Climate and Culture Symposium

Explore how contemporary art engages with ecological transformation during this afternoon of presentations and dialogue at ICA Miami’s Knight Foundation Art + Research Center. Taking place Thursday, August 14 at the ICA Miami Expansion, the Climate and Culture Symposium features talks by art historian Joshua Shannon and geographer Stephanie Wakefield, followed by a conversation moderated by Associate Curator Donna Honarpisheh.

Shannon’s presentation, Trees and Fungus, or Living Relationally: The Art of Wangechi Mutu, examines the role of nonhuman forms in contemporary art, with a focus on Mutu’s hybrid sculptures and collages that challenge binaries of race, gender and species. Wakefield’s lecture, Art Against Man: A Postmortem on Climate Art and Design, reflects on the evolving role of environmental art, tracing its ideological roots and proposing new models for the intersection of art, design, nature and technology in an era shaped by AI, planetary urbanism and shifting cultural paradigms.

This free symposium invites artists, scholars and the public to reflect on the cultural narratives surrounding climate change and the shifting responsibilities of contemporary art within them.