Are we not part of nature?

With the word “Atmospheres” in my work, I always wanted to refer to the fact that we are part of an ecosystem where everything is related in the thin skin that covers the Earth and that makes the phenomenon of life possible.

Almost thirty years ago after the III Istanbul Biennial (1992) at the Museum of Contemporary Art, I painted “Haliç” a black rhinoceros on the wall that was later repainted white, to show that my work of art was worth nothing, compared to the extinction of the Rhino.

The West African black rhinoceros was officially declared extinct by IUCN in 2011. Then the predictions established that if the poaching of these animals continued at that rate, all rhinos might become extinct in their natural habitat in 2020.

The fundamental relationships between art, science and politics in the Anthropocene, as Bruno Latour says, have not changed since the 18th and 19th centuries. “Ecological questions” have become central of contemporary debate and need resolutions and political action.