Exhibition: Middle of Nowhere.
Curated by David Kessler and Kristen Neville Taylor
Whitesbog Historic Village, Browns Mills NJ.
Sept 28-Oct 31, 2019.
Set at Whitesbog, a 3000 acre historic Pine Barrens village, MIDDLE OF NOWHERE consists of gallery and site-specific contemporary artwork including sculpture, video and sound installation from 15 artists. The opening evening included live music and a preview edition screening of The Pine Barrens, a film by David Scott Kessler with a live score.
The Pine Barrens consists of 1.1 million acres of semi-wild land, defying politics, modernization, and probability to exist among the mass urbanization of America’s east coast. It’s sensitive and unique ecology and culture hangs in the balance and yet still manages to encompass almost a third of the nation’s most densely populated state. Among this delicate balance lies a struggle for personal and American identity, one that must coexist with nature and the identity of the Pine Barrens itself.
MIDDLE OF NOWHERE explores the personal and cultural relationship between human culture and identity to the remaining “islands” of wilderness in America; places most acutely connected to our own nature but among the most ignored, neglected and misunderstood. What roles do these places have in our modern lives and who do we become if we let them disappear?
