Some people may ask themselves, "Why would I want to know about an artist named Dan Peterman? What personal benefits can be accomplished by being familiar with his work, and what can I learn from his artwork?" Well, if you care about your self, you probably care about the people around you, your community, and you are aware of the way we are dependent on our environment as an ecosystem with resources to be used in a way that are beneficial to you, the people around you, and the world we live in. Dan Peterman is one such artist that cares more about a mutual relationship with his community and environment than he does about "the competition and parasitism associated with a capitalistic mentality." (7) It is not part of his personality to step up and preach about of the cause and effect of capitalist society on the ecosystem we live in. After all, he has gained much popularity in european countries by bringing a critique to what he describes as "a waste stream that is inevitably produced by the capitalist society focused on the consumer." (7) In a side step to an activist, who spends most of the time fighting slow moving bureaucratic forces, Dan Peterman bypasses the bureaucrats and projects his thoughts in the public forum of the art word. A place that allows the fuller meaning of professionalized activism to unfold. (17) His situational strategies to making art with recycled materials like plastics, metals, and even compost all speak to the viewer in a way that doesn't judge, but simply says, "This is mutualism" In this sense, Peterman defines mutualism as "a symbiotic relationship that works to the long-term benefit of both parties." (2) A relationship between Ecology and human interaction.

Dan's work seems to consistently invite people to make use of his work in a way that creates a public functionality to objects and materials that would otherwise be discarded as useless. In this way he invites the viewer to experience a small transformation of ideas with a paradigm that says, "Hey, I can reuse this instead of throwing it away." For example, his work titled "Bottle Cap Pasta" was created simply by rolling out a flat layer of pasta dough, and pressing a bottle cap into the dough to create small folded noodles for a pasta dish. My favorite work by Peterman is a beautifully crafted pair of green sunglasses titled, "Shades of Green", 1993. It is made of recycled green glass, and has a green case made of recycled plastic lemonade bottles. (8) What I find so creative in this piece is his effort to nudge the viewer toward both a literal and symbolically "green" vision of the world. It is poetic in it's powerfully symbolic message, yet very practical in the eyes of a consumer, his target audience.

Dan's inspiration comes from a long history with a place called the Resource Center. A place created by recycling pioneer Ken Dunn. Dan first wandered in there as a graduate student looking for materials for his artwork on the outskirts of his college, the University of Chicago. After he graduated with a MFA, he worked for Dunn and the Resource Center in exchange for use of a space inside the site as a studio. Dunn paid Peterman less than minimum wage as he picked up recyclable materials from his neighboring communities. He recalls it as a "waste stream" in America. (6) Inevitably inspiring works like "Running Table", a 100 foot picnic table and benches made of reprocessed, post-consumer plastic. A short distance away, he made a 3,500 square foot public dance floor, made of post consumer plastic titled, "Chicago Ground Cover." These projects were exhibited in Chicago's A. Montgomery Ward Garden in 1997, giving new light to the meaning of plastic. (13)

Dan Peterman's greatest project is something he prefers not to call an art project at all. In 1994 he found himself in a sequence of events that allowed him to purchase the whole site of his studio from Ken Dunn. (13) He has since transformed this place into an incubator for what would later become a not-for-profit building called the Experimental Station. He chose to use this space to better the community in ways other than just renting the space to like minded artists, because that sort of monoculture is "an impoverishment, and diminishment of possibilities."(13) Tragically before his project became fully mature, a fire ripped through it on April 25, 2001. He then used every resource and connection he had to get a permit to rebuild the site, quoting Frank Lloyd Wright by saying, "...the fire of many long-honored ideals shall go down to ashes to reappear, phoenix like, with new purposes." -- "The Art and Craft of the Machine."

