USI New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art to feature “Infinite Gauge: Makenzie Goodman and Adam Stacey”
JANUARY 5, 2025
The University of Southern Indiana New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art (NHGCA) is proud to present Infinite Gauge: Makenzie Goodman and Adam Stacey, featuring new works in sculpture and image-based media from the artist duo. The exhibit opens Saturday, January 11, with an artist talk at the Working Men’s Institute at 1:30 p.m. and a public opening reception from 3 to 5 p.m. The exhibit will run through February 22.
This presentation of recent works mounts a dialogue with the waterways of Indiana, specifically the Wabash and White Rivers, as a lens through which time might be considered in a comprehensive sense. The exhibit contrasts the human experience of the passage of time against geological time, considering factors that investigate how these rivers have shaped life along their banks. Works on view pose the question: Can we use a river and its path over time to learn about ourselves, our shared history, our belief systems and how our actions have rapidly and irrevocably altered the places we depend on?
The Wabash and White rivers are part of a series of waterways being continuously monitored to understand environmental changes in real time. The United States Geological Survey uses a super gage network across the Ohio-Indiana-Kentucky watershed, tracking key metrics that inform our understanding of changes in these ecosystems. Super gage #03378500 is located in the Wabash River at New Harmony, Indiana. These readings are updated in real time and visible on the United States Geological Survey webpage.
While it may be difficult to point to demonstrated examples of how these alterations in river chemistry directly affect our day-to-day lives, changes in measurements over time impact fisheries, wildlife preserves and other habitats not only in the region being monitored, but farther south along the Mississippi river, even impacting ecosystems at the river’s terminus in the Gulf of Mexico.
Infinite Gauge takes a bird’s eye view of how river pollutants, flooding and other issues linked to climate change impact living beings across the Wabash and White River watersheds and beyond. These shifts and how they are interpreted through the continuous passage of time form a core focus of the exhibition. Translated across sculpture, installation, new media art, cyanotypes and works on paper, Infinite Gauge reflects on humanity’s growing footprint in the natural world.
Goodman works in photography, video and installation to question belief systems associated with place. She considers the history and mythology of an area to explore the way we interpret and interact with the spaces we inhabit and what that imposed anthropocentric relationship means for the land. She received a Master of Fine Arts from Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California, and is an Assistant Professor at Appalachian State University in North Carolina.
Stacey is a sculptor who works with ceramics and various other materials. His artwork examines human impact and relationship to place. He received a Master of Fine Arts from New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University and currently works as a Lecturer in Art in Foundations at Appalachian State
The NHGCA at University of Southern Indiana promotes discourse about and access to contemporary art in the southern Indiana region. The NHGCA is a proud outreach partner of USI. The Gallery is located at 506 Main Street in New Harmony, Indiana. Regular hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. For more information, visit the NHGCA website or call 812-682-3156.
This exhibition is made possible in part by the Efroymson Family Fund, Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana, and the Indiana Arts Commission, which receives support from the State of Indiana and the National Endowment for the Art
