Galleries will be closed for facilities maintenance until April 22. We will be open on Friday April 17th 5pm-9pm for Night of Ideas.
An Aesthetics of Resilience is a collaborative research initiative of the Institute of the Arts and Sciences and the Friedlaender Lab at UC Santa Cruz. The project brings scientists, artists, humanists, and activists together to examine multiple experiences of vulnerability in the face of climate change. With original research, newly commissioned artworks, exhibitions, and a series of public programs, the initiative is designed to transform understanding about the cascading—and connected—social, political, and environmental challenges affecting our lives.
Weather and the Whale is a unique exhibition catalog, combining artworks, critical and creative texts, and new scientific research about whales and other marine mammals to both sound a warning of the irreversible consequences of the collapsing climate and offer alternative possibilities for living during these challenging times.
Including artistic projects and scientific data, Weather and the Whale raises fundamental questions about knowledge, power, multispecies relationships, and the responsibilities—and limits—of science in addressing the complexities of the climate crisis. This catalog also highlights the collective practices and alternative epistemes necessary to create a more healthy, and just, world.
Artists: Imani Jacqueline Brown, Carolina Caycedo, Sharon Daniel, Yolande Harris, Christine Howard Sandoval, Ashley Hunt, Courtney Leonard, John Jota Leaños, Libia Posada, Mia Eve Rollow, Whale Liberation Front, Sam Williams, Suné Woods.
Scientists: Natalia Botero-Acosta, Chloe Lew, Logan Pallin.
Other contributors: Guillermo Delgado-P., Cory Diane, Mirra-Margarita Ianeva, LuLing Osofsky, Kailani Polzak, Şebnem Susam-Saraeva, Zac Zimmer.
Aesthetics of Resilience
May 29, 2025-March 8, 2026
Weather and the Whale is a major exhibition project featuring immersive displays of original science research and newly commissioned…
Director and Chief Curator; Co-Director, Visualizing Abolition; Co-Director, Aesthetics of Resilience
Co-Director, An Aesthetics of Resilience; Professor, Ocean Science and Institute of Marine Sciences
Visualizing Abolition Program Manager, Curator, and Head of Academic Programs
Postdoctoral Fellow, An Aesthetics of Resilience
Postdoctoral Fellow, An Aesthetics of Resilience
Graduate Student Researcher, An Aesthetics of Resilience
Graduate Student Researcher, An Aesthetics of Resilience
Graduate Student Researcher, An Aesthetics of Resilience
Emeritus Professor, Anthropology and LALS Departments
Assistant Professor in the History of Art and Visual Culture
Associate Professor of Literature
Learn More
University of California, state partner to award climate action grants, Santa Cruz Sentinel, September 7, 2023
Five UC Santa Cruz projects win California Climate Action Grant funding, UCSC News center, August 31, 2023
An Aesthetics of Resilience is organized by Rachel Nelson and Ari Friedlaender and supported by a University of California Office of the President California Climate Action Seed Grant, with additional support from the Coha Nowark Art + Science Fund.
