Local Ecologies is an inter-campus initiative focused on place-based practice shared between three UMass campuses. The interrelated programming, which will include public talks, course offerings, and new project development, emphasizes contemporary artistic perspectives on ecological sites, from the postindustrial Merrimack River and New Bedford regions to the evolving urban ecologies of Boston and environs. These will be featured in a touring exhibition to be presented in Boston, Lowell, and New Bedford Massachusetts throughout fall 2019 and spring 2020.

The goals of this inter-campus collaboration between UMass Boston (Sam Toabe, Gallery Director), UMass Dartmouth (Rebecca Uchill, Art Education, Art History, and Media Studies), and UMass Lowell (Kirsten Swenson, Art History) is to spark transdisciplinary and cross-institutional exchange that centers on artists’ engagement with environmental, ecological, and land use issues. The ecologies of Eastern Massachusetts will come into focus through the lens of artistic projects on each campus, as well as related courses (“Art + Environment” at UMass Lowell; “Processing Place” at UMass Dartmouth). Confirmed participants include Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, Duy Hoàng, Sarah Kanouse+Nick Brown, Jane Marsching, Matthew Mazzotta, and Andrew Yang, with others to be announced.

Andrew Yang, “Two Vehicles,” detail from Flying Gardens of Maybe, 2012-2014. Photograph by the artist.