Sound the Alarm: Landscapes in Distress calls attention to the indelible impact of human activity on the environment from the Arctic to the Equator. The featured artists in this exhibition have traveled widely to examine the fragility of varied landscapes. Edward Burtynsky’s photographs of rock quarries in Vermont focus on the industrial transformation of the landscape. On the West Coast, Sasha Bezzubov has photographed the effects of California wildfires. Gilles Mingasson draws attention to residents of Shishmaref, possibly the first people displaced by global warming, while Joan Perlman’s paintings are derived from her observation of melting glaciers in Iceland. Wout Berger turns his attention to reclaimed areas in Ruigoord, a small village near Amsterdam. Susannah Sayler captures the beauty of Costa Rican Cloud Forests that are suffering from penetrating sunlight, and positive mitigation efforts underway in the Sahel region of Niger. Sergio Vega records the frequent burning of farmland in the Amazon, while closer to home Travis Roozée documents subterranean coal mine fires in Centralia, PA that have been burning since 1961. In the gallery’s resource area, visitors can learn more about the urgency of rapid environmental degradation and ways to make a difference.

View Resource Area Links

While this exhibit transports the viewer far a field, Wave Hill’s carefully maintained landscape has not escaped the effects of globalization and climate change. The trend toward hotter, dryer summers with erratic weather year-round, requires mitigation to maintain the correct level of moisture through irrigation, mulching and drainage. With globalization exotic pests and diseases have been introduced to the region such as Dutch elm disease, beech canker, sudden-oak death, Japanese beetles, Asian longhorn beetles, bronze birch borer, and European giant hornets. Invasive plants such as purple loosestrife, mugwort, Japanese knotweed, Rosa multiflora, Russian olive, and Asian bittersweet are now a huge problem in many ecosystems. Not all of these are currently on our grounds, but if not here already, they are not far. Self-guided maps are available at the desk that point out the species and areas affected by these pests and diseases.

—Jennifer McGregor, Leigh Ross, Makeda Hinds

Public Programs

Exhibition Tours: Thursdays at 12noon and Saturdays at 2:15pm. Group tours can be arranged on Wednesdays and Fridays by contacting 718.549.3200 x209.

April 5, 6, 11am–4pm: Sound the Alarm Film Screening. environmental feature and short films will be screened including Manufactured Landscapes, directed by Jennifer Baichwal, which documents Edward Burtynsky’s travels observing changes in landscapes due to industrial work and manufacturing; The Town that Was, Polarized, The Curse of Copper, The Fires of the Amazon, and others. Tickets: $7 Member/$10 General/Free for children under 12. For reservations call 718-549-3200 x305.

April 23, 11am: Gardening for the Future Walk. Director of Horticulture Scott Canning highlights the effects of climate change and globalization on Wave Hill’s living collection.

May 18, 2pm: City at Water’s Edge Garden Walk, join author and naturalist Betsy McCully for a slide illustrated talk and nature walk to explore geological, ecological and human forces that shape the this region.

June 1, 2pm: Curator Leigh Ross leads an exhibition tour with participating artists Sasha Bezzubov, Travis Roozée, Susannah Sayler and Edward Morris.

Support for the Visual Arts Program is provided by the Lily Auchincloss Foundation, the Milton & Sally Avery Arts Foundation, the Greenwall Foundation, Target, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts–a state agency. Sustaining support for Wave Hill is provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

The Arts at Wave Hill are sponsored by