516 ARTS, an independent nonprofit art space located in downtown Albuquerque, is collaborating with the UNM College of Fine Arts and others to show off their new project called HABITAT: Exploring Climate Change Through the Arts.
Running until January, HABITAT is a season-long program displaying and explaining what climate change is, how it impacts the way humans live and how it will affect the Earth's future.
Each piece to the program highlights, in its own way, the way humans are aggravating climate change with their actions. It explains the facts and potential lifestyles caused by climate change, what life would be like if climate change causes resources to become scarce and/or how the artist or speaker is actively reducing their involvement in the world's climate change and introducing ways average people can be involved as well, according to 516arts.org.
HABITAT hosted a block party last weekend to introduce the program and get the community involved in reducing climate change's effect on the world.
The 516 ARTS open exhibit had all of the contributing artists’ works on display for the public to enjoy.
"The exhibit inside the 516 ARTS building didn't make sense to me at first. The art in front of me was odd and made me curious to learn the meaning behind each piece," said Rick Hidalgo, visitor to the block party and to Albuquerque. "After exploring the entire exhibit and understanding the intentions of each piece, I view climate change as different than when I walked in. It's a bigger problem than I initially thought."
One of the many attractions at the block party was an interactive performance piece by Miriam Simun, named Ghostfood. A participant would walk up to a food truck and choose a sampling of either peanut butter, chocolate milk or cod. The participant would receive only the fraction of the resource not affected by climate change's damages to plant life: For example, climate change could potentially cause the cocoa plant to go extinct, therefore the participant would only receive milk.
With the milk comes a wearable device for the participant's nose infused with the scent of the chocolate. The participant is instructed to drink the milk and inhale through their nose simultaneously. This is meant to create the illusion of flavor when the flavor is not actually in the food.
"I never thought about how much climate change affected me as an individual," said Vanessa Segura, one of the event's participants. "After finding out that chocolate could potentially become extinct, my eyes are wide open to how much climate change is affecting my everyday life."
Ghostfood is intended to introduce the problem between climate change and plant life, explaining that if climate change continues unimpeded, civilization will lose many unexpected resources, according to the events brochures and pamphlets.
HABITAT has everything from interactive festivals to personal sit-ins with the artists to films created to help the cause. This program encourages participants of all ages through youth workshops, workshops for schools as well as adult workshops through the season.
Upcoming events within the next week are "Chasing Ice," a film telling the story of Earth's climate change located outdoors on Civic Plaza, Friday, September 18th at 8:00 p.m. Also, the second annual ABQ CiQloVIA Festival, closing the streets for cars and opening it for bikes to improve air quality. The festival will be located on 4th Street SW on Sept. 20 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
For future events or questions involving HABITAT: Exploring Climate Change Through the Arts go to 516arts.org or call (505)242-1445 for more information.
Denicia Aragon is a freelance writer with the Daily Lobo. She can be contacted at news@dailylobo.com on twitter @dailylobo.
