Art about the environment found around downtown Denver

How did dramatic images of a horse skeleton, dying coral reefs and a melted glacier end up on the side of your RTD bus here in Denver, Boulder and around the front range?

The Museum of Contemporary Art | Denver’s has taken their current show Creative Acts that Matter: The Environment to public spaces and off-site. The work is all free to the public at outdoor exhibits, or moving images (on the sides of buses) during the month of July.

This is what global warming looks like

The Canary Project is a collection of photographs of landscapes suffering dramatic transformations from global warming. And Denver has put these powerful images on the sides of their buses in the space where you’d usually see an ad. Definitely punches the most impact of the pieces of DMA’s current Creative Acts that Matter — and it’s great that it can be experienced beyond the downtown Denver area.

Other parts of the exhibit are the installation NORTHSOUTHEAST 360 Degrees of Climate Change and photograph series Confluence.

The Confluence series is work by local artists spread along the Cherry Creek walk and bike paths, meant to be “discovered”. The installation has a less-than-professional looking presentation with images mounted into plain plexiglass panels. Great idea, but doesn’t come off well.

360 Degrees of Climate Change is more visually effective as a set of free standing displays to be experienced in the enviroement. Found near REI at Confluence Park, the human scale displays have facts, figures and large photographs, so one can get a quick glance, or delve a bit deeper.

Ride the bus, or head over to Confluence Park today — the show ends July 28.

More Information:
The Museum of Contemporary Art Denver >
The Canary Project >

[Added August 3 2006: Atleast one bus has been spotted in downtown Denver with “This is what global warming looks like” photography on the side as of today. So you may still be able to see this art in your environment for a little while longer.]