Exhibitions
From the Ground Up: Nurturing Diversity in Hostile Environments
Five Shows Not To Miss During PST ART
— Frieze
What can seeds tell us about the future? Seeds and the plants that grow from them have provided us with food, clothing, shelter, and medicine for millennia. For just as long, humans have used sciences, technologies, myths, and art to peer into an imagined future. As we stare out toward our own future, one threatened by climate change and complicated by social unrest, the From the Ground Up: Nurturing Diversity in Hostile Environments exhibition looks to the seed—such as those seeds that lie at the bottom of the forest floor waiting for the cyclical fire season that promotes new growth and diversity to sprout—for inspiration and guidance on how to navigate current and coming hostile environments.
From the Ground Up presents works by 16 contemporary artists and artist teams who explore diverse technologies, histories of contested spaces, and traditional understandings of nature as they imagine alternative, sustainable futures. Organized for the Armory by curator Irene Georgia Tsatsos, the exhibition bridges familiar distinctions between art and science while exploring practices and traditions that predate contemporary understandings of those disciplines. In this exhibition, artworks, knowledge traditions, and histories converge in space and across time.
From the Ground Up is part of PST ART: Art & Science Collide. Southern California’s landmark arts event, PST ART, returns in September 2024 with more than 70 exhibitions from museums and other institutions across the region, all exploring the intersections of art and science, both past and present. Dozens of cultural, scientific, and community organizations will join the latest edition, PST ART: Art & Science Collide, with exhibitions on subjects ranging from ancient cosmologies to Indigenous sci-fi, and from environmental justice to artificial intelligence. Art & Science Collide will share groundbreaking research, create indelible experiences for the public, and generate new ways of understanding our complex world. PST ART is presented by Getty. For more information about PST ART: Art & Science Collide, please visit: pst.art.
Participating Artists
Charmaine Bee
Nikesha Breeze
Carl Cheng
Olivia Chumacero
Beatriz Cortez
Mercedes Dorame
Aroussiak Gabrielian
iris yirei hu
Lez Batz (Sandra de la Loza and Jess Gudiel)
Malaqatel ija, Semillas Viajeras, Seed Travels
Hillary Mushkin
Vick Quezada
Sarah Rosalena
Enid Baxter Ryce
Cielo Saucedo
Marcus Zúñiga
Exhibition Catalogue
Now available for purchase. Edited by exhibition curator Irene Georgia Tsatsos, this stunning companion publication brings together 16 contemporary artists and artist teams responding to the themes of intergenerational knowledge, connection to land, and imagined futures. Contributors include Olivia Chumacero, Sean C. Lahmeyer, Hillary Mushkin, Enid Baxter Ryce, David Delgado Shorter, PhD, and Irene Georgia Tsatsos.
Upcoming Public Programs
All programs take place at the Armory unless otherwise noted. All exhibition-related public programs are free and open to everyone.
Mutualista; towards a new cosmic methodology
Saturday, February 8, 2025
1:00 - 2:30 PM
Artist Marcus Zúñiga will moderate a panel discussion taking its cue from his mutualism imager project, part of the From the Ground Up exhibition. Zúñiga’s installation conflates references to sun and moon alignments and the symbiotic relationship between the yucca and moth, in order to model a possible form of healing where cosmic knowledge initiates the process.
Zúñiga will expand on these ideas in a discussion with curandera and author Erika Buenaflor, astrophysicist Jorge Moreno, and writer and scholar David Delgado Shorter. The discussion serves as an experiment to develop an interdisciplinary (art, science, healing, culture) approach for addressing the planet’s current existential condition in the cosmos. This event is free and open to everyone. RSVPs are appreciated.
Past Public Programs
Communal Amaranth Planting
Saturday, August 10, 2024
Armory Zine Fest!
Sunday, August 25, 2024
Public Opening Celebration
Sunday, September 8, 2024
Collective Visualization with Hillary Mushkin
Saturday, October 5, 2024
Amaranth Cooking Workshop
Saturday, October 5, 2024
See Art, Make Art: Exhibition Field Trips
Armory Teaching Artists will tour your K-12 students through From the Ground Up and learn about its concepts and themes through inquiry-based, interactive activities. Following the tour, Armory Teaching Artists will lead your students through an artmaking activity related to what they learned about the exhibition. Every student will make their own artwork to bring home
Guided Tours
If your community group or organization would like to schedule a guided tour of the exhibition, please contact Armory Visitor Services and Volunteer Manager Alheli Tostado at [email protected].
Media
Five Shows Not To Miss During PST ART
(Frieze)
With an Additional $12 M., Getty Foundation Announces Science-Focused 2024 PST Shows
(ART NEWS)
From the Ground Up: Nurturing Diversity in Hostile Environments is made possible with support from PST ART: Art & Science Collide, presented by Getty. Lead support for all Armory programs comes from the Perenchio Foundation. Major support for this exhibition is provided by the Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts and the Pasadena Community Foundation. Generous support is provided by Pasadena Art Alliance, with additional support provided by Betsy Greenberg and Steve NyBlom, and Jill Sumiyasu. This exhibition is also supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Sunday, Feb 23, 2025
Gallery Hours: Fridays 2-6 PM
Saturdays & Sundays 1-5 PM
Admission is always free.
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM