November 11 - December 16, 2023

OPENING November 11th 5 - 8 PM

Curatorial Resident: Rebecca Copper

Wave Pool’s second Curatorial Resident of 2023, Rebecca Copper organizes a show about human and non-human interdependencies.

INTER/INTRA (2023) is an exhibition that examines the dependencies between human and non-human living beings. Communicated throughout the work on view is the mundane dependency that humans have on animals, plants, and other living matter, but also how these forms of life are dependent on humans. The artists’ works simultaneously strip that mundanity through emphasizing the deeply tangible, intrinsic relationships all persons share with the natural world. Each artist approaches the theme of the exhibition in striking contrast, highlighting personal entry points to interspecies connection.

This exhibition brings together works of three artists to examine interdependent relationships between human and non-human living beings. Two artists directly collaborate and work with non-human species, such as plants and agricultural animals. Another artist reflects on their relationship to the body and the natural environment through painting and Polaroid snapshots.

Lucía Monge is a Peruvian artist whose work has engaged plants over the past decade. She created Plantón Móvil, a festive march with plants; combining the bodies of humans and plants to make the plants mobile. In Plantón Móvil, Monge makes the interconnectedness of people and plants more visible through the form of a walking protest. The work is long-term and ongoing, combining sculptural and social practices. It has occurred at different sites internationally and in several states across the United States.

Ruth Burke is based in the ancestral Kickapoo and Myaamia lands (Illinois). Burke collaborates with agricultural animals and laborers in her socially-engaged projects and performances. She cares for and houses two bovines, Clark and Sparky, of whom she’s developed long-term relationships with. The formation of relationships and caretaking are foundational to Ruth’s social, artistic process. A recent project executed at ACRE involved collaborative efforts between her, agricultural workers, and bovine to manipulate the land for planting wild seed.

Rachael Anderson is a painter originally from the Shawanadassee, Kaskaskia, and Myaamia ancestral lands (Ohio) and now resides in the lands of the Quinnipiac, Paugussett, and Wappinger (Connecticut). She uses painting to explore her spatial relationship to and dependency on plants and other organic material. Drawing from her experience as an agricultural worker on her family’s orchard in the midwest, she recalls her knowledge of plant evolution and decay.

Copper’s exhibition INTER/INTRA (2023) features ephemera from previous works by Monge and Burke, as well as newer works by Anderson. Together in space, the works compliment themes of reliance and intra/interspecies connectedness. The title (inspired by dialogue with Ruth Burke) symbolizes the relationships between us and the natural world (INTER), but also suggests that we are also part of it (INTRA). Communicated throughout the exhibition is the mundane dependency that humans have on animals, plants, and other living matter, but also their dependency on us. Simultaneously, while emphasizing such basic relationships, the artists strip that mundanity, showcasing the deeply tangible, intrinsic dependencies all humans share with the natural world.

About the Curator: Rebecca Copper is an interdisciplinary artist based in the occupied lands of the Shawandassee Tula, Myaamia, and Kaskaskia people (Cols. OH). She’s interested in phenomenology and ontology, how perceptions of reality live against one another. And, how versions of reality are mediated back to us through authoritative bodies or institutions with a particular interest in power. Rebecca is deeply interested in the hyper-reduction of categorical research, and the elevation of sensory-based, experiential knowledge that we all hold.

The 2023 Curatorial Residency Program is generously funded by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and supporters of our 2022 Pool Party.

Programming