Artist Mary Mattingly is deeply concerned with our relationships to objects—where they come from, where they go, their implications for humans, and their impact on the environment. Mattingly asks us to consider how consumerist societies enact histories of exploitation in the creation of objects by mapping complex supply chains from mineral mines to store shelves.

Returning to Michigan after a 2016 residency and exhibition at the U-M Institute for Humanities, during which she travelled to the Upper Peninsula’s cobalt mines, engaged U-M students (including UMMA’s Student Engagement Council) in tracing source materials, and surfaced stories to create a time capsule, Mattingly will share how Michigan continues to inform her work. Mattingly’s photograph, Life of Objects, is on view in UMMA’s presentation of the exhibition The World to Come: Art in the Age of the Anthropocene (April 27–July 28, 2019), which explores the impact of human activity on our planet through art. Join Mattingly, along with Jennifer M. Friess, UMMA Assistant Curator of Photography, and Amanda Krugliak, Arts Curator at the U-M Institute for the Humanities for a look in the gallery, followed by a discussion of the complex terrain Mattingly’s artistic practice explores.

Immediately following this UMMA program, Mattingly and the public will disassemble the project from 5–8 p.m. Stop by the Institute for the Humanities, 202 S. Thayer, to see the time capsule from Mattingly’s 2016 residency on your way to Top of the Park.

This program is part of a 3-day, June 27–30, residency with the Ann Arbor Summer Festival and UMMA during which Mattingly will lead a large-scale public art project, titled Objects in the Round, in the Annex tent at Top of the Park on Ingalls Mall. Come build a miniature landscape with Mattingly and other festival goers and explore your own relationship to objects, built landscapes, and habits of consumption.

Objects in the Round schedule Thursday, June 27 - Opening 7-10 p.m. Friday & Saturday, June 28 & 29 - Workshops and Construction 5-10 p.m. Sunday, June 30 - Deconstruction/Gathering 5-8 p.m.

Additional programs: Thursday, June 27, 5:30 p.m. Long Table Discussion: Art / Environment / Sustainability Annex tent at Top of the Park on Ingalls Mall at 915 E. Washington Street, Ann Arbor

Mary Mattingly’s residency is presented in partnership with the Ann Arbor Summer Festival’s Festival Footprint Initiative established with generous support from Toyota.

 


The World to Come: Art in the Age of the Anthropocene is organized by the Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida and curated by Kerry Oliver-Smith, Harn Museum of Art Curator of Contemporary Art. Support for the exhibition is provided by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, UF Office of the Provost, National Endowment for the Arts, C. Frederick and Aase B. Thompson Foundation, Ken and Laura Berns, Daniel and Kathleen Hayman, Ken and Linda  McGurn, Susan Milbrath, an anonymous foundation, UF Center for Humanities and the Public Sphere, UF Office of Research and Robert and Carolyn Thoburn, with additional support from a group of environmentally-minded supporters, the Robert C. and Nancy Magoon Contemporary Exhibition and Publication Endowment, Harn Program Endowment, and the Harn Annual Fund.

Lead support for the local presentation of this exhibition is provided by Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch, the University of Michigan Office of the Provost, Michigan Medicine, Tom Porter in honor of the Michigan Climate Action Network, the Herbert W. and Susan L. Johe Endowment, and the University of Michigan Penny W. Stamps School of Art and Design and School for Environment and Sustainability.