Best Sustainable Art Exhibitions in America

WHY ARE SUSTAINABLE ART EXHIBITIONS IMPORTANT?

Sustainable art exhibitions are becoming increasingly popular. Artists are essential in widening our understanding of climate change by presenting us with the harsh reality of the future. Art and design offers creative solutions to the never-ending problems our world faces as a result of climate change. If you want to take a look into the future and explore the effects of climate change, doing so through artistic interpretation can be an interesting way to educate yourself on the climate crisis.

See our list of the best sustainability concerned exhibitions in the USA.

BEST SUSTAINABLE ART EXHIBITIONS IN NEW YORK

RISING TIDE
The Museum of the City of New York
Until May 2022

Dutch documentary photographer Kadir van Lohuizen, uses video, sound, and photography to simulate what the world will look like suffering the consequences of climate change. His work focuses on the rising sea levels in Greenland, Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea, Kiribati, Fiji, Amsterdam, Panama, Miami, and neighborhoods close by the museum in New York City. 

The Rising Tide exhibition also marks the U.S. launch of van Lohuizen's new book, After Us The Deluge: The Human Consequences of Rising Sea Levels.

TIME SHRINE SERIES
One Planet One Future 
Ongoing

This series is made up of different 4 sections: water, culture, environments, and species. It draws light to the fact we are running out of time on this earth, honoring the things that make our earth beautiful before they have vanished. The project takes inspiration from 16th and 17th century Vanitas Art. The collection features the skull as a mystical object to remind us that we are living beings with decisions to make that will affect this earth. The artist has curated various ‘shrines’ in significant locations to celebrate how culture, water, environments and species add beauty to our world.

This exhibition aims to take the viewer on an introspective journey of self reflection. Questioning our relationship with the earth, where we come from, and what we want for the future.

PAINTING 
One Planet One Future 
Ongoing 

The gallery also shows a collection of multimedia paintings in which the artist has spray painted meaningful words and warnings over some pieces from the Time Shrine series. Each word chosen carries weight and aims to send a direct message relaying the urgency of the climate crisis. The inability to misinterpret the meaning of this series of paintings mirrors the importance that we fully understand the gravity of the climate crisis.

CLIMATE IN CRISIS: ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE IN THE INDIGENOUS AMERICANS 
Brooklyn Museum
Until July 2022

Climate change has a large impact on indigenous people who heavily rely on their natural environment for survival. With more than sixty works spanning 2,800 years and cultures across North, Central, and South America, this installation explores how Indigenous ways of living have been altered by the persistent threat of climate destruction. 

The exhibition aims to shine light on the way indigenous people understand the world and how their livelihood is at risk due to glacial melting, droughts, wildfires, and the western overexploitation of resources. Indigenous struggle is rooted in a history of European colonialism, unpacked in this thought provoking installation.

BEST SUSTAINABLE EXHIBITIONS IN ALASKA

LIFE IN THE WOODS
Anchorage Museum
Ends September 2022

In Alaska, the Anchorage Museum celebrates the beautiful nature and countryside of the area, prompting visitors to consider the importance of the natural world and do what they can to protect it. They have several ongoing exhibitions focused on eco-friendly and natural ways of living in Alaska, educating and inspiring visitors. 

They are currently showing an exhibition called ‘BOREALIS: Life in the Woods’. It shows the journey that Toirkens and Brandt Corstius made through Borealis in eight chapters, each telling the untold tales of the forests and those who live and work there. As climate change becomes increasingly prominent, their stories are more important than ever before. The impact of climate change can be charted throughout the exhibition, making it a must see. 

LIES LIES LIES
Anchorage Museum
Ends September 2022

The Lies Lies Lies exhibition highlights the abundance of lies we are exposed to on social media and news outlets. Made up of 12 TV screens and sound overlays, visitors will be overwhelmed with the media they are in contact with, simulating how we are bombarded with false truths everyday on our phones and other electronic devices. It prompts us to consider the false narrative of climate change given in some countries. As well as this, it reminds us to fact check and challenge what some politicians say about the environment - they cannot always be trusted.

Seeing an art exhibition is a great way to stimulate creative ways to combat the climate crisis, as well as experiencing the adverse effects of climate change. Sustainable exhibitions are a look into our future that takes account of our past. Go and see a sustainable exhibition near you and educate yourself on the issues our world is facing.