Item
Organization

Center for Creative Ecologies

A darkened gallery holds a forest. Two wide screens glow green with the Ecuadorian Amazon, where a man in red speaks among the trees; viewers sit on low cushions in the dark while others lean over a long lit table of documents.
A rough stone crusted in orange and mustard crystals floats in black, star-flecked space, glowing as if it carried its own heat. Text above on yellow: “Nuclear Nows. Contemporary Art, Radiation, and Militarized Ecologies. Featuring: Karen Barad, Zoe Weldon-Yochim, Jessica Hurley, Will Wilson, Melanie K. Yazzie, Susan Schuppli.” Text below: “Nuclear Nows joins interdisciplinary researchers and artists focused on radiation and militarized ecologies in relation to art, visual culture, and socio-environmental troubles, to discuss the enduring presence of atomic violence from perspectives of and beyond the arts. Organized by the Center for Creative Ecologies at UC Santa Cruz. Panel One Tuesday, March 5, 2–4 P.M. PST. Panel Two Tuesday, March 12, 12–2 P.M. PST. Virtual event via Zoom. Free and open to the public.”
Red and white letters drift over a nebula of blue, violet, and rose stars. Text: “Indexical presents, in collaboration with the Center for Creative Ecologies & the Institute for Arts & Sciences. Beyond the End of the World. Moor Mother + Rasheedah Phillips. Black Quantum Futurism. Friday, November 13, 2020 @ 4PM. Free & open to the public. Live stream available at twitch.tv/anindexofmusic.”
Name
Center for Creative Ecologies
Description
A research center in the Department of History of Art and Visual Culture at UC Santa Cruz that considers the intersection of culture and environment. Founded and directed by art historian T. J. Demos, it studies how artists, filmmakers, photojournalists, architects, writers, and activists critically address and creatively negotiate climate change, extraction, habitat destruction, and environmental injustice. Drawing on visual culture, political ecology, Earth jurisprudence, Indigenous cosmopolitics, and climate justice activism, the center supports the department's PhD program in Visual Culture and hosts symposia, exhibitions, a reading group, an online journal, and public conversations. Its programs include the Mellon-funded Sawyer Seminar Beyond the End of the World (2019–21), the exhibition Forest Law by Ursula Biemann and Paulo Tavares at the Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery (2018), and the online seminar Nuclear Nows: Contemporary Art, Radiation, and Militarized Ecologies (2024).
Type
en Research Center
Founded
2015
Founder
T. J. Demos
Contributors
Martabel Wasserman, Donna J. Haraway, Laurie Palmer, Elizabeth Stephens, Flora Lu, Kyle Parry, Rick Flores, Jennifer A. González, Miriam Greenberg, Derek Conrad Murray, Soraya Murray, Rachel Nelson, Chessa Adsit-Morris, LuLing Osofsky, Albert Narath, Jordan Reznick, Matthew Harrison Tedford, Andrew Szasz, John Weber
Affiliation
UC Santa Cruz
Department of History of Art and Visual Culture, UC Santa Cruz
Climate & Ecology Themes
Climate Justice
Environmental Justice
Extraction and Mining
Indigenous Knowledge and Sovereignty
Concepts
Colonialism and Decolonization
Speculative Futures and Imagination
Methods & Approaches
Public Programming
Education and Pedagogy
Discipline / Field
Humanities
Arts & Design
Interdisciplinary
Audience / Engagement
Academic / Research
Public / General Audience
Online / Digital
Geographic Scope
International / Global
Location
Santa Cruz, California
Website
creativeecologies.ucsc.edu
Rights
Rights held by artist or creator
Current Status
Active
Item sets
California Art & Climate Archive
UC Santa Cruz
Media
A darkened gallery holds a forest. Two wide screens glow green with the Ecuadorian Amazon, where a man in red speaks among the trees; viewers sit on low cushions in the dark while others lean over a long lit table of documents.Center for Creative Ecologies 1
A rough stone crusted in orange and mustard crystals floats in black, star-flecked space, glowing as if it carried its own heat. Text above on yellow: “Nuclear Nows. Contemporary Art, Radiation, and Militarized Ecologies. Featuring: Karen Barad, Zoe Weldon-Yochim, Jessica Hurley, Will Wilson, Melanie K. Yazzie, Susan Schuppli.” Text below: “Nuclear Nows joins interdisciplinary researchers and artists focused on radiation and militarized ecologies in relation to art, visual culture, and socio-environmental troubles, to discuss the enduring presence of atomic violence from perspectives of and beyond the arts. Organized by the Center for Creative Ecologies at UC Santa Cruz. Panel One Tuesday, March 5, 2–4 P.M. PST. Panel Two Tuesday, March 12, 12–2 P.M. PST. Virtual event via Zoom. Free and open to the public.”Center for Creative Ecologies 2
Red and white letters drift over a nebula of blue, violet, and rose stars. Text: “Indexical presents, in collaboration with the Center for Creative Ecologies & the Institute for Arts & Sciences. Beyond the End of the World. Moor Mother + Rasheedah Phillips. Black Quantum Futurism. Friday, November 13, 2020 @ 4PM. Free & open to the public. Live stream available at twitch.tv/anindexofmusic.”Center for Creative Ecologies 3