"Back to Earth" at the Serpentine Gallery · Art for a Sustainable Future
From 22 June to 18 September 2022, the Serpentine Gallery in London presents a multidisciplinary exhibition that seeks to provide answers to the climate crisis.
Source: Serpentine Gallery · Image: Installation view of The Family (A Zombie Movie) by Karrabing Film Collective, as part of POWER NIGHTS curated by Lucia Pietroiusti at E-WERK Luckenwalde, 2021 - 2022. Courtesy E-WERK Luckenwalde and Karrabing Film Collective. Image: Stefan Korte.
"Back to Earth" is a multidisciplinary exhibition that the Serpentine Gallery in London started two years ago with the aim of finding answers to the climate crisis. The exhibition runs from 22 June to 18 September at the Serpentine North, although works are also on display in Kensington Gardens and in The Magazine, the Serpentine Gallery's restaurant.
Among the various artistic interventions included in the programme, artist Tabita Rezaire/Amakaba and architect Yussef Agbo-Ola/Olaniyi Studio present an installation that "explores our relationship with medicinal plants", while design studio Formafantasma presents "a manifesto for exhibition-making that minimises carbon emissions, alongside many other artists’ designed posters". Carolina Caycedo presents "satellite images of waterways that have been shaped by human intervention across the Americas." In addition, a unique smell score by artist and researcher Sissel Tolaas is on display, while the Karrabing Film Collective presents "The Family and The Zombie", a film that explores the significance of connection to the land and in Indigenous communities.
Bettina Korek and Hans Ulrich Obrist said: "Now in its third year, the ‘Back to Earth’ initiative has been a remarkable testament to what a dynamic platform for interdisciplinary ideas and practices Serpentine is. This exhibition is a chance to share a selection of Back to Earth projects with audiences, under the common banner of a show, to think about the interplay among artists, thinkers, performers and curators, and to consider the importance of building new connections between art and society. There could not be a more universal subject matter than the Earth and the climate crisis we are facing as natural beings. We are galvanised by the calls for change and creative solutions that have come to life through Back to Earth and hope that they inspire more."

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