Marina Zurkow: Parting Worlds presents three digital works featured both inside the gallery and on the adjacent terrace, each of which explores the inextricable weave of ecological and societal systems. Mesocosm (Wink, TX) (2012) and The Earth Eaters (2025) focus on the environmental consequences of relentless resource extraction. Her installation for the Hyundai Terrace Commission, The River is a Circle (2025), is tailored to its location, engaging directly with the ecological and cultural landscape of the Hudson River and the Meatpacking District— the Whitney Museum’s neighborhood. The exhibition’s title, Parting Worlds, hints at the divide between surface and underwater environments, and the formation, fragmentation, and degradation of land as natural resources are exploited. It also evokes a sense of melancholy, reflecting on how human activity and natural processes drive ecological transformation and disappearance.

The River is a Circle, Comp.

The Earth Eaters, Comp.

Mesocosm (Wink Texas), work in progress (2012)

Conversations (interviews): Greg Pierotti; Dr. Marcia Schofield; Sunk Shore (Clarinda Mac Low and Carolyn Hall); Hudson River Park Trust (Carrie Roble, Toland Kister, Siddhartha Hayes, and Rachel Swanson); Russell Shorto, historian and author of The Island at the Center of the World (2005); Joe Baker, Executive Director, The Lenape Center; Abigail Simon, artist; Lucien Samaha, artist;  Kristen Lovell, director of The Stroll (2023); Jean Foos, artist; Una Chaudhuri, Dean for the Humanities, NYU College of Arts and Science.

Additional Thanks: Valerie Amend, bitforms gallery, Heather Davis, Krista Davis, Ceyenne Doroshow, Waqia Abdul-Kareem, Egyptt LaBeija, Processing Foundation, Steven Sacks, Derrick Schultz, Gary Wasserman, Alison Wong, and Matt Wolf

Special Thanks to Christiane Paul for her deep attention and support.