ART-PRESENTATION: Michael Wang-Extinct in the Wild

Michael Wang, Axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico, 2016, Courtesy the artist, Fondazione Prada ArchiveMichael Wang uses systems that operate on a global scale as media for art: species distribution, climate change, resource allocation and the global economy. His works include “Invasives” the controlled release of invasive species, “Carbon Copies,” an exhibition linking the production of artworks to the release of greenhouse gases, “Rivals,” a series that connects the sale of artworks to corporate finance, and “Terroir,” monochrome paintings made from the ground bedrock of world cities.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Fondazione Prada Archive

The solo exhibition “Extinct in the Wild” by Michael Wang brings together flora and fauna that are no longer found in nature, but persist exclusively under human care, within an artificial habitat. Labeled with the officially designated term “extinct in the wild”, these species have left nature behind to fully enter the circuits of human culture. The exhibition transports species across national borders, and transplants nature into the space of high culture. In an age of mass extinction, these modernist techniques of displacement and collage have become strategies of survival. Michael Wang conceived an exhibition in which three glass and aluminum enclosures with artificial lights accommodate these extinct species within the space of the Nord gallery of Fondazione Prada in Milan, where a selection of photographs is also exhibited. Some of those species, such as the ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) are common in cultivation. Ginkgo is the only living species in the division Ginkgophyta, all others being extinct. It is found in fossils dating back 270 million years. Native to China, the tree is widely cultivated and was introduced early to human history. It has various uses in traditional medicine and as a source of food. Others, like the blue cycad (Encephalartos nubimontanus), are some of the rarest species on earth, originally known from 66 plants, only 8 were counted in a 2001 survey and none could be found in a 2004 survey despite very careful searching. Some animals have persisted in artificial conditions for many years, like the aquatic axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) or Mexican Salamander, which was known only from the Aztec canals of Mexico City, most of which have long been drained. Axolotls are unusual among amphibians in that they reach adulthood without undergoing metamorphosis. Instead of developing lungs and taking to land, the adults remain aquatic and gilled. A four-month-long search in 2013 turned up no surviving individuals in the wild. Angel’s tears (Brugmansia suaveolens), a plant with fragrant white flowers, disappeared from the wilds of South America with the extinction of the species that distributed its seeds. Nonetheless, its religious significance as a potent psychoactive drug insured its survival in traditional cultivation. Several species have survived only through heroic human efforts. The one of the most unusual plants in the Hawaiian flora, Hawaiian ōlulu (Brighamia insignis), for instance, whose last specimen was recorded in 2014, was rescued from extinction thanks to a team of botanists who hand-pollinated the very last individuals and collected seeds, by rappelling into the steep ocean cliffs on the island of Kaua’i. The exhibition is completed by a series of 20 photographs, taken by Michael Wang from 2014 to the present day, which portray different extinct in the wild species and the original habitats where they lived prior to their extinction in nature.

Info: Curator: Michael Wang, Fondazione Prada, Largo Isarco 2, Milan, Duration: 9/2-9/4/17, Days & Hours: Sun-Mon & Wed-Thu 10:00-19:00, Fri-Sat 10:00-20:00, www.fondazioneprada.org

Michael Wang, Xochimilco, Mexico City, Mexico, 2016, Courtesy the artist, Fondazione Prada Archive
Michael Wang, Xochimilco, Mexico City, Mexico, 2016, Courtesy the artist, Fondazione Prada Archive

 

 

Michael Wang, Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba), Tianfu New Area, Chengdu, China, 2016, Courtesy the artist, Courtesy the artist, Fondazione Prada Archive
Michael Wang, Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba), Tianfu New Area, Chengdu, China, 2016, Courtesy the artist, Courtesy the artist, Fondazione Prada Archive

 

 

Michael Wang, Parrot’s beak (Lotus berthelotii), Iglesia de San Pedro, Tenerife, Spain, 2015, Courtesy the artist, Fondazione Prada Archive
Michael Wang, Parrot’s beak (Lotus berthelotii), Iglesia de San Pedro, Tenerife, Spain, 2015, Courtesy the artist, Fondazione Prada Archive

 

 

Michael Wang, Barranco Tamadaya, Tenerife, Spain, 2015, Courtesy the artist, Fondazione Prada Archive
Michael Wang, Barranco Tamadaya, Tenerife, Spain, 2015, Courtesy the artist, Fondazione Prada Archive