New Bedford Art Museum: Vanishing Ecologies: Speculative Futures
Lapsed Concession now on view in Vanishing Ecologies at the New Bedford Art Museum (MA), photo credit: John Polak
June 25 - October 11, 2026
Vanishing Ecologies: Speculative Futures brings together an international group of contemporary artists working across sculpture, installation, painting, photography, sound, and time-based media. The exhibition examines artistic responses to the Anthropocene, a period characterized by the irreversible impact of human activity on the planet, and considers potential futures that may arise as a result.
Through immersive and materially innovative works, Vanishing Ecologies addresses climate change, mass extinction, environmental toxicity, and the enduring legacy of the atomic age. The exhibition examines the increasingly complex relationships among technology, ecology, and time. Some artists investigate the fragile boundary between collapse and adaptation, while others envision post-human futures, ecological resilience, and planetary memory.
Throughout the exhibition, artists translate ecological questions into experiences that are simultaneously material, emotional, and speculative. Representations of extinct species, consumer waste, fragile glass forms, contaminated landscapes, organic growth, and imagined future artifacts serve as frameworks for considering a planet in transition. These works navigate the intersection of scientific inquiry and artistic invention, tracing the intricate relationships among human activity, technological systems, and the living world. Rather than solely documenting environmental crises, Vanishing Ecologies investigates how art can expand the capacity for imagination. The exhibition encourages viewers to reflect on memory, resilience, and deep time, while contemplating futures that remain uncertain, interconnected, and evolving.
The exhibition features works by Rachel Berwick, Thomas Deininger, Beth Lipman, Aimée Lamaire, Minga Opazo, Rachel Ostrow, Anaïs Tondeur, and Nicolas Touron.