Image Above: Birds Watching [printed reflective film mounted on aluminum with steel frame, 9 x 40 x 1 ft] at Storm King Art Center as part of Indicators: Artists on Climate Change.
JENNY KENDLER (b.1980, New York City) is an interdisciplinary ecological artist, environmental activist, naturalist & wild forager whose work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at museums, biennials, public spaces & natural areas. She is currently the first Artist-in-Residence with Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Her practice seeks to complicate the space between nature and culture, in order to re-enchant human beings' relationship with the natural world. She asks us to reexamine the idea of nature as something outside ourselves, making space to welcome the radical, transformative otherness of life on our bio-diverse Earth. Kendler helps run artist residency ACRE and art/research/activism initiative Deep Time Chicago—which is creating a project for the HKW in Berlin in 2019. Alongside an interdisciplinary team, she was recently awarded a major grant for her community-engagement project Garden for a Changing Climate, and is working on a project on climate change for Storm King which opens in May of 2018. She lives in Chicago and various forests. Read more...
CURRENT & UPCOMING
May 19th–Nov 2018 • Sculptural Projects
Indicators: Artists on Climate Change • Storm King Art Center • Mountainville, NY
• 'Indicators' featured in the New York Times
• 'Birds Watching' in the New Yorker
• 'Ghosts of our Future Climate' review in Hyperallergic
• 'Day of the Bird' at Storm King was on August 12th featuring live falcon drawing with Jenny Kendler & George Boorujy, a musical performance of songbirdsong by John Luther Adams, and a reading by conservationist J. Drew Lanham.
Sept 2018 • Public Project
Arts Club of Chicago • The Playhead of Dawn • Collaborative sound project with Brian Kirkbride for the Arts Club garden • Chicago
• Oct 5th at 6pm • Public talk and experimental music performance by Brian Kirkbride
Sept 22–Nov 4 • Group Show
LVL3 • Local Comfort • Chicago
• Public opening Sept 22nd
Sept 26 • Panel Discussion with Nick Cave and Carlos Rolón • Joyce Foundation • Chicago • (Invitation needed due to limited space)
Additional Upcoming
• Ongoing projects with Deep Time Chicago for the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin (2017–2020)
• 1000 Flags / 1000 Waters, an activist project against pipeline development, created alongside Virginia water protectors & directed locally by Mara Robbins (2018–Until We Win!)
• Bewilder (Deimatic Eyespot Camouflage) will be at the Washington Pavilion in South Dakota (June–Sept 2018)
• Birds Watching will travel from Storm King to the 606 (Dec 2018)
• Project at the Los Angeles Arboretum (Mar 2019)
• Project on rising sea levels with Brian Kirkbride at Unscripted: Bal Harbor, Miami, curated by Shannon Stratton and Claire Breukel (Oct 2019)
Recent & Upcoming Published Books
• Artwork for Loanwords to Live With: An Ecotopian Lexicon edited by Matthew Schneider-Mayerson • University of Minnesota Press
• Essay for Why Look at Plants? edited by Giovanni Aloi • Brill Publishers
• Artwork included in Sustainable Solutions by Richard Niesenbaum • Oxford University Press
• Essay for Botanical Speculations edited by Giovanni Aloi • Cambridge Scholars
• Artwork included in Going Wild: Helping Nature Thrive in Cities by Michelle • Orca Footprints
• Artwork included in Poor & Needy: An Exhibition on Art, Migration and Debt edited by Lise Haller Baggesen + Yvette Brackmann • The Poor Farm + The Krabbesholme, Denmark
SELECTED MEDIA FEATURES
+ NPR : Live radio interview on WBEZ's Worldview
+ Mashable's front-page Earth Day story : How one activist combines impactful art and advocacy to save the Earth
+ Chicago Tribune : Fall Arts Preview by Lori Waxman
+ Inside/Within : Interview: Jenny Kendler's Sensuous Rewilding
+ Chicago Reader : Feature Story & Video Interview
+ KPLR11 : Live TV interview for MDSTL/Pulitzer
SELECTED PAST EXHIBITIONS & NEWS
Apr 22nd–Aug 2018 • Community Co-created Project
Garden for a Changing Climate • Andrew W. Mellon Foundation/HWW grant-funded community co-created project with collaborators Lorelei Stewart and Gallery 400 at UIC, the American Indian Center, Sweet Water Foundation, Latinos Prograsando, 360 Nation and many more • Chicago
Feb 24th–Apr 6th, 2018• Group Exhibition
Dymaxion Trajectories • Soccer Club Club • Curated by Jeremy Bolen & Andrew Rafacz • Chicago
2015–2018 • Community Project & Art Book
GREEN ZONES • Community co-created artist book published with Candor Arts to raise awareness and funds for a threatened tropical dry forest • Supported by a grant from the Pacific Foundation • Nosara, Costa Rica
