Artist Talk: Nicholas Mangan

Listen to artist Nicholas Mangan in conversation with senior curator, Melanie Oliver, as they discuss Mangan's recent works, practice, and his exhibition at The Dowse Art Museum.

Nicholas Mangan's 2017 survey exhibition, Nicholas Mangan: Limits to Growth, borrows its title from a research report first published in 1972.  The Club of Rome report was produced following a meeting of international researchers seeking to debate the present and past predicament of mankind, and the subsequent computer modelling undertaken by Massechusetts Institute of Technology. The issues identified 50 years ago are even more critical today. How can we balance a growth economy and consumerist culture with a desire to live sustainably?

This question encompasses the central concerns of Mangan's exhibition and practice. Three past projects were shown at The Dowse Art Museum, Nauru: Notes from a Cretaceous World (2009–10), A World Undone (2012), and Ancient Lights (2015)—in conversation with a recent commission, Limits to Growth (2016). Each project marries Mangan's eco aesthetics with commentary on the cultural and political implications of constant growth and development.