The McColl Center for Art + Innovation will celebrate its 15th anniversary with the presentation of “Arctic Utopia,” a major exhibition of mixed media sculptures, videos and site-specific installations by Marek Ranis, UNC Charlotte assistant professor of art and 1999 McColl Center alumnus.
The exhibit opens with a reception from 6 to 9 p.m., Friday, Sept. 19, and it will be displayed through Saturday, Nov. 22.
Ranis will speak about the work on two occasions: at 6 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 18, as part of the center’s “McColl + Response” event and at 6:30 p.m., Sept. 19, during the opening reception.
In his work, Ranis investigates how climate change influences humanity, addressing the complex social and political consequences of this dynamic transformation.
“The phenomenon of global climate change fascinates me,” said the art professor. “Because of its acuteness and enormity of scale, we seem not to comprehend it and refuse to acknowledge it.”
“Arctic Utopia” will feature participatory installations resembling icebergs, which will be mounted within study tables. As Ranis returns to motifs associated with the Arctic region, he often uses money as a metaphor, and McColl Center visitors will be able to pull shredded currency from the sculpture’s surfaces to take away as a souvenir or to redistribute. The sculpture’s erosion over time at the hands of visitors becomes a commentary on consumers’ unwitting complicity with the commercial interests that deplete natural resources, while the environment and its inhabitants continue to be adversely impacted by rampant climate change.
“We are excited to present Marek Ranis’s new interactive, site-specific installation as the centerpiece of McColl Center for Art + Innovation’s 15th anniversary celebration,” said Brad Thomas, McColl Center’s director of residencies and exhibitions. “Marek was among the first of nine artists-in-residence here in 1999, and he continues to exemplify the center’s commitment to advancing artists and communities. In addition to featuring a regional alumnus of our program in this way, we are honored that Marek is an assistant professor of art in the College of Arts + Architecture, UNC Charlotte, a committed institutional partner of the center’s for many years.”