Ben Moren Explores Beauty and Burden in New Environmental Works | Minneapolis College of Art and Design

Ben Moren Explores Beauty and Burden in New Environmental Works

March 18, 2026
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Ben Moren, "Chamisa Geiger Counter"
Ben Moren ’10

Minneapolis-based artist Ben Moren ’10 continues to build a body of work that examines the tension between natural beauty and complex environmental histories in recent projects, including his newest solo exhibition at the Silverwood Park Surface Tension.

Surface Tension features a large-scale sculptural installation of immersive cyanotype prints and aerial video. The exhibition investigates the history of military waste dumping in Lake Superior, juxtaposing the lake’s striking surface with the environmental legacy hidden below.

Moren’s recent projects—Chamisa Geiger Counter and Reference Ecosystem: Lost 40—investigate landscapes often celebrated as pristine or recreational while carrying deeper legacies of contamination, extraction, or ecological disruption. His newest film culminating in more than two years of work, Breathing Wilderness, reflects his ongoing interest in the environment as both a site of reverence and a record of human intervention. The completed film recently screened at Millennium Film Workshop in January and at the Rochester Art Center earlier this month.

Across mediums, Moren’s practice continues to probe how landscapes can simultaneously embody awe-inspiring beauty and layered, often difficult histories.

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