Dr Daro Montag

Associate Professor of Art & Environment

Daro Montag's art practice has, for many years, been involved with environmental and ecological issues - he is particularly interested in the inherent creativity of the organic world. His research and creative practice start from the premise that the natural world is best understood as being constituted of interacting events rather than consisting of discrete objects. This philosophical position foregrounds the significance of process and its residue. In order to make art with living matter the artist has enlisted the assistance of micro-organisms, plants, insects, toads and other creatures. He has also worked with natural phenomena including wind, rain and fire. Much of this work uses the concept of the indexical trace where nature's events are enabled to generate their own image. He completed his MA at the Royal College of Art in 1994, and a PhD at the University of Hertfordshire in 2000.

Daro's work has been exhibited at galleries in the UK, Europe, USA, Australia and the UAE, and published in a number of catalogues. He has also produced commissioned work in collaboration with the Met Office and the Institute of Animal Health. In 2002 he was awarded a prestigious art-science prize in Tokyo. In 2007 he was commissioned to develop an art-science exhibition which resulted in a project entitled 'This Earth'. The subsequent exhibition and book examines the creative and productive potential of soils from a number of different perspectives. This concern about the importance of soils is being further developed, in collaboration with the Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural World, as part of a major project for 2013-17.

Another ongoing project is 'RANE-CHAR', an action in which biochar was produced and distributed as a means of raising awareness and mitigating climate change. This project developed from his participation in the 2009 Cape Farewell expedition to the Peruvian Andes and Amazon as part of a team engaged in the cultural response to environmental change.

As well as leading MA Art & Environment at Falmouth, Daro also runs the research group in Art, Nature & Environment - RANE.

External websites

Website for Dr Daro Montag

Email	daro.montag@falmouth.ac.uk
Telephone	01326 259164

Qualifications

Year	Qualification	Awarding body
2000	PhD Bioglyphs: Generating images in collaboration with nature's events	University of Hertfordshire
1996	Postgraduate Certificate of Education	University of Greenwich
1994	MA	Royal College of Art
1982	BA(Hons)	Kingston Polytechnic

Honours and awards

Year	Description
2011	Shortlisted for the COAL Art & Environment Award, Paris
2005	The Colour Lab Bursary, Sherborne House, Dorset
2002	2002 L’Oreal Art and Science Foundation Prize, Tokyo
1996	PhD Research Bursary, University of Hertfordshire
1994	Bankers Trust Pyramid Award
1994	Fletcher King Award
1994	Chesterton Award
1992	Arts Council Commission

Research Interests

Research interests and expertise

Expertise in environmental and ecological art, with particular emphasis on how the arts will help us move away from an unsustainable culture towards a more positive future.

Research centre and group affiliations

RANE Research Group

Research topics

Art
Ecology
Environment
Indexicality
Process Philosophy

Research Outputs

Publications and research outputs

Book Chapter

Montag, Daro (2009) Leafcutter Ant Drawing. In: Expeditions. CCW Graduate School, London. ISBN 978-1-908339-03-4

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Conference or Workshop Item

Montag, Daro (2015) Soil - The Dark Horizon. In: Wildness / Wilderness symposium, 26.6.2015, Plymouth University. (Unpublished) Item not available from this repository.

Montag, Daro (2014) Something Better Change. In: Green Connections: Environmental response and the arts, 5.9.2014, University of Exeter. (Unpublished) Item not available from this repository.

Montag, Daro (2014) Losing Ground: The extinction of Soil. In: Facing Extinction: Gustav Metzger, 7-8.6.2014, University for the Creative Arts, Farnham. (Unpublished) Item not available from this repository.

Book

Montag, Daro, Adams, Clive, Holden, Patrick and Lascelles, Bruce (2016) Soil Culture: Bringing the Arts down to Earth. CCANW & Gaia Books, Dartington, Devon. ISBN 978-0-9932192-1-4

Montag, Daro (2013) Dialogues with Nature. Noosa Regional Gallery, Tewantin/ Festerman Press, Cornwall, Penryn, Cornwall, UK. ISBN 978-0-9544187-8-6

Artwork

Montag, Daro (2009) RANE-Char. [Artwork]

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Exhibition

Montag, Daro and Drury, Chris (2016) Earth. [Exhibition]

Adamas, Clive and Montag, Daro (2015) Soil Culture: Deep Roots. [Exhibition] Item not available from this repository.

Conference

Montag, Daro, Osmond, Matthew and Allen, Jude (2014) Soil Culture Forum. [Conference]

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Montag, Daro (2008) Artful Ecologies. [Conference]

Events

Year	Description
2009	Art & Ecological Thinking - AIAS conference, Falmouth University
2008	The Creative Footprint, Symposium on art & environment, Stroud Valley Artspace, 11 June. Panel member.
2008	Artful Ecologies 2 – RANE international conference, Falmouth University
2008	The Aesthetics of Life, Symposium on Bio-art, University of Exeter, 14 May. Panel member.
2007	Responding to Climate Change - Day of events, Penryn Campus, Falmouth University
2006	Artful Ecologies - RANE international conference, Falmouth University
2006	Greenhouse Britain University of Plymouth, Symposium with the Harrisons organised by CCANW, 26 November Panel member

