Einat Imber’s first solo exhibition, Continental Drift, marks the 100th anniversary of Alfred Wegener’s theory that the separate continents we know today were once part of a single land mass which split and drifted apart. In Imber’s installation this geological phenomenon is re-choreographed by live tortoises.

Continental Drift features six tortoises, roaming haphazardly through a natural habitat contained within a globe-shaped structure. As in a museum diorama, a panoramic landscape is painted on the inner walls, continuing the topography of rocks, dirt and plants that cover the ground. Each tortoise carries on its back a model of one of the earth’s continents, resuming its mythical role of bearing the world atop its round shell.

Einat Imber is a 2011-12 A.I.R. Fellowship Artist.