Page 29 - Studio International - September 1969

engineering expertise during the course of a year. of painting and sculpture. Entry will be limited to Technology
In their statement the Corporation emphasize the members. Further details are available from The
mutual nature of the potential benefit: 'Sculptors Artists' Place Society, 17 Dukes Road, London
working in steel have so far confined their atten- WC1. and art 6
tions mainly to simple shapes and structures and
little work has so far been done in this country on Down to Size. The AIA Gallery, 15 Lisle Street,
exploring the possibilities of using steel in advanced WC2 will be holding an exhibition of small THE RELEVANCE OF ECOLOGY-PART ONE
techniques, fully exploiting its potential in the field paintings from October 1 to 29, 1969. The exhibi- I have already drawn on ecological ideas in these
of creative art. The interaction between the artist tion is open to all, and purchase prizes will be pages, but here I would like to argue at some
attd industry will, it is felt, be of benefit to both. awarded in addition to a first prize of £200 (donated length that ecology is a discipline of the highest
Mr Evans . . . will bring a new mind to bear on by Reeves and Sons Ltd) and a second prize of relevance to art and science today. Some defini-
problems of structure and design. This partnership 4.100. The maximum dimension acceptable will be tions are given first, to clear the ground.
might well lead, as it has in the case of other more 24 inches. The prizes will be allocated by Peter Ecology is the study of organisms in their surroundings
limited ventures in artist/industry co-operation, to Blake, Godfrey Pilkington and Norbert Lynton. or habitats. It is therefore a branch of biology or
considerable longer-term advantages.' Full details and conditions of entry can be obtained the science of life. But whereas traditional biology
from the secretary of the gallery. has concentrated on the identification and study of
individual specie? ecology concentrates on the
Exhibitions abroad
Tate exhibitions. Three forthcoming exhibitions relationships between particular organisms. This is
During the summer eleven artists have been exhibit-
have been announced by the Tate Gallery. From justified because, as far as is known, all organisms
ing in eleven locations in a show organized by Seth
September 3 to October 8 the United States are dependent on other organisms for their survival;
Siegelaub. The catalogue of the exhibition, pub-
Ambassador in London, Mr Walter H. Annenberg, there is probably no such thing as a self-sufficient
lished July 1, contains specific information about will lend his collection of French Impressionist and organism.
the works together with photographs or docu-
Post-Impressionist paintings to give the British The term organism means plants, bacteria, animals
mentation. The artists represented are Carl Andre
public a chance of viewing them before they are etc. ; no more precise definition is called for here.
(in the Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, Holland),
installed in his residence in Regent's Park. Artists In biology, the border-line between plants and
Robert Barry (in Baltimore USA), Daniel Buren represented in the collection include Boudin, animals is now rather blurred; and so I believe is
(in Paris), Jan Dibbets (in Amsterdam), Douglas
Cezanne, Corot, Degas, Fantin-Latour, Gauguin, the borderline between organisms and 'inanimate'
Huebler (in Los Angeles), Joseph Kosuth (in
Monet, Picasso, Renoir, Lautrec, Van Gogh, and matter. However, these problems are not important
Portales, New Mexico), Sol LeWitt (in Düsseldorf),
Vuillard. as far as this article is concerned.
Richard Long (in Bristol, England), N. E. Thing From November 27 to February 8 the Tate will One further term is needed: ecosystem. Ecologists
Co. Ltd, lain Baxter President (in Vancouver),
stage a major exhibition of Elizabethan and early often use the term environment to denote the physical
Robert Smithson (in Oxmal, Yucatan, Mexico)
Jacobean painting, 'The Elizabethan Image', habitat of organisms, and the term community to
and Lawrence Weiner (in Niagara Falls, New York
covering the 'lost age' in painting from the death of denote groups of interdependent organisms. I shall
State, USA and Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada).
