Danger Zones: Beyond the Past

March 8 – March 30, 2025

Danger Zones: Beyond the Past is an immersive installation by Artemis Herber that examines the intersection of power, memory, and time in shaping the future of our shared planet. The exhibition explores the lasting consequences of human intervention in the environment, prompting reflection on our collective ecological impact.

Combining selections from Herber’s Danger Zones series with Recollection, the installation evokes the aesthetics of Columbaria—compartmentalized spaces for urns—creating a contemplative environment where fragmented landscapes and human forms intertwine. The sculptural works from Danger Zones, developed through collaborative performance and material experimentation, serve as stark reminders of environmental fragility and the remnants of human presence in an altered world.

By integrating deep-time materials such as cardboard, coal, marble dust, and repurposed industrial elements, Danger Zones: Beyond the Past questions the Anthropocene’s irreversible transformations and reimagines our relationship with the natural world, offering a space for reflection and speculative futures.

Artist Statement

I examine where we currently stand—on the precipice of collapse. Humans have reshaped the world, rendering it fragile, with signs of degradation visible at every turn. My work reflects this reality, utilizing materials sourced from deep time, industrial processes, and environmental extraction.

My artistic practice fuses mythology, geology, and environmental concerns, revealing how ancient narratives re-emerge in contemporary crises. By incorporating geological materials and myths such as Gaia, Mnemosyne, and Artemis, my sculptures and paintings embody a layered history of human intervention.

Through my Danger Zones series, I investigate spaces of transformation and tension—where destruction and resilience coexist. My process incorporates performative elements, casting body parts into reformed landscapes, leaving behind hollowed traces of existence. These hybrid configurations serve as cautionary monuments to the Anthropocene, urging us to reconsider our relationship with the environment and to confront the deep entanglements of memory, time, and ecological change.