Since the 1980s, Chicago-based artist Dan Peterman has explored the intersection of art and ecology through a practice that is more in line with the poetic, than the didactic. Peterman is a socially motivated artist who has embraced a wide variety of formal and situational strategies to critically address the exhaustion of resources in our society. He uses a range of materials including recycled plastic and metals, as well as organic and post-consumer waste in his sculptures, installations, and public art projects. For his project at deCordova, Peterman will site his sculpture,
Love Podium in the Museum Entrance Plaza as a functional platform for spoken performances. As part of a slate of programming proposed by our museum audience, speakers will activate the
Love Podium by simultaneously reading texts that represent opposing views on a single topic. Installed just before the 2012 Presidential election, the podium presents and problematizes this divisive age of polarization, while also offering a platform for engaged citizenry.
PLATFORM is a series of solo exhibitions by early- and mid-career artists from both the New England and national arts communities. These shows focus on work that engages with deCordova's unique architectural spaces and social, geographical, and physical location. The PLATFORM series is intended as a support for creativity and expression of new ideas, and as a catalyst for dialogue about contemporary art.
The 2011-2012 PLATFORM series is generously funded by James and Audrey Foster.