Second Nature at the Contemporary Arts Center presents three works from the collection of 21c Museum Hotels. The Cincinnati site of this multi-venue contemporary art museum and boutique hotel is located next door at 609 Walnut Street.

Artists Jennifer Steinkamp and Chris Doyle use computers to create digital animations featuring natural subject matter such as vines, mushrooms, and butterflies. Steinkamp’s Dervish 3 depicts a deciduous tree in all four seasons: flowering in spring, green leaves in summer and red in autumn, and bare branches in winter. The work’s title refers to members of a Muslim religious order who practice a devotional ritual of whirling to reach a trance-like state. Steinkamp animates the tree’s branches to bend and twist as though blowing in a strong wind, yet the trunk stays firmly planted.

Chris Doyle uses patterns and shapes referencing nature to hint at the uneasy harmony between humankind and the environment. In Circular Lament, shapes resembling vines, branches, twinkling stars, raindrops, and the sun shift across the picture plane. This tenuous balance of form and color serves as a metaphor for the current state of ecological balance. In Rondo, bioluminescent mushrooms sprout from inside the border of a circular stained-glass window. The mushroom caps bounce, tilt, and open and shut like umbrellas, while the stained glass spins. Through digital technology, Doyle simulates organic material inside a form associated with sacred spaces.

CAC major annual operating support is provided by ArtsWave, the estate of Henrietta Barlag, Bartlett Wealth Management, Ronald Bates + Randy Lasley, Gale + Dave Beckett, Jim Cheng, Robert + Debra Chavez, James A. Cheng, DaSci Consulting Group LLC, Nicholas Dunigan, Dianne G. Dunkelman, Leslie + James T. Fitzgerald, Jr., Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc., Friedlander Family Fund, Amy Goodwin, Greater Cincinnati Foundation, Andrew Howe Family Foundation, The Johnson Foundation, Maria Kalomenidou + Yannis Skoufalis, Dr. Marcia Kaplan + Dr. Michael Privitera, Eric Kearney, Kettering Family Philanthropies, Claudia Kohlman, Emily Kokenge + David Kitchings, The Kroger Company, George + Linda Kurz, Bruce Lazarus + Phil Weintraub, Patrick Mathews, Rick Michelman + Karen Meyer, the Ohio Arts Council, Denise Osterhues, The P&G Fund of The Greater Cincinnati Foundation, Jennie Rosenthal, The Rosenthal Family Foundation, Thomas R. Schiff, John J. + Mary R. Schiff Foundation, Rosemary + Mark Schlachter, Stuart + Roz Schloss, Brian Sedra, The Louise Taft Semple Foundation, Mu Sinclaire, Mary Taliaferro, Sara + Michelle Vance Waddell, and Chris Varias.