Art and Science combine to understand the environment Oct. 2- 4

Global interest in the intersections of nature and culture has broadened in recent years. In this expanding field, contemporary artists and designers have re-envisioned the concept of environment.

To better understand the ideas shaping this dialog, the Nevada Museum of Art will host creative practitioners whose works explore natural, built, and virtual environments.

Michael Heizer and the military chose Nevada for a reason. It's a paradoxical and unpredictable place. Wide open and the world's stage. A playground and a dumping ground. Nuclear. Entertainment. Water. Sprawl. Ranching. Beauty. Mining. Gaming. Land Art. Spectacle. Fantasy. Why hold The Conference in Nevada? Because unpredictability yields possibility.

With programming and permanent collections focused on art and the environment, and key partnerships with the environmental and science communities, the Nevada Museum of Art looks toward building an active network of people who are shaping the future of this field.

Welcome to The Art + Environment Conference at the Nevada Museum of Art. We're launching this new initiative with a conference in October, and we hope you will join us to talk about how and why art has become just as important as science in understanding the nature of environments.

Just as scientists in the 1960s began crossing disciplines to understand how environments work, so artists started to mix genres in order to model our relationship with them.

Sculptors stopped working with clay and steel in their studios and went directly to the earth. Architects became installation artists and digital cartographers. Painters and photographers became participant-observers in agriculture and industry.

We're bringing together artists, designers, writers, and scientists from around the country to discuss how they change-and are changed by-the natural, built, and virtual environments in which they work.

Advance Registration
March 1 to May 15
NMA Members - $270 // General - $300 // Students - $300

General Registration
May 16 to Sept. 26
NMA Members - $360 // General - $400 // Students - $300

Seating is available for 180 registrants with an additional 60 seats available in the simulcast area. Seats will be assigned in the order of registrations received until final capacity is met.

Excursion to the Nevada Desert
Saturday, October 4 // 3:30 to 7:30 pm //$50 per person

The NMA will host an afternoon excursion to Nevada's scenic desert. Enjoy the open spaces of northern Nevada, walk the same land as those from centuries prior, and listen to local lore. Cost: $50 per person including refreshments and transportation (bus departs the NMA at 3:30 pm and returns at 7:30 pm). Event fee must be prepaid with registration.

Presenters
Vito Acconci

Lita Albuquerque

Will Bruder
Will Bruder + Partners, Ltd.

Matt Coolidge
Center for Land Use Interpretation

Lynn F. Fenstermaker
Desert Research Institute

Chris Drury

Kianga K. Ford

For-Site Foundation

Bill Gilbert
Land Arts of the American West

Jeff Gordinier
Author of X Saves the World - How Generation X Got the Shaft but can Still Keep Everything from Sucking

Fritz Haeg

Katie Holten

Jason Houston
Orion Magazine

Michael Light

Geoff Manaugh
Bldgblog and
Dwell Magazine

W.J.T. Mitchell
University of Chicago

Crimson Rose
Burning Man

Jennifer Steinkamp

Ann M. Wolfe
Nevada Museum of Art