Environmental Melancholia: A term coined by Psychosocial Researcher, Renee Lertzman, who is the author of Environmental Melancholia: Psychological Dimensions of Engagement. It is an arrested state of mourning related to overlapping events of environmental destruction. Put simply, it happens when “deaths” around the world or locally are not properly mourned. It also happens when time is not given to properly mourn the losses, or when the losses are abstract due to overlap or sheer enormity (example: the melting of glaciers, the collapse of bee colonies world-wide, or the massive deforestation of the amazon). Some artworks in this exhibition will directly or indirectly address melancholia and/or mourning.
Collective Social Mania: A term coined by Regan Rosburg to describe the collective experience of being manic, or in a state of mania. She feels that manic defense mechanisms manifest in society in two ways: mind-numbing, distracting behaviors (watching TV, drinking/drugs, staring at handheld devices, social media, packed work schedules) and as a rationalized, normalized allegiance to materialism and shopping. Some artworks in the exhibition address various aspects of mania that leads to disconnection.
Biophilia: A term coined by Edward Owen Wilson, who argued that because we co-evolved on this planet with all other living organisms, our affinity for other life is actually rooted in our DNA. He argues that our lives continuing to be unnatural is an unhealthy, biologically unbalanced way of being. Some artworks in the exhibition explore on science, wonder, and beauty. Some of our artists have even incorporated living plants and animals into their works.
Axis Mundi 