Code as Witness: Marina Zurkow on Software, Ecology, and the Future of Art
What happens when an artist thinks like an ecologist, and software becomes a tool for witnessing planetary change?
Join media artist Marina Zurkow and Whitney curator Christiane Paul for an intimate conversation about Parting Worlds, Zurkow's landmark exhibition, and her Hyundai Terrace Commission at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
In collaboration with the National Arts Club and its Art and Technology Committee, this is a rare opportunity to hear directly from an artist whose work sits at the intersection of environmental urgency, computational beauty, and speculative futures — and from the curator who shapes how institutions understand and present art made with code, data, and systems thinking.
Three software-driven animations anchor this conversation: Mesocosm (Wink, TX) (2012), The Earth Eaters (2025), and The River is a Circle (2025).
But beyond the screen, Zurkow's toolkit spans animation, generative code, participatory dinners, and bio-based projects — each chosen to deepen our understanding of how humans entangle with ecological systems across geological and human timescales.
The room will include artists, technologists, environmental thinkers, and curious minds hungry to understand how creative practice engages with real-world complexity.
Reserve your spot and arrive early. Space is limited.
Founded in 1898, the National Arts Club is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with a mission to stimulate, foster, and promote public interest in the arts and to educate the American people in the fine arts.