Compère Collective Presents: There’s an Alligator on the Second Floor

We are thrilled to host art again in our space! During the pandemic, we sadly had to take a step back from our Compère Collective initiative. Then, this past October, we volunteered for the Red Hook Open Studios and decided we would begin offering our space once again.

This month, we’ll be hosting the art of local artist, Melanie Windl for her installation, “There’s an Alligator on the Second Floor.” Read all about her exhibition below – and make sure you stop by!

When:
Opening: Friday, February 18th 5 – 8 pm
Opening Days & Hours: Saturday, February 19 – Sunday, February 28, daily 11 am – 6 pm

Where:
Compère Collective, 351 Van Brunt St, Brooklyn, NY 11231

There’s an Alligator on the Second Floor

When a 10- to 15-kilometer meteorite struck the Gulf of Mexico about 66 million years ago, the resulting pyroclastic flow abruptly extinguished all life in the Caribbean. Even more devastating was the rock debris that spread huge clouds of dust across the globe, blocking sunlight as it does after volcanic eruptions. As a result, the average global temperature dropped 27 degrees. This ecological catastrophe caused the extinction of about 75% of all animal and plant species – including dinosaurs, many plant genera, and most marine life.

Current human-induced climate change places life on Earth at an important new turning point. Global temperature increases are expected to intensify in the coming decades as a result of increases in carbon dioxide concentrations, which depend largely on fossil fuel use. The rapid warming of the atmosphere and oceans since the beginning of industrialization is likely to increase to between 2.6°C and 4.8°C by the end of the 21st century. In addition to serious environmental changes, this trend also holds the potential for significant global conflict over life-sustaining resources and habitable lands.

With the installation “There’s An Alligator On The Second Floor,” Melanie Windl reflects on current biological adaptation strategies of flora and fauna to changing temperatures. Using analog material and digital technology, her work designs a formal-aesthetic utopia of post-anthropocene species. The project’s implementation process was influenced by the artist’s field trips to Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, active volcanic areas in Iceland, and flood control areas in New York. While working in the studio, the artist developed a new recipe for a plant-based biopolymer as a sculptural material for the objects in the installation. The self-produced, fully biodegradable and non-toxic bio-plastic poetically references the self-empowerment of the individual through the use of readily available alternative methods and strategies.

About Melanie Windl

Working at the intersection of analog and digital art, Melanie Windl‘s projects are equally informed by the investigation of new technologies and materials. The correlation of analog and digital materiality in her work creates poetic, dream-like environments with notions of the interrelationship between humans, their artificial surroundings and nature. Windl has collaborated with renowned international institutions, Schleswig-Holsteinisches Kuenstlerhaus Eckernfoerde, Germany; Biennale for Arts and Technology, Norway; Tokyo Experimental Festival, Japan; Foundation Kuenstlerdorf Schoeppingen, Germany, among others.

Interested in exhibiting art in our space? Contact us here!