01/31/2024
By Deborah Santoro

The Department of Art & Design is thrilled to present Earth Oracles, an immersive multimedia installation by Allison Maria Rodriguez. 
January 31 – March 22
University Gallery in Mahoney Hall, 870 Broadway Street, Lowell, MA. 

Artist talk and conversation with Q&A to the public:
Thursday, February 8 from 3:30-5 p.m.
Smith Ballroom, 2nd floor of Coburn Hall

Reception to follow in the University Gallery next door from 5-7 p.m.

There will also be a panel discussion with Allison Maria Rodriguez, Professor Kirsten Swenson (Art History), and Professor Alison Hamilton (Biology):
Thursday, March 21 from 3:30-5 p.m.
Coburn Hall (Smith ballroom, 2nd floor). 

The panel discussion is supported by the Rist Institute for Sustainability and Energy. These events are free, accessible, and open to the public.

Allison Maria Rodriguez’s video installations immerse the audience in experiential spaces that ask the viewer to consider alternative ways of relating to animals and the environment. While focusing on climate change and species extinction, Rodriguez's work transports visitors to a hallowed space inhabited by endangered animals, adorned with colorful, layered landscapes, existing gloriously in heightened and super saturated moving imagery. By transforming video monitors into stained glass windows and galleries into cathedral-like spaces, Rodriguez builds an alternative world where the animal kingdom is revered in all its beauty and mystery. In considering the possibilities for multi-species flourishing on Earth, Rodriguez reveals the wisdom that non-human species such as sharks, cougars, and dolphins offer to those who listen. In Earth Oracles, Rodriguez blends Indigenous perspectives with theory, technology, and compassion to create a moment that is simultaneously a celebration and a call to action.

Gallery Hours and website:
Mon-Wed 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Thursday 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Friday 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Saturday 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.