Baltimore's Contemporary Museum at 100 W. Centre St. will be transformed into an environmental think tank and laboratory when the Futurefarmers art collective from San Francisco opens The Reverse Ark: In the Wake, an exhibit exploring the social, historical and environmental history of the city's mills and textile industry, running March 26 to Aug. 22.
Using the concept of an "ark" as a place of preservation and exploration, Futurefarmers will work with students from the Maryland Institute College of Art and community residents to create an exhibit that is both an art installation and an educational forum exploring culture, science and the environment.
The exhibit will take shape during a series of public workshops beginning Saturday. Elements will include two- and three-dimensional works of art, large site-specific installations, photos, videos and online content.
To prepare for the exhibit, the artists spent four months learning about Baltimore in collaboration with local scientists, researchers and community organizations. Their exhibit will also feature a survey of past Futurefarmers projects, including sculptural objects, portable experiment kits and Web-based works.
The collective was founded in 1995 and has a mission of promoting awareness and understanding of the environment using a variety of forums, including art installations, workshops, lectures and site-based research. It has been featured in more than 100 solo and group exhibitions in the United States and Europe.
Along with The Reverse Ark, the Contemporary Museum will present projects by two Baltimore artists: Soledad Salam? and Hugh Pocock. Salam? will unveil Where Do You Live?, a 16-foot-long, 8-foot-high map illustrating environmental influences on the Maryland coastline. It will be on view until May 10. Pocock intends to document the energy produced by the human body from food, using sculpture, installation and video.
For more information, call 410-783-5720 or go to www.contemporary.org.
Here are more spring art events:
Through May 17: : A Circus Family: Picasso to Leger, a survey of circus-themed art by European artists from the 1890s to 1950, including Pablo Picasso, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Fernand Leger, is at the Baltimore Museum of Art, 10 Art Museum Drive. $4-$8; free to museum members and children younger than 6. 443-573-1700 or artbma.org.
