Marina Zurkow: Parting Worlds brings together a selection of software-based works by Marina Zurkow (b. 1962; New York), an artist who explores the intersection of nature and culture through various mediums, including code, animation, and participatory experiences like dinners and card games. In the works on view in the gallery and on the adjacent terrace, Zurkow uses software that drives the interplay of the elements seen on screen and their ever-changing compositions to reflect on the complexity of ecological and social systems. The animations Mesocosm (Wink, TX) (2012) and The Earth Eaters (2025) imagine the environmental damage that results from the repeated extraction of raw materials. The work that constitutes the Hyundai Terrace Commission—The River is a Circle (2025)—is site-specific and engages with the ecologies of the Hudson River and the neighborhood surrounding the Whitney. “Parting Worlds” in the title alludes to the landscapes above and below the water, the earth breaking apart in a sinkhole, and islands emerging and separating as they are continually tapped for natural resources. It is also a phrase that evokes impermanence and loss as environments change and disappear due to human intervention and natural evolution.
