Monday, October 9 | Oakes 109 | 4:30 PM
Matthew Coolidge has been Director of Programming at the Center for Land Use and Interpretation (see the website at www.clui.org) since 1994. The Center’s projects combine perspectives drawn from geography, installation and conceptual art, tourism, and political economy, and have centered on landscape perception, unusual and undernoticed places, and touristic practices. Coolidge has lectured widely on contemporary landscape matters, and has studied human-induced changes to the landscape professionally since joining the CLUI in 1994. Among the exhibits that he has curated are “Hinterland” (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions 1997), “Commonwealth of Technology” (at the List Center for Visual Arts, MIT, 1999), and “The Nellis Range Complex: Landscape of Conjecture” (at CLUI Los Angeles, 1999). He is the author of several books published by the CLUI, including The Nevada Test Site: A Guide to the Nation’s Nuclear Proving Ground; Around Wendover: An Examination of the Anthropic Landscape of the Great Salt Lake Desert Region; and Route 58: A Cross-Section of Southern California. His talk and slide show will introduce the Center’s current projects and activities, including the ongoing work on environmental art in decay.