Natural World Museum
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Natural World Museum (NWM) is a mobile and global cultural institution based in San Francisco that presents art as a catalyst to inspire and engage people in environmental awareness and action.
The Natural World Museum partners with the United Nations Environment Programme(UNEP) to present art exhibitions each year for World Environment Day as part of their Art for the Environment initiative. NWM designs curatorial programs that offer new and creative perspectives on specific environmental themes such as green cities, desertification, and global climate change. These exhibitions feature both emerging and established artists, and are hosted by international venues such as the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, Norway.
NWM is an important source of commissions of new environmental art. For the 2007 World Environment Day exhibit, Envisioning Change: Melting Ice / A Hot Topic, NWM commissioned Alfio Bonnano to create a site-specific outdoor nature installation entitled "Ark," depicting a boat balanced in the treetops. The piece symbolizes the effects of global warming.
In 2007, NWM published a book entitled Art in Action: Nature, Creativity, and Our Collective Future, with a forward by Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, and containing artworks by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Joseph Beuys, Ed Burtynsky, and Cai Guo-Qiang, among others.
As part of NWM's educational outreach programs, hundreds of children and youth from all over the world participate in the Planet Art program; the program's purpose is to instill environmental awareness in the future stewards of the earth. NWM also holds an ongoing lecture series and annual international symposium that bridge the worlds of art, science and the environment, featuring guest speakers such as Al Gore, Ernest Callenbach, Hunter Lovins, Joanna Macy, Daryl Hannah, and Wangari Maathai, Nobel Laureate 2004.
[edit] References
- Natural World Museum (2007). Art in Action: Nature, Creativity, and Our Collective Future. San Rafael: Earth Aware Editions, ISBN 1932771778.
