The Future Inside and Out: Cornell Biennial Blankets Campus This Fall

Felix Heisel and the Circular Construction Lab's Circulating Matters installation on the Arts Quad. Anson Wigner / AAP

Stroll along the Arts Quad this semester and you're likely to find yourself standing in front of an installation that asks you to consider both the social, environmental, and political challenges of the present moment and where the future may lead depending on the choices we make. This could be presented as six toilets set in a circular formation attempting to demystify perceptions about human waste or as a wooden structure that forms a staircase of sorts leading to questions about restorative and regenerative design.

Curated by Cornell Council for the Arts Director Timothy Murray, this year's Cornell Biennial, themed "Futurities, Uncertain," explores innovative ways to think about what's ahead through the work of 40 artists and collectives, including nine exhibits by AAP faculty, students, alumni, and invited guests. Though the biennial kicked off in April and extends through December, the majority of exhibitions will be on view this fall running on a staggered calendar. While some have closed or are nearing their end dates, many are currently on view and more will open as we head deeper into the semester.
 

Biennial invitational researchers Mendi Obadike and Professor of Art Keith Obadike's sound and light projection titled Harmonies + Difference Tones. Their contribution to the biennial also includes a large steel sculpture inside the Johnson Museum. Anson Wigner / AAP
 

Leslie Lok and team's UNFRAME questions current paradigms of timber framing by working with local forest resources devastated by the ongoing Emerald Ash Borer epidemic. Anson Wigner / AAP
 

On the quad, you can experience installations by invited guests, faculty, and students such as currently on-view projects by Architecture Assistant Professor Felix Heisel and his Circular Construction Lab's Circulating Matters and Architecture Assistant Professor Leslie Lok's towering Unframe. Matéa LeBeau (B.F.A. '22) and Bella Culotta's Waste Not: In Search of Adaptive Solutions to Sewage Treatment, Soil Health, and Food Production, installed between Sibley and Tjaden halls, ran through September 30. 
 

Paul Vanouse's America Project includes both an interactive performance and an exhibition in the Bibliowicz Family Gallery. Anson Wigner / AAP
 

A morning in 1953 (Messiaen Reversed, Birds Released), a collaborative project between Art Assistant Professor of the Practice Joanna Malinowska and C.T. Jasper, is on view in the John Hartell Gallery. Anson Wigner / AAP

Inside AAP spaces such as the Hartell Gallery, find a work in birdsong by Art Assistant Professor of the Practice Joanna Malinowska and C.T. Jasper or walk downstairs to the Bibliowicz Family Gallery to check out Paul Vanouse's DNA-fueled America Project. Afterward, wander over to the Johnson Museum to see (and hear!) a sculpture by Art Professor Keith Obadike and his collaborator Mendi Obadike as well as a video installation by Anthony Graves (M.F.A. '09) and the late Carla Herrera-Prats's Camel Collective.
 

Matéa LeBeau (B.F.A. '22) and Bella Culotta's Waste Not: In Search of Adaptive Solutions to Sewage Treatment, Soil Health, and Food Production installed in the Rock Garden by Olive Tjaden Hall. Anson Wigner / AAP
 

Giselle Hobbs (M.F.A. '23) exhibited her Anti Biome in the Olive Tjaden Experimental Gallery earlier this year. Anson Wigner / AAP
 

Keep an eye out for more work to come, including Jade Doskow's photography exhibit and Kellen Cooks's (B.S. URS '23) Dreaming-on-Hudson, both in the Hartell Gallery.

The full calendar of events — including related lectures, performances, and receptions — can be found on the Cornell Biennial website.

Calendar of AAP Biennial Events

• 8/28–9/2 Giselle Hobbs: Anti Biome
• 8/28–9/30 Matéa LeBeau + Isabella Culotta: Waste Not: In Search of Adaptive Solutions to Sewage Treatment, Soil Health, and Food Production
• 9/9–10/31 Felix Heisel + Circular Construction Lab: Circulating Matters
• 9/14–10/16 Camel Collective: Gated Commune
• 9/15–10/7 Joanna Malinowska + C.T. Jasper: A Morning in 1953 (Messiaen Reversed, Birds Released)
• 9/16–10/30 Mendi + Keith Obadike: Harmonies + Difference Tones
• 9/17–10/7 Paul Vanouse: America Project
• 9/30–10/31 Leslie Lok, Kurt Jordan, Matthew Reiter, and Sasa Zivkovic: UNFRAME
• 10/10–11/4 Jade Doskow: Freshkills Exhibition
• 11/7–11/18 Kellen Cooks: Dreaming-on-Hudson: The Politics and Power of Speculation in the Hudson Valley

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