I see Dan Peterman as a pillar of his community who's "uncompromising commitment to humanity" (15) has turned a strongly localized inspiration into international exhibitions, including Berlin, Munich, Gathernberg, Edinburgh, Grenoble, Basel, New York, among other venues. He has touched the lives of many people in a creative and practical way that is mutually beneficial to all factors involved, including the environment. For example, he converted a VW van into a warm place for some homeless people by pouring compost onto it in the winter time. The decomposition of the soil created heat which warmed the inside of the van. I find it to be an interesting coincidence that this project was in close proximity to a community garden with a mysteriously rich soil that flourishes at the Experimental Station. It suggests that sometimes he will even recycle some of his own work. When I look at the concepts of his work I see a very powerful message that critiques capitalism in a way that is hard for me to ignore. It makes me think of capitalism as a single collective being with a propensity toward excessive wastefulness, born from the intelligent and inventive individuals that make up America. Dan Peterman is one of these intelligent people, born in a capitalist society, that has the audacity to push back against the obviously wasteful culture that everyone is aware of. What separates Peterman from this institution in America's "waste stream" is his ability to comment in a public forum about one man's ability to turn this waste into a powerful force of reusable consumption. I am not saying that a capitalist society is inherently stupid, nor do I think that Dan Peterman is saying that either. He has chosen to live in America as his permanent residence. A place that allows him to make the Experimental Station a reality with his wife, and two children. In my eyes, Peterman is simply living the life he feels good about as a human being. As a capitalist society, we have a lot to learn by understanding the mutualist artwork and lifestyle of Dan Peterman.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

(1) artnews.org. "Dan Peterman." Artnews.org, 2007 <http://artnews.info/ danpeterman/>

(2) Experimental Station, The. "Building Independent Cultural Infrastructure" Copyright, 2005-2006. 6100 S. Blackstone, Chicago IL 60637. <http://www.experimentalstation.org/>

(3) Free Soil Bus Tour. Experimental Station -a video report. November 2005 <http:// www.free- soil.org/index.php?post_id=303&cat_id_rel=21&feat=1> Video Link: <http://www.free-soil.org/station/experimental_station_internet.zip>

(4) Gheith, Jenny. "Recycling The World As We Know It: Dan Peterman's Plastic Economies." F News Magazine September, 2004. <http:// www.fnewsmagazine.com/2004-sept/ current/2004-sept/pages/22.shtml>

(5) Haupt, Dr. Gerhard and Pat Binder. "Dan Peterman: Bottle Cap Pasta." Universes in Universe. 2001. <http://www.universes-in-universe.de/car/berlin/bien2/kw/e- kw-05.htm>

(6) Kalven, Jamie. "Reclamation Project" University of Chicago Magazine. October 2000, Volume 92, Number 7. <http://magazine.uchicago.edu/0010/features/peterman.html>

(7) Kalven, Jamie, "Wikipedia.org (Translated French)" Reclamation Project par Jamie Kalven - The University of Chicago, and Sur ArtNews <http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Dan_Peterman>

(8) Klosterfelde, Helga Maria. "Dan Peterman." Helga Maria Klosterfelde. <http:// www.helgamariaklosterfelde.de/html/dan_peterman.html>

(9) Klosterfield. "Dan Peterman." Zimmerstrasse & Linientrasse <http:// www.klosterfelde.de/peterman/peterman.html>

(10) Palmer, Laurie. "Dan Peterman: A. Montgomery Ward Garden, Grant Park, Chicago, USA" Frieze Magazine. September-October 1997, Issue 36. <http:// www.frieze.com/ issue/review/dan_peterman/>

(11) Peterman, Dan. "Excerpts From the Universal Lab: Artist's Statement." Ecologies: Mark Dion, Peter Fend, Dan Peterman. Chicago, Illinois: The David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, The University of Chicago, 2001: 109-115.

(12) Rosen, Andrea. "Artist Dan Peterman." Andrea Rosen Gallery.

<http://www.andrearosengallery.com/artists/dan-peterman/>

(13) Smith, Stephanie. "Project Overview" Ecologies: Mark Dion, Peter Fend, Dan Peterman. Chicago, Illnois: The David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, The University of Chicago, 2001: 119-129.

(14) Snodgrass, Susan. "Dan Peterman at the MCA." Art in America. FindArticles.com. 17 Mar. 2008. <http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1248/is_3_93/ai_n13470762>

(15) Strange, Raimar, and Gregory Sholette. Dan Peterman Plastic Economies. Urbana and Chicago: Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and University of Illinois Press, 2004.

(16) Symposium C6. "Globalism - Crisis and Opportunity: Dan Peterman." The Art World Is Flat. Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc., 2007. <http://symposiumc6.com/ speakers/peterman>

(17) Wang, Daniel S. "Interview." Dan Peterman: Works and Projects. Urbana and Chicago: Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and University of Illinois Press, 2004.

(18) Warren, Lynne. Dan Peterman: Standard Kiosk (Chicago). Urbana and Chicago: Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and University of Illinois Press, 2004.

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Artists working with the Earth in Mind