Justin Brice Guariglia
Responsibility
Statement
Displacement
MAAM
Boston, MA
June 27 – December 8, 2024
Emergent signs of human civilization date back to 9,500 BCE, and for subsequent millennia, societies largely lived in balance with the world in which they inhabited. Average atmospheric temperatures were stable, and flora and fauna could remain in the same places decade after decade. Our ancestors shaped the earth through hunting and farming, and the natural world was robust and pliant.
The Industrial Revolution marked a seismic change in the relationship between natural and built environments. The rapid expansion of factories and concentrated urbanization was made possible by harnessing the power of natural materials, including buried metals and carbon-rich deposits of coal, oil, and methane. The environmental consequences have been cataclysmic and are apparent through the changes in average atmospheric temperatures and increasingly dramatic weather conditions. Civilizations that once existed in harmony with their environments now seem to ceaselessly antagonize the natural world. In response, it has become clear that after centuries of destruction and defeat, natural environments are pushing back. The artists exhibited in Displacement focus our attention on the causes and implications of climate change and global warming.
Justin Brice seeks to help modern civilizations reconnect with the natural world. Utilizing roadside construction signs that normally say DETOUR or give other instructions for safe driving, Brice has programmed aphorisms that call our attention to the current climate crisis. For Displacement, Brice’s roadside signs will be installed in the Fenway, reminding passersby of the omnipresent and expanding human footprint. Visitors to MAAM will receive a miniature sign, a WE ARE THE ASTEROID pin, which serves as a reminder of the impact we have on Earth.
In investigating the historic and current relationship between civilizations and their environments, a range of issues are called into the frame, including migration, adaptation, and extinction. The visual languages of the artists in Displacement offer a lens through which the arc of human-environmental dynamics can be assessed and reconsidered.