Co-curator Wendy Peart speaks with exhibiting artist Nicole Clouston on her work with mud, lake, and microbes. Wascana Lake Portrait and Mud were included in the exhibition The Experiment, a group exhibition featuring artists who work with science of the natural world.
The Experiment was curated by Jennifer Matotek & Wendy Peart and ran from May 17 to June 29, 2019 in Central Gallery. The exhibition also featured artwork by Radha Chaddah, Nicole Clouston, Heather Komus, and Xiaojing Yan. Using strategies aligned with scientific, geographic, and other methodologies, the group exhibition The Experiment brought together artists who work in collaboration with nature and rely on natural processes to make their work. The selected artists generated conditions where at various points during their work’s creation, the pieces begin to develop according to the laws of nature without artist intervention or alteration. The exhibition brings up questions around where the artifice of the artist’s hand ends and the natural world begins, tying to conversations around nature and the environment as well as debates around labour. The Experiment reminds viewers of the existence of entities that are larger and more powerful then human forces, encouraging closer looks at the natural world.