Externally funded research grants information

Year starting	Year ending	Project title	Funder	Currency	Value	Collaborators	HESA Category
No data	No data	No data	No data	GBP	No data	No data	No data

Teaching

Areas of teaching

Art
Ecology
Environment

Courses taught

MA Art & Environment

Professional engagement

Independent professional practice

Solo Exhibitions

2013 'Dialogues with Nature' - Noosa Regional Gallery, Queensland, Australia
2009 'RANE-CHAR' - Eden Project as part of Cape Farewell event
2006 'This Earth'(as part of Future Palette) - Sherborne House, Dorset
2003 'Stalking Nature' - Open Hand Open Space, Reading
2001 Purdy Hicks Gallery, London
2000 Caren Golden Fine Art, New York
2000 The Economist, London
1996 Windlesham Arboretum, Surrey
1994 Bibliotheque Multimedia de Valenciennes, France
1993 Freshfields, London
1992 Musee de St Malo, France
1992 Plymouth Art Centre
1992 Poole Heritage Centre
1992 Bridport Art Centre
1992 Islington Arts Factory

Selected group exhibitions

2013 'Making Tracks' - ONCA Gallery, Brighton
2010-11'Unfold' - Cape Farewell touring exhibition
May - June 2010University of Applied Arts, Vienna, Austria
August - October 2010Kings Place Gallery, London
October - November 2010University Gallery, Northumbria
December 2010 - January 2011Newlyn Art Gallery
February - April 2011Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, USA
September - December 2011Parsons School of Design, USA
2009'Dynamic Equilibrium' - Mandeville Gallery, Union College, USA
2007'Deep Process' - Gershman Y Gallery, Philadelphia
2006-07'Alchemy' - Purdy Hicks touring exhibition
2007Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal
2007Djanogly Art Gallery, University of Nottingham
2006Harewood House, Leeds
2006Purdy Hicks Gallery, London
2006'Flux' - National Theatre/Deutsche Bank
2006'Forest Dreaming' - Centre for Contemporary Art & the Natural World
2006'Documenting FMD' - Holden Gallery, Manchester Metropolitan University
2004-06 'Elemental Insight' - Met Office touring exhibition, ten UK venues
2004Insects & Art - University of Plymouth
2004 Elemental Insight - Met Office, Exeter
2004 Poole Photography Festival - Study Gallery, Poole
2004'The Trace Edition' - Hirschl Contemporary Art, London
2004 'Complexity' - UMBC, Baltimore University
2004 'Complexity' - Slusser Gallery, University of Michigan
2004 'Optic Nerve' - Photofusion, London
2003'The Big Blip' - Sallis Benney Theatre, Brighton
2003 'Z15 (30x30)' - Zelda Cheatle Gallery, London
2003'Tooth & Claw' - Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
2003'Complexity' - Federal Reserve Fine Art Gallery, Washington DC
2003'Optic Nerve' - Wolsey Gallery, Ipswich
2002-03'Love, Labour & Loss' - Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Gallery, Exeter
2002'Complexity' - Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, State University of New York
2002'Love, Labour & Loss' - Tullie House Museum and Gallery, Carlisle
2002'Forest' - Winchester Gallery, Southern Arts touring exhibition
2002'Summer Exhibition' - Purdy Hicks Gallery, London
2002'International Digital Miniature Print Portfolio' - University of West of England
2001-02This is (not) a photograph - USA touring exhibition
2002DePaul University Museum, Chicago, USA
2001 Carleton College Gallery, Minnesota, USA
2001 Bayley Art Museum, University of Virginia, USA
2001University Art Gallery, University of California, San Diego, USA
2000 'Somewhere, someone is doing something' - VTO Gallery, London
2000'Summer exhibition' - Purdy Hicks Gallery, London
2000'Research into practice' - University of Hertfordshire
2000'Revelation' - Tullie House Museum and Gallery, Carlisle
1999'Revelation' - Purdy Hicks Gallery
1999'Phenomena' - The Friends of Photography, San Francisco
1999'Unnatural' - Catherine Clark Gallery, San Francisco
1999'This is not a photograph' - Pace University Gallery, New York
1998-99'Near' - Museum of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
1998 'Flowers' - Hartlepool Art Gallery
1998'The Citibank photography collection' - The Photographers Gallery, London
1998'5' - Royal College of Art, London
1997Islington International Festival - London
1997Islip Art Museum, New York
1996Caren Golden Fine Art, New York
1996'Exposition A Suivre' - Bruneck Castle, Italy
1995'Possibilities of Extension' - Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth
1995'Heaven’s Embroidered Cloths' - National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, Bradford

Collections
Daro Montag's work is held in several collections, including Arts Council of Great Britain, Citibank, Deutsche Bank, Freshfields, National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, Met Office, Tullie House Museum, Carlisle.

Professional/scholarly development

Course:

Living Soil Forum, Ytterjarna, Sweden

Year of completion:

2013

Related courses

Course

Marine & Natural History Photography BA(Hons)

Learn to capture still and moving images on all subjects within the natural world. You’ll learn how to communicate scientific ideas through images...