MIERLE LADERMAN UKELES:
"METHANOGENESIS"
The exhibition “Methanogenesis” (the natural process through which methane gas, an essential component of the global carbon cycle, is generated as a by-product of decomposition) is the most collaborative art project accomplished by the Mountain Lake Workshop to date. Microbiologist, Dr. James Ferry, and artist-in-residence of the New York Sanitation Department, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, consulted with the Mountain Lake Workshop over a period of two years to create a unique exhibition of abstract artworks focused on the invisible, life-sustaining processes of anaerobic (oxygen-free) bacteria. This multi-media exhibition attempts to unite the concepts and methods of past Mountain Lake Workshops with the “performance and installation” strategies associated with Ms. Ukeles' previous artwork.
The several events of a week-long workshop (June 5-11, 1994) involved approximately one hundred community participants in the creation of the various materials included in the exhibition.
*This exhibition was a featured presentation of the Blacksburg Summer Arts Festival 1994.
