Undercurrents: Experimental Ecosystems in Recent Art (Whitney Museum of American Art)

This timely and thought-provoking book features the works of thirteen contemporary artists who explore the concept of ethical cohabitation—negotiating differences within a shared environment—and the effects of ecological transformations on individuals, politics, and economics. In discerning essays, the authors discuss "junkspace" (structural design and the debris of the current over-development of built environments) and its role in the New York City landscape; how visual perspective enhances social relationships created within the environment of Manhattan's High Line Park; artists in the Internet age and the evolution of aural art, and how these modes of expression affect an individual's perception of time and space; and the tradition of artistic depictions of tragedy and devastation.… (more)