Gabriel Rico Presents "The Discipline of the Cave" @ The Aspen Art Museum In Colorado

Combining aesthetic traditions associated with the Arte Povera movement and influenced by scientific, philosophical, and geometric principles, Rico collects the fragments, found objects, and materials of contemporary existence. Using culturally manufactured items like neon, taxidermy, concrete, and coins, as well as such natural elements as tree branches, stones, and fruit, he recontextualizes and arranges each in ways that both captivate and confound viewers through their poetic, wry, jarring relationships. Through juxtapositions of objects and an artistic process that fuses the natural and kitsch, Rico elicits a further investigation of our human environment and the natural world via non-mathematical equations using elements that reflect and illuminate a fundamental human urge to achieve balance.The Discipline of the Cave, on view through June 16 at the Aspen Art Museum 637 E Hyman Ave, Aspen. photographs by Guillaume Ziccarelli. Courtesy of the artist and Perrotin

Riddle Of The Burial Ground Group Show @ Extra City Kunsthal in Antwerp

In concrete-clad tunnels deep within the earth, radioactive matter is being buried on a daily basis. It is only a question of time before this creates an environmental catastrophe. Not a day goes by without men somehow ruining the planet. Every day we somehow mark our existence on this Earthby transforming the landscape, subverting the rules of nature and, slowly but significantly, damaging it beyond repair.  Just as we now can admire vestiges of past civilizations such as ancient ruins, the generations after us will linger overexcavated caverns andunnaturally bright tunnels. Layersand layers of lethal material, piled underground and ready to react: the catacombs of the future. But when exactly will this be? Who are the people that will look at this catastrophe? How do we even know that there will be people on Earth by that time? Taking responsibility for the future has become the resounding imperative of our age, but  how do we relate to something lost in an undefined future? Such are the questions asked in the group exhibition ‘Riddle of the Burial Grounds,’ which stares unblinkingly into this future: a trashed landscape of industrial ruin, where humanity somehow seems to have lost its dominant role. Riddle of The Burial Ground will be on view until July 17th, 2016 at Extra City Kunsthal, Eikelstraat 25, Antwerp. text and photographs by Sara Kaufman