Disturbance is a new interdisciplinary initiative by The Paseo Project, Del Fuego, and the Forest Stewards Guild, that brings artists, scientists, and community members together to examine wildfire as both a destabilizing force and a generative ecological process. With The PASEO Biennial returning in 2027, Disturbance unfolds as this year’s program of research, creation, and public engagement, culminating in a community exhibition opening August 28, 2026, and continuing through the fall.
Wildfire is rapidly reshaping ecosystems and communities across Northern New Mexico, the Southwest, and beyond. Once an integral cycle of renewal, fire has become increasingly destructive due to climate change, forest mismanagement, and expanding human settlement in fire-prone landscapes. Disturbance resists simplified narratives of catastrophe, instead inviting artists and audiences to grapple with fire as a complex system—one that holds grief, adaptation, resilience, and transformation in tension.
The project began with an open call that brought together a cohort of artists working across disciplines. Selected artists will participate in a Northern New Mexico–based Fire Ecology Boot Camp, a formative, research-driven convening that paired artists with fire practitioners, ecologists, land stewards, and community knowledge holders. Through shared learning, field visits to burn scars and post-fire landscapes, and sustained dialogue, the boot camp established a common foundation from which new creative work could emerge.
Following this immersive experience, artists will return to their home studios to develop new works responding to the ecological, cultural, and emotional dimensions of wildfire. These projects—ranging from installation and sculpture to media-based and participatory works—will be brought together for the public opening of Disturbance on August 28, 2026, launching a multi-month exhibition and program series in Taos.
Throughout the fall, Disturbance will continue to unfold through community-centered programming, including artist-led workshops, public conversations, youth-focused engagements, educational partnerships, and additional events designed to invite reflection, dialogue, and shared learning. These components position Disturbance as a living platform—one that asks how we understand change, how we live with fire, and how creative practice can help communities navigate an uncertain, climate-altered future.
Opening Weekend
Friday, August 28, 2026
5 - 10 PM
Opening Reception
The Gallery @ Hotel Willa , 233 Paseo del Pueblo Sur, Taos, NM
Art Exhibition featuring the eleven participating artists. Food, family activities, music, storytelling, outdoor installations, and screening of Disturbance mini-documentary. Free
Saturday, August 29, 2026
9:30 - 11 AM
Coffee with Disturbance Artists & Scientists
The Gallery @ Hotel Willa , 233 Paseo del Pueblo Sur, Taos, NM
Meet the people behind the work. The Disturbance Team, Artists, and Scientists will be on site.
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11 - 3 PM
Disturbance Field Trips
Carson National Forest, El Valle Burn Scar
Join us in the forest. Disturbance artists and scientists provided walking tours, talks, and activites for the entire family. Bring a picnic lunch and water.
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3 - 5 PM
"Look Up" Artist Workshop
The Gallery @ Hotel Willa , 233 Paseo del Pueblo Sur, Taos, NM
“Look Up” a community art project to nurture appreciation of ephemerality and resilience, with c marquez
Sunday, August 30, 2026
9:30 - 11 AM
Coffee with Disturbance Artists & Scientists
The Gallery @ Hotel Willa , 233 Paseo del Pueblo Sur, Taos, NM
Meet the people behind the work. The Disturbance Team, Artists, and Scientists will be on site.
*
5 PM
Pecha Kucha Night: Disturbance Edition
7K Studios, 36 Espinoza Rd, Ranchos De Taos
4pm doors open, 5pm showtime, after party DJ with tours of 7k, food by Aceq and Drinks by Rolling Still
Disturbance is developed in 2026 as The Paseo Project prepares for the return of the PASEO Festival in a biennial format beginning in 2027, marking a year of deep inquiry, experimentation, and expanded public engagement.
Surface Fire:
Taos Community Foundation
Revolt Gallery
NM Arts
Ground Fire:
The Nusenda Foundation
Chevron
Kindling:
Paradise Power Company
KNCE True Taos Radio
Taos Center For the Arts, Joint Fire Science Program, Taos Soil & Water Conservation District, Village of Questa, New Mexico State Forestry Division, LEAP, UNM-Taos, Friends of the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument, Wild and Scenic Rivers/BLM · US Forest Service, Peñasco Theater, San Jose' De Garcia Church, Taos Soil & Water Conservation District, Rocky Mountain Youth Corps, True Kids 1, La Merced de Santo Tomás Apóstol del Río de Las Trampas, Oregon State University Extension Service, Taos Historic Museums
Special Thank You to:
Nate Cordova, Cecilia Shields, Gerorge Allalunis, Angie Krall, Grace Powell, Wilbert Rodriguez, PechaKucha Taos, The Gonzales, Garcia and Santistevan Families
Educational Partners and Schools:
Taos Charter School, Arroyos Del Norte Elementary School, Anansi Charter School, Taos Academy, Penasco Independent School District, Roots and Wings Community School, Taos Integrated School of the Arts, Enos Elementary School, Ranchos Elementary School, Taos High School, Taos Public Library, Taos Behavioral Health, Questa Independent School District, Taos International School, Red River Valley Elementary School, Taos Day School, Oo-Oo-Nah Art & Cultural Center. Imagine Children’s Museum, Embudo Valley Library. Collaborative Teacher’s Institute
Disturbance: Youth Education is a STEAM-based arts education initiative engaging approximately 25 fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms across Questa, Taos, Ranchos, Taos Pueblo, Lama, Red River, Talpa, and Peñasco. Led by The Paseo Project in partnership with Twirl, the program invites students to explore fire ecology, disturbance science, storytelling, and creative expression through hands-on workshops that integrate science and art.
The Disturbance Education Program
DISTURBANCE A Forest In Motion: A Youth Art and Ecology Event: a four-day community engagement and education event and immersive art installation created by up to 600 students
The Disturbance 2026 Team
Artists:
Rachel Briggs
Nashville, Tennessee
Cori Champagne
Boston, Massachusetts
Avi Farber
Ojo Sarco, New Mexico
Yhoshua Gutierrez
Stockton, California
Juanita Lavadie
Taos, New Mexico
Erika Osborne
Fort Collins, Colorado
Jonathan Warm Day Coming
Taos Pueblo, New Mexico
Mandy Lee
Denver, Colorado
Cedar Rose Silverado
(Holikachuk Dene & Diné)
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Alexis Hagestad
Tucson, Arizona
Scientists:
Pola Lopez
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Jose M. Iniguez
Flagstaff, Arizona
Andrea E Thode
Flagstaff, Arizona
Serra Hoagland
Missoula, Montana
Ellis Q. Margolis
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Camille Stevens-Rumann
Fort Collins, Colorado
Matthew Hurteau
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Disturbance is developed in 2026 as The Paseo Project prepares for the return of the PASEO Festival in a biennial format beginning in 2027, marking a year of deep inquiry, experimentation, and expanded public engagement.
Bootcamp Weekend
In April, the cohort gathered in Taos for an immersive three-day Fire Ecology Boot Camp, visiting burn scars and post-fire landscapes across Northern New Mexico while engaging in conversations around fire history, climate change, land stewardship, adaptation, and ecological transformation.
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The first day of the Disturbance Boot Camp focused on introductions, relationship building, and establishing a shared understanding of wildfire history in Northern New Mexico. Artists and scientists gathered at The Gallery @ Hotel Willa before traveling into the Carson National Forest to visit the La Jara Prescribed Burn, a recently managed low-severity fire site near Taos. Through field observation, walking discussions, and presentations led by fire ecologists Serra Hoagland and Ellis Margolis, participants explored how fire historically functioned as a natural and recurring part of Southwestern forest ecosystems. The day emphasized listening, shared language, and direct engagement with the landscape as the foundation for the collaborative work ahead.
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Humans, Climate, and Forests
Day two examined the increasing intensity and complexity of wildfire in a changing climate. The cohort visited two dramatically different burn sites: the 2023 El Valle Fire and areas impacted by the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon Fire near Serpent Lake. Discussions led by fire ecologists Andi Thode and Matthew Hurteau focused on forest management, climate stress, post-fire recovery, and the growing challenges facing Southwestern ecosystems. Standing within recently burned landscapes, participants reflected on the ecological and emotional dimensions of disturbance while considering how communities adapt to large-scale environmental change.
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Navigating Disturbance Together
The final full day of boot camp focused on resilience, adaptation, and the evolving relationship between people and fire. Participants traveled to the Hondito Fire site, where land managers allowed a naturally ignited fire to burn under monitored conditions as part of a long-term strategy to restore healthier forest systems. Presentations by Camille Stevens-Rumann and Pepe Iniguez explored how ecosystems may resist, recover from, or transition through disturbance over time. The day also included conversations about fire management practices, lived experience, and the realities of working within increasingly unpredictable landscapes.
WHY DISTURBANCE?
In ecology, disturbances are relatively discrete events (things like fires, floods and insect outbreaks) that disrupt the condition of an ecosystem and necessitate recovery and restructuring. Disturbances remove species and alter habitats — often with suddenness and severity. But they are also part of natural cycles that serve to promote new growth and maintain balance.
As the climate changes, disturbances are changing, and are often becoming more intense. In the Southwest think bigger, hotter wildfires or longer, more severe droughts.
While these impacts create instability in ecological and human social systems, they also create opportunities for reorganization — particularly reorganization that leads to, or favors, change towards structures more compatible with emerging climatic realities.
The goal of DISTURBANCE is to acknowledge that our previous relationship with our environment is ill-matched to new conditions and stressors. By pairing leading forest scientists with selected artists (key communicators of social, political and cultural issues), the project will explore disturbances’ past and future role in our ecosystems, and introduce new thinking about how both natural and human systems can adapt to these changes.
RESOURCES:
https://www.taoscountywildfire.org/
Soil And Water Conservation District:
https://taosswcd-nm.gov/
The Paseo Project
The Paseo Project is a Taos-based arts nonprofit that transforms public space through immersive, participatory art experiences. Since 2014, Paseo has hosted international artists, fostered community dialogue, and created programs that connect art, environment, and education. Disturbance builds on this legacy by expanding into interdisciplinary collaborations that address some of the most urgent issues facing our communities today.
Del Fuego
Del Fuego began in 2024 as a single event in Taos designed to expand the conversation around wildfire beyond agencies and experts. It has since evolved to include a variety of creative programming from diverse contributors intended to promote curiosity, nuance and open dialogue regarding the effects of wildfire on land, life, and community in northern New Mexico.
Forest Stewards Guild
Founded in New Mexico 31 years ago, the Forest Stewards Guild is a national non-profit that practices and promotes stewardship to forge a healthy future for people and forests. Our work spans hands-on forest management, research, policy, collaboration, and workforce training, all aimed at helping forests and the communities that depend on them adapt, thrive, and endure.