In his best-known works, Robert Rauschenberg used nontraditional materials, including found objects, to produce provocative pieces that he called combines. Now the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, which he set up to provide support for causes that were important to him, is joining forces with two other like-minded organizations to present a series of exhibitions, panel discussions and performances that will explore climate change.
The other organizations are Ballroom Marfa, a contemporary arts center in Marfa, Tex., and the Public Concern Foundation, a New York nonprofit that focuses on public education about social and political issues. Their project, “Marfa Dialogues,†is to include events at 18 of New York’s cultural and academic institutions and involve other organizations in ways that have not yet been determined. It is to open on Oct. 15 with an exhibition of environmentally engaged works, selected by Ballroom Marfa, at the Rauschenberg Project Space in Chelsea.
Other events include a performance by Nora York of her multimedia song cycle “Water’s Getting Deeper/Water’s Getting Scarce,†at Joe’s Pub; “Solar,†a program of video works to be shown by Friends of the High Line; and an untitled exhibition of art works, at the IMC Lab + Gallery. The Earth Institute at Columbia University will present “Don’t Be Sad, Flying Ace!,†a play about a dog that sits on top of his doghouse watching the waters rise around it. Superhero Clubhouse, a collective of artists and environmental activists, plans to offer “Field Trip (A Climate Cabaret),†a theatrical evening of songs, dance, poetry and stories, in which six climate scientists talk about their findings. And an exhibition by the Danish artist Tue Greenfort at the SculptureCenter will be the starting point for panels and workshops about the history of environmentalism and the relationship between art and ecology.
The Marfa Dialogues began in Texas in 2010 as a symposium in which the intersection of culture and politics were explored. This year’s series is the first to be presented in New York and will run through November.
