This program introduces viewers to four artists whose works pose questions about the relationships between nature and culture: Ursula von Rydingsvard, Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Robert Adams and Mark Dion.

This program introduces viewers to four artists whose works pose questions about the relationships between nature and culture. Ursula von Rydingsvard works primarily with cedar to create large-scale structures. Drawing from her childhood memories of growing up in WWII Polish refugee camps, she creates massive wooden sculptures, which often resemble bowls, tools and walls, and echo the raw, wooden barracks in which her family was forced to live. Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle's technologically sophisticated sculptures and video installations employ natural forms such as clouds and icebergs, as well as objects including an umbrella and bullfight ring, as metaphors for understanding difficult social issues, from immigration and gun violence to human cloning. For photographer Robert Adams, inspiration comes from the American West. Through his compelling black-and-white images, he documents scenes and landscapes - from a stripped forest to a sprawling suburban neighborhood - that are beautiful yet disturbing and strike a balance between sober documentation and somber indignation. Mark Dion lives amongst "the world of stuff," collecting materials from flea markets and yard sales for his installations and public projects - many of which explore our ideas and assumptions about nature. Inspired and intrigued by scientists, natural history museums and laboratory procedures, Dion's works include an elaborate vivarium in Seattle for which he constructed a greenhouse to protect and keep alive a fallen tree and its surroundings - a tribute to and appreciation for the complexities of our natural system.