The Medina Triennial, a community-wide exhibition in rural Western New York, offers a refreshing take on art and sustainability. Curated by Kari Conte and Karin Laansoo, the triennial brings together over 100 artworks by 39 artists across 10 locations, exploring the labor, regulation, extraction, and repair of our shared systems. The exhibition's title, 'All That Sustains Us', encapsulates its curatorial premise, emphasizing the importance of maintenance as a vital social, political, and environmental act. The triennial's sparse and thoughtfully placed installations provide a much-needed respite from the overwhelming density of the Venice Biennale, allowing visitors to absorb the gravitas of works like Taysir Batniji's 'Just in Case #2', an installation that holds space for grieving the devastating effects of the ongoing war in Gaza. The Medina Triennial draws inspiration from Mierle Laderman Ukeles's maintenance art practice, which makes visible systems of labor, from the intimate scale of home maintenance to New York City's waste management workforce. The triennial's focus on ideas of care and interdependency, rather than national representation, aligns with historical projects and biennials that practice cultural diplomacy or soft power. The use of art towards revitalization, supported by the New York State Canal Corporation and the New York Power Authority, demonstrates an appreciation for the value of art in relation to sustainability, without getting caught up in the bureaucracy of commissioning permanent artworks. The Medina Triennial serves as a nexus where many purposes and audiences converge, transforming the canal into a site of cultivation, shared food, education, and civic infrastructure, modeling sustainability through the frame of artistic practice.
