculpture—a seesaw filled with lighted water bottles.  While playfully balancing on the sculpture, participants activate the exchange of water from one region to another, triggering an audio response of field recordings from fish in the Chesapeake Bay.  Rhythmic and sonic, the work positions audience members directly in line with the cycles of the nature.  

Hope Ginsburg’s Breathing on Land seeks to refocus attention on the relationship between the health of our bodies and our atmosphere. The sound of the artist’s breath in the scuba gear evokes a meditative chant and as we become aware of our own breathing we are reminded of the vast oceans that once filed the sandy deserts of Quatar where Ginsburg’s performance is situated. The work foreshadows the daunting challenge of survival amidst environmental adversity, and the need to awaken to the reality of environmental change and the action it requires.

EnterState delves into the fabric of nature in ways that are both visceral and tactile. The artists whose works are presented here are reframing our relationship to the environment through forms centered on intimate connection and sensory experience.

About THE CURATOR

Raquel de Anda is an independent curator and cultural producer based in Brooklyn, NY.  De Anda began her career as Associate Curator at Galería de la Raza, a contemporary Latino arts organization in San Francisco, CA (2003-2010) and has continued to support the production of socially engaged artwork in both Mexico and the United States. She is an active member of the PCA Collective (People’s Climate Arts), a group of artists and activists that produce art for social movements. The collective was recently awarded the Robert Rauschenberg Artist as Activist Fellowship to continue their work in New York City. Raquel holds an MS in Design and Urban Ecologies at Parsons, School of Design, with a focus on integrating cultural equity in the field of arts and culture. 

This project and Washington Project for the Arts Inc. are supported by the City Fund, which works to make the District of Columbia a more healthy, stable, and vibrant place to live for all its residents. The City Fund is administered by The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region.

Funded in part by the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, an agency supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.