On the Nature of Things is a public artwork for Dublin created by Katie Holten as part of Dublin Contemporary 2011. Texts are written on the streets of the city centre with hand-painted ceramic tiles. The source for the text is a found copy of On The Nature of Things, by the Epicurean poet Lucretius. Although written c. 50 B.C., the poem persuasively lays out a strikingly modern understanding of the world. Every page reflects a core scientific vision – a vision of atoms randomly moving in an infinite universe – imbued with a poet’s sense of wonder. He thought we should live, not in fear of gods, but in the pursuit of pleasure.
Katie Holten installed Primal Forms of Stuff on the steps of Hugh Lane Gallery.
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Profile
Katie Holten is an artist, activist and author. In 2003, she represented Ireland at the Venice Biennale. She has had solo exhibitions at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, the Nevada Museum of Art, the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, and Hugh Lane Gallery. Her work investigates the entangled relationships between humans and the natural world. She has created Tree Alphabets, a Stone Alphabet, and a Wildflower Alphabet to share the joy she finds in her love of the more-than-human world. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Artforum, and frieze. She is a visiting lecturer at the New School of the Anthropocene.
Katie Holten, On the nature of things installation view.
Images by Eugene Langan
Katie Holten, On the nature of things installation view.
Images by Eugene Langan
Katie Holten, On the nature of things installation view.
Images by Eugene Langan
