The UCEN Gallery on the campus of the University of Michigan-Flint is proud to present new work by the eco-arts collective Transnational Temps.  Visitors to Aeronode: Climate Change Signs in the Cloud are asked to “air their thoughts on climate change and other similarly persistent environmental crises.”  For Transnational Temps this exhibition is the third in a series of participative works that solicit oral or written comment on climate change (Terranode, 2004-2005; Aquanode, 2006). In each, participants are asked to contribute their thoughts about climate change and related environmental problems.  Aeronode provides visitors with paper, and quill pens suspended in the air with balloons, as well as hammers and nails to affix the statements to the ‘clouds’ painted on the walls of the gallery.  Projected on the back wall of the space are stylized clouds in motion, from the aeronode.org website, through which people can participate via a web browser.  By inviting experts and non-experts alike to gather their thoughts and contribute them to Aeronode, Transnational Temps aims to broaden public conversation about important environmental issues.

ABOUT TRANSNATIONAL TEMPS

Transnational Temps is an arts collective concerned primarily with environmental sustainability. Using electronic media, aesthetic contexts, and events in the public sphere, Transnational Temps seeks public participation in addressing environmental issues. Its slogan is Earth Art for the 21st Century.TM  Formed in 2001 by Fred Adam, Veronica Perales, and UM – Flint faculty member Andy Deck, the Transnational Temps collective has led a resurgence of Earth Art, insisting on the thematic importance of the environment in contemporary art.  For over two decades the collective has exhibited internationally, and has also engaged the public through workshops and youth-oriented events. Since its inception, Transnational Temps has welcomed contributions from ‘temp workers’ on five continents.The collective has variable composition from event to event, with participation from a variety of individuals, including UM – Flint’s Christian Gerstheimer, who has joined the collective for this exhibition.