Colleen Hargaden’s latest exhibition at Hunter Shaw Fine Art is many things: a tool kit to survivalism and self-reliance in reaction to the ever-intensifying symptoms of a dying planet, and a prompt to question what the future of art-making may look like by combining the duality of practical resources and artistic practice known here as “double ontology.”

In preparation for an uninhabitable planet, both Capsule One & Two (How to Grow Sprouts, Portable Apothecary) (2018) are enclosed in a weather-proof pelican case and run via solar-powered panels. The work aims to instruct the viewer on how to grow sprouts—which apparently a person can live off of indefinitely—and create their own apothecary. In addition to watching Hargaden explain every step of these procedures on video, she also provides detailed PDFs that describe every piece of equipment she uses, from the camera to the USB cable, and how to use them.

Hargaden also provides samples, like the ones found in the pelican case, in industrialized packaging made by the artist that the viewer can take home, for free, to start their very own apothecary. I took home calendula flowers to make a salve for wounds and dry skin (it’s currently sitting in almond oil) and a packet of St. John’s Wort, a natural antidepressant.

Colleen Hargaden, Capsule Two: Portable Apothecary, 2020. Courtesy Hunter Shaw Fine Art.

Hargaden began working as an animation and media arts teacher for grades 7–12 just this year and, before that, she was a middle school rocketry teacher and STEAMwork design studio assistant. Her work as an artist and career as a teacher are intertwined and act as extensions of one another. It is fitting, then, that Hargaden has taken every opportunity to make her show accessible and freely share her knowledge. With H20 (2019), she gives credit to the original artist by showing their video alongside hers, and created a guide book to show exactly which bodies of water she visited and for how long she recorded them.

Water Brick (Bench) (2019), made of water bricks, water and handmade upholstered panels, could have been a moment in the exhibition where the artist used a precious resource wastefully, yet it contains recycled water that is scheduled to be given to two local Los Angeles farms, Alma Backyard and Moonwater, post-show.

Viewing the show, I thought about how these sculptures weren’t supposed to be some sort of elite kit for purchase to the highest bidder but, rather prototypes that can be recreated over and over completely separate from the artist. The survivalist, DIY nature of the show might have been speculative only three years ago but now it feels timely, potent and real.