Event 1: What's Next? Eco Materialism & Contemporary Art

It was what felt like another typical Wednesday afternoon as I walked into the California Neuroscience Institute (CNSI) building at UCLA. I was to attend a workshop being hosted there in order to fulfill my first event requirement for my DESMA 9 class, and the arrangement was made last minute simply because I agreed to accompany my friend, who is also attending the class. To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect of it, and maybe subconsciously didn’t expect anything at all, but the couple hours I ended up spending in that room felt like entering another world; one that was both extremely familiar, but also very distant.

My friend Kenny and I. Lookin goooood.

The event was titled “What’s Next? Eco Materialism and Contemporary Art,” which was a workshop hosted by curator, educator, artist, and author, Linda Weintraub. Not being aware of the event title and topic until the moment I sat down, I was expecting to be presented with an idea that associated some scientific or mathematical development with the creation of art, but was surprised to hear quite the opposite. Linda began by talking about the impact technological development has had on our world, and transitioned into discussing how society has been developing this unbreakable dependency towards technology. From this point, she took a full 180 degree turn in the discussion, and inquired the attendees how much time of their life they spent on non-paved natural ground, unadulterated by man. With little confidence, the majority of the attendees initially replied with somewhere between ten to twenty percent of their time, when in actuality, most of us spend only one to five percent of our time doing so. While this seemed like a fairly simple question, it was heavily loaded by making us realize to just what extent the modern society we live in has dissociated us from the natural world around us, almost to the point of sensory deprivation. As a prime example, Linda told us a story of how there are children in urban communities that have never stepped foot on a beach before, and how being on the sand for the first time was an alien and disorienting experience for them.

Introduction lecture to the workshop by Linda Weintraub

Linda believes that the current vanguard is environmental consciousness, and explores this through the concept of “eco-materialism” and “neo-materialism.” In the room we were in, there were multiple stations set up where each had a unique set of natural objects that were meant to engage with us through one of our bodily senses. For example, one station explored taste and scent, where we were able to taste honey and smell various leaves, branches, and fungi. We were then asked to analyze the flavor and fragrance profiles of the various materials to the best of our abilities, and then discuss the emotions it instilled within us. Other stations explored the other senses, such as visual sense through size and geometry, and touch through mass and texture. To my astonishment, I often found myself lost for words to describe what exactly I was experiencing. I was only able to convey a fraction of the emotions and sensory input I was receiving. From this, I realized how little of the natural world’s material I truly knew about, and I had a lot to fill in my encyclopedia of the natural world.

Twigs and shrubs for feeling contrast in texture

Some kind of seed pod that had a really intricate, smokey, spicy aroma

At this moment, I relived a very familiar but long lost experience, where as a child I was blissfully fascinated at all the nuances of nature. I wanted to always explore more of the world, and I was feeling that now. Linda was right about how we have been desensitized form our original senses felt through nature, and the oversaturation of technology is a good contributor to the cause. This indication may prompt us as a civilization to return a little bit to our roots, understand it better, and better integrate it into our future innovations. By better understanding and associating ourselves with the natural materials provided by the earth, it leads to not only the sustainability of natural resources, but also to the preservation of our spiritual and sensory connection to the earth.