Holbein to the coming of Van Dyck. The exhibi- use the term ecosystem to cover both the living com-
The exhibition lasts until the end of September. tion has been assembled by Dr Roy Strong, munity of organisms and the physical resources of
'Fauvism in European Art' is the title of an inter- Director of the National Portrait Gallery, and will their habitat (such as air, light, water).
national exhibition to be held in the cultural centre include some 150 items—paintings, manuscripts, A field ecologist usually selects for observation a
of the City of Malines from September 14 to miniatures, drawings, pieces of armour and other given ecosystem. Examples of this may be an
November 16, 1969. The exhibition is being organ- works. A large proportion of the paintings have not island, a lake, an area of the sea-bed, a rubbish-
ized by the City of Malines under the auspices of the previously been exhibited in this century and many dump, or the site of a new-town. (Ecosystems may
Ministry of Culture, and with the personal co- have been specially cleaned or restored for the be of any size. For instance, the human skin forms
operation of Emile Langui, former General- exhibition. an ecosystem inhabited by mites, bacteria, occa-
Administrator of the Ministry of Culture, and
Jean Leymarie, Director in Chief of the Musee A substantial retrospective exhibition of the sional parasites, etc. Alternatively the whole sur-
face of the earth may, for certain purposes, be
National d'Art Moderne in Paris. Among the work of Richard Hamilton is scheduled for March regarded as a single ecosystem. The ecologist treats
artists represented will be Matisse, Derain, 12 to April 19, 1970. All work since 1956 will be re- the impact of human beings on an ecosystem quite
Vlaminck, Braque, Dufy, Friesz, Valtat, Manguin, presented as fully as possible, with supporting dispassionately, as being simply the impact of a
Marquet, Puy, Camoin, Signac, Van Dongen, drawings, diagrams and prints for all major works
Jawlensky, Kandinsky, Kirchner, Macke, Marc, or groups of works, and with detailed catalogue particular class of organism.)
Ecology was described above as a branch of bio-
Pechstein, Schmidt-Rottluff, Nolde, Kupka, Matt- entries to be compiled by Richard Morphet in logy, but it is also a kind of super-biology which
hew Smith, Mondrian, Gauguin, and Wouters. collaboration with the artist. draws on all other branches of biology. The variety
Works are being loaned by museums and private of different organisms that inhabit an apparently
collectors from all over Europe. A handsome cata- simple ecosytem like a garden pond is nearly always
logue is in course of preparation. greater than one would expect; and each one of
Forthcoming major exhibitions in North America THE these species—the different kinds of fish, mosses,
include 'New Alchemy: Elements, Systems and lichens, weeds, insects, snails, etc—has been the
Forces in Contemporary Art' at the Art Gallery of subject of specialist biological study. The ecologist
Ontario from September 27 to October 19, 1969 ST VD 1 0 has to ignore the irrelevant detail and extract what
(including works by Haacke, Charles Ross, John
van Saun, Takis and others), and a substantial is necessary for his particular task—which may be
studying the 'food chain' in the pond, or the effects
retrospective of the work of Roy Lichtenstein, at on its population of introducing a given number of
the Guggenheim Museum, New York, from 75 years ago a new species, or the effects of shading part of the
September 19 to November 16. The latter exhibi- Paint, up to a certain point, for your pleasure if you pond from sunlight.
tion will include over 100 paintings, drawings and will—sketch when the days are longest in a summer The ecologist may also in the course of field-work
sculptures from the period 1961 to 1969. holiday; but do not frame, do not exhibit, do not have to draw on disciplines which are not branches
add to the Minor Exhibitions, do not have any of biology at all: such as chemistry, physics, geo-
New Arts Centre grievance against the Royal Academy, unless some- logy, meteorology and statistics. He may undertake
'The Place', a new arts centre for the Borough of one who knows, and has the courage to be honest, a study of ecosystems where human beings and
Camden will be officially opened at 17 Dukes tells you Painting is your line. human technology have had a complex interaction
Road, WC1, on September 2 by Lord Goodman, (The Responsibility of Painting: an address to with nature. For instance, he may study the rela-
Chairman of the Arts Council. The centre is students of art by Frederick Wedmore) tive success of different marine paints in preventing
intended as a meeting place for all the arts, with a colonization by barnacles; or the direct and indirect
special emphasis on dance, and will provide the 5o years ago effects of oil pollution on seabirds; or the long-
headquarters of the London School of Contem- A new organization has been recently inaugurated term effects of artificial fertilizers on soil fertility
porary Dance. Also associated with The Place will under the title of the Arts League of Service, the and wild-life.
be The Pierrot Players, formed by Peter Maxwell object of which is 'to establish a closer bond between Just to begin with, then, ecology is important
Davies and Harrison Birtwhistle, and Music Now. the community and the artist, to create in the public because it forces specialists out of their corners. In
The London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus are a greater interest in his work, and to rouse in the this respect it is comparable to cybernetics—which
at present using The Place as a rehearsal centre. artist an understanding of the community and its has already provoked valuable interchanges bet-
Studios have been specially adapted for exhibitions needs'. (Studio-Talk) ween the different sciences and technologies, not