Beyond Green: Toward a Sustainable Art is a traveling exhibition co-organized by the Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, and by iCI (Independent Curators International), New York, and circulated by iCI. The exhibition is curated by Stephanie Smith. The exhibition and accompanying catalogue are made possible in part by the Smart Family Foundation; the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation; the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation; and iCI Exhibition Partners Kenneth S. Kuchin and F. Bruce Anderson, and Gerrit and Sydie Lansing. Additional support is provided by the Arts Planning Council, the Environmental Studies Program, and the Green Campus Initiative, University of Chicago.

The exhibition and associated programs at the Smith College Museum of Art are supported by the Judith Plesser Targan, class of 1953, Fund.  The Museum’s programs are funded in part by the Tryon Associates Fund, Museum Shop proceeds, and contributions by members of the Museum.

Sustainable design has the potential to transform everyday life through an approach that balances environmental, social, and aesthetic concerns. Beyond Green: Toward a Sustainable Art examines some of the ways in which contemporary artists are exploring a socially and environmentally conscientious—in other words, sustainable—way of living and working. Ranging from the practical to the rhetorical, the projects in Beyond Green seek to transform the ways we make, use, and dispose of the stuff of everyday life through attention to objects such as tools, books, clothes, and cars; to structures such as offices, housing, and temporary shelters; and to processes and networks such as recycling systems.

The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated 160-page catalogue. Artists include: Allora & Calzadilla; Free Soil; JAM; Learning Group; Brennan McGaffey with Temporary Services; Nils Norman; People Powered; Dan Peterman; Marjetica Potrc; Michael Rakowitz; Frances Whitehead; WochenKlausur; and Andrea Zittel.

Allora & Calzadilla
Under Discussion (detail), 2004-05
Single channel video projection with sound Collection of the artists; courtesy Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris, and Lisson Gallery, London