Jan 13–Feb 25, 2018• Group Exhibition
Living Proof: flora, fauna & fossil fuels • Space 151 • Curated by Shirley Watts • San Francisco
Dec 2016–Jan 2018 • Public Project
Sculpture--->Garden • Biodegradable sculptures installed near Lake Michigan throughout the year on each solstice and equinox • Chicago Parks District • Chicago
Oct 2017 • Group Exhibition & Publication
Project for TK • The Great Poor Farm Experiment VIII: Poor & Needy • Curated by Lise Haller Baggesen Ross & Yvette Brackman • Krabbesholm Højskole • Denmark
Opened Oct 1st 2017 • Permanent Project • Biennial
A Crooked Stile • 3rd Terrain Biennial • Curated by Richard Medina • Chicago + the Arizona desert
Oct 7–Dec 10 2017 • Solo Exhibition
Rewilding • Ledge Gallery • Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University • East Lansing, MI
Sept 2017–Mar 2018 • Group Exhibition • Biennial
Infinite Games 50/50 • Part of the Chicago Architecture Biennial • Open House Contemporary • Organized by John Preus & Rhona Hoffman Gallery • Chicago
Sept 29 2017 • Speaker at Symposium
Botanical Speculations • School of the Art Institute of Chicago
• Watch video of Botanical Speculations
Sept 2017 • Visiting Artist & Special Project
Artist talk, workshop & permanently installed project in the College of DuPage's restored 18 acre prairie • Underground Library • DuPage, IL
• Watch artist talk
• Watch short video on Underground Library
Sept 1–Nov 15 2017 • Group Exhibition
The Unreliable Narrator with Mark Dion, Deb Sokolow & Holly Andres • Sun Valley Center for the Arts • Ketchum, ID
Aug 2017 • Visiting Artist Collective
Deep Time Chicago at ACRE • Wisconsin
June 17–July 16 2017 • Group Exhibition
Marginal Green • Goldfinch Gallery • Curated by Elizabeth Lalley • Chicago
April 2017 • Interactive Project
Bewilder (Deimatic Eyespot Camouflage) • California Academy of Sciences • San Francisco
Nov 2016
Music for Elephants • Special Project for MCA Chicago • Curated by Ann Meisinger • Chicago
•Read more about the project in NRDC's onEarth Magazine.
•Music for Elephants covered in Chicago Magazine
July 24 – Jan 8, 2016 • Public Sound Installation
A Confounding Mimicry • Collaboration with husband Brian Kirkbride • in partnership with Experimental Sound Studio for their Florasonic series • Lincoln Park Conservatory • Chicago
Sept 2016 • Speaking Engagement
Artist Talk & Workshop • Wexner Center for the Arts • Columbus, OH
May 31, 2016 • Interactive Projects
Peoples' Porphyry seed bomb workshop & Herd Not Seen project • MCA Studio at the Museum of Contemporary Art • Chicago
Dec 12, 2015 – Feb 21, 2016 • Biennial
Elmhurst Art Museum Biennial: Chicago Statements • Chicago
Aug 2015 • Public Art Commission
Field of Vision : A Garden for Others • Louisville Commission on Public Art • Louisville, KY
[Field of Vision was a finalist in SxSW Eco's 'Place by Design' (watch video here) and was featured on the front page of Louisville's newspaper, The Courier-Journal]
Aug–Nov 2015 • Interactive Public Project
ReWilding New York : Community Seed Stations • The Albright-Knox Art Gallery • Commissioned by Curator of Public Art, Aaron Ott • Buffalo, NY
[ReWilding was covered in The Buffalo News and featured on the cover of The Public]
July 7, 2015 • Interactive Public Pop-up
Tell it to the Birds inhabited the Mylayne Pavilion in Millennium Park's Lurie Garden, organized by The Art Institute of Chicago & The Arts Club of Chicago
May 2015 • Cover Image
Species Traitor I featured on the cover of Poetry Magazine
April 3, 2014 • Closing Lecturer
Shapiro Research Symposium • SAIC
Jan 29 – Apr 27, 2015 • Group Show
Rooted in Soil • Curated by Laura & Farrah Fatemi • DePaul Art Museum • Chicago
Lori Waxman's review for the Chicago Tribune
Dec 12 – Feb 12, 2014 • Group Exhibit
Rooting (India): The Knowledge Project • Curated by Tricia Van Eck, Deborah Boardman & Akshay Rathore • Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India
Nov – Dec 2014 • Interactive Public Mural
A Place of Light and Wind (For Lost Prairies) • The Violet Hour • Chicago
Sept 18–21, 2014 • Solo Project • Interactive Installation
Tell it to the Birds • NRDC Project Space • EXPO Chicago
Jul 30 – Aug 1, 2014 • Public Project
Milkweed Dispersal Balloons • Marfa Dialogues / St. Louis • Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts • St. Louis, MO
Jan 16 – Feb 8, 2014 • Group Show
Projections Animalières • La Box Gallery at les Écoles Nationale Supérieures D’art • Bourges, France
Jan 2013 • Cover Image Camouflage I (Disguise for an Endangered Bird) was on the cover of nearly 100,000 Chicago Readers
Dec 2012 • Solo exhibition
The Hall of Disappearing named one of Chicago's two best shows of 2012 by Artslant and one of Chicago's five best shows of 2012 by Hyperallergic.
View full artist CV here