Anne Duk Hee Jordan: I will always weather with you
An enveloping, multi-sensorial exhibition with a central cinematic element portraying the perseverance of life on Earth against the increasing challenges of climate change.
Curated by James Voorhies
The Bass Museum of Art
Miami Beach, FL
December 4, 2023 – June 23, 2024
Made possible with funding and staff from The Bass, with generous support provided by the Knight Foundation; realized within my responsibilities as Curator of The Bass
Anne Duk Hee Jordan (b. 1978, Republic of Korea; based in Berlin) creates enveloping environments, using video, installation, sound and kinetic objects, that draw visitors into a tactile conversation with natural phenomena, weather, technology and art. In her installations, Jordan uses humor and play to explore the ways nature and technology are portrayed in popular culture. Blending whimsy with the ominous, she juxtaposes romantic perceptions of electronic media with urgent reminders of the adverse effects technology can inflict on nature. This complex portrait of our ecosystem—melding the natural and the man-made—underscores technology’s encompassing hold on humanity, our connection to the planet and how we relate to one another.
I will always weather with you, Jordan’s first solo exhibition in the United States, is a multisensory scene that corresponds to the multidimensional characteristics of weather. Mirrored walls create a visually unstable mise en abyme, a technique suggesting infinite reflections. Three zones—or atmospheres—are analogous to the earthly experience of air, land and water. The work’s central, cinematic element features dramatic footage of weather, from the threat of gathering storm clouds to cyclones coursing across an open plain. Elsewhere in the gallery, kinetic sculptures sing, dance and disturb while oversized, cast-glass radicchio leaves on pedestals spin with abandon. Jordan’s Teapot, a character embodying the escalating intensity of a storm from gentle breeze to clattering tempest, and several robotic “weather critters” perform supporting roles.
The exhibition invites Miami Beach visitors to “step into” weather—a phenomenon never far from the thoughts of local residents and others for whom life-threatening storms now occur with increasing frequency. Nature’s epic entanglements are redolent in I will always weather with you, and a recurring theme in Jordan’s works and exhibitions. Amid this chaotic, colorful scene, there are also signals of our world’s tenacity, and the perseverance of all organisms to continue to exist—underscoring the interconnectedness of all living organisms and their shared resolve to move forward together through Earth’s radically changing climate.
Booklet
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