WELCOME
Based at the University of California at Santa Cruz, The Center for the Study of the Force Majeure brings together artists, scientists, educators and activists to design ecosystem-adaptation projects in critical regions around the world to respond to climate change.​
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​Like an oncoming storm front, the Force Majeure is a fluid frontier
A frontier of heat moving across the planet
A frontier of water advancing on lands
A frontier of extinctions touching all lives
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It is a frontier from which we retreat, yet within which we must also adapt
Global Mapping exhibit, 2013
Our Mission
We are not apart from Nature; we are a part of Nature. This is a central
contradiction of modern life. Our challenge as humans, activists, scientists and
artists is bring us back into the system of which we are only a part.
The Force Majeure, when framed ecologically, delineates human accelerated global warming produced by the vast industrial processes of extraction and CO2 production.
Think Globally, Act Globally.
We must adapt to the Force Majeure at the scale in which it occurs. We believe that Art and Science working together can provide key insights and solutions. This can be done – if we re-imagine what’s possible. At the Center for the Study of the Force Majeure, we’re doing just that. We invite you to join us!
Helen and Newton Harrison
Our work is dedicated to honoring and building on the legacy of the pioneering environmental artists, Helen Mayer Harrison (1927-2018) and Newton Harrison (1932-2022).
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Among the leading pioneers of the eco-art movement, the collaborative team of Newton and Helen Mayer Harrison worked for over forty years with biologists, ecologists, architects, urban planners and other artists to initiate collaborative dialogues to uncover ideas and solutions that support biodiversity and community
development.
Helen Mayer Harrison and Newton Harrison
The Harrisons’ concept of art embraced a breathtaking range of disciplines. They were historians, diplomats, ecologists, investigators, emissaries and art activists.
Their work involved proposing solutions and involves not only public discussion, but community involvement and extensive mapping and documentation of these proposals in an art context.
Their projects have focused on watershed restoration, urban renewal, agriculture and forestry issues and urban ecologies. The Harrisons’ visionary projects have, on occasion, led to changes in governmental policy and have expanded dialogue around previously unexplored issues leading to practical implementations variously in the United States and Europe.
Five Understandings
