The Chicago Cli-Fi Library

Climate change is a great existential crisis for humanity, yet the apocalyptic prospect of global warming and other consequences of this great disruption hardly make themselves felt in the mainstream of cultural production. One could make the case that it is the very enormity of the challenge of imagining the unimaginable that causes this creative paralysis. The Chicago Cli-Fi Library is a modest attempt to make sense of this paralysis, suggesting that art’s response to the complexity and enormity of climate change can only ever be piecemeal, ad hoc, and hyperlocalized – all of which must be understood as virtuous. Named after the emerging literary genre of “climate fiction,” or “cli-fi,” and accordingly bookish in both conception and outlook, this exhibition features the work of Chicago-based artists Geissler + Sann, Jenny Kendler in collaboration with Andrew Bearnot, Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, and Dan Peterman. On view at the Neubauer Collegium Feb 22 – June 11, 2023. Curated by Dieter Roelstraete.

Video by Bob. (www.ournameisbob.com).
Photo & Video Credits (6:45): Fred W. McDarrah, Getty Images; Frank Castoral, NY Daily News.