The Weather Diaries: The Live Performance

Stories are at the heart of every culture. They enshroud our memories of the past and become our crystal ball predicting the future. Brought to life through spoken word, image, craft and sonic landscapes, artist Judy Natal joins SLOW, the sonic laboratory of musician and sound artist David Zerlin as collaborator to perform live, for the very first time, a selection of stories from The Weather Diaries, which is a part of the current exhibition[un]Certain Futures, currently on view at newARTSpace.

Repeatedly traversing the island landscapes of Hawai’i, the Faroe Islands, and Iceland, Judy Natal probes the emotional, moral, ethical, spiritual, and intellectual implications of climate action and inaction utilizing the imaginative power of written and spoken word, craft, sonic landscapes and the descriptive immediacy of images.

Judy Natal is a Chicago-based, hybrid photographic artist, curator, writer, and Professor Emeritus in the Photography Department at Columbia College Chicago.  An archive of her environmentally focused work was established at The Center for Art + Environment at the Nevada Museum of Art in 2012. Her videos and photographs have been exhibited nationally and internationally including the São Paulo Biennial in Brazil and FotoFest Biennial “Changing Circumstances: Looking at the Future of the Planet” in Houston, TX. Her work is included in the permanent collections of the California Museum of Photography, Center for Creative Photography, International Museum George Eastman House, Museum of Contemporary Photography and Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, among others. She has received numerous commissions most recently collaborating with Houston FotoFest and the Center for Energy and Environmental Research in the Human Sciences (CENHS) at Rice University, among others. Awards and fellowships include Fulbright Travel Grant, Polaroid Grants, New York & Illinois Photography Fellowships and significant artist residencies in Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Biosphere 2, and the Robotics Institute, and Santa Fe Art Institute.

SLOW is the sonic laboratory of musician and sound artist David Zerlin. While playing in alternative rock bands in the late 80's, Zerlin also composed music for Chicago's theater scene. Recognizing the creative potential of sound in dramatic performances, he started applying compositional techniques and theatrical audio, eventually earning two prestigious “Jeff” awards. He went on to formally study the interaction of sound with other time-based media, including creations and collaborations in film, video, performance, and installations. He taught sound design at the University of Arizona, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Applying compositional strategies to sound, and infusing sonic, traditionally non-musical elements to his creations, Zerlin attempts to break down the distinction between sound and music.

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Marion Belanger