Helen Marten's 'Evidence of Theatre' Critiques Environmental Decay at Greene Naftali

Helen Marten's two-floor solo exhibition 'Evidence of Theatre' at Greene Naftali in New York runs through November 4, 2023. The upper floor features a CGI video titled 'Writing A Play (dark blue orchard)' (2023) narrated by actor Gwendoline Christie, depicting wintry landscapes and derelict interiors with half-eaten meals, 'I Voted' stickers, and plastic waste. The narration includes a refrain from cultural theorist Roger Caillois and alludes to T.S. Eliot's 1922 poem 'The Waste Land'. The ground floor presents paintings, dioramas, and sculptures engaging with Sigmund Freud's legacy, including tissue boxes and doll-size chaise longues mounted on aluminum panels under 1960s Kellogg's advertisements featuring Freud's face. Notable works include the diorama 'Evidence of Theatre (they wept)' and the sculpture 'Modern Sluice', which incorporates an exhaust pipe, paper boat, and toy ice truck. The video offers pointed social commentary on human stewardship of the planet, with images of a totalled car in the woods, a spontaneously combusting frog, and tents evoking displacement. Marten's exhibition critiques environmental decay and societal decline, echoing Eliot's themes of barrenness and corruption.