Because artists have long held a dynamic relationship with nature, the partnership of art and sustainability is not new-- but undoubtedly an effective one.
One might argue that various forms of visual and interactive media probe provocative concepts and tap emotions in a way that cold hard facts seldom do. Perhaps art is better than stale newscasts or colorless website copy (Celsias of course is the exception!).
The creative nature prevalent in the artistic community makes it a potential front runner in the movement to evoke reaction and change in almost any respect. The RSA Arts and Ecology Centre in England is taking the conceptual reins in this ecological endeavor, while the A & D Gallery at Columbia College in Chicago is taking the physical reins with its recent exhibit Criteria.
According to their website, the RSA Arts and Ecology Centre aims to"catalyse, publicise, challenge and support artists who are responding to the unprecedented environmental challenges of our era." A hearty collection of events, news, media and much, much more, this organization illuminates the concept of artistic impact on social change in an interesting, even passionate way.
The question is pointedly asked: Can art lead on carbon reductions? in a recent blog post, with the author pressing for action, asking for ideas and strategies while noting some already-in-motion initiatives (like TATE and Julie's Bicycle).
The industrial revolution, a seemingly endless supply of non-renewable energy as well as an exponentially multiplying population put us collectively in a denial-filled bubble that many of the artists and designers in this Columbia College exhibit are attempting to pop and reform.
Confronting our inability to grasp the concepts of disposability and non-disposability, Ricochet Studios present a collection of ceramic vases shaped like milk cartons in Best Before.
Taking this concept a step or two further, Craig Zucker displays his product from Tap'dNY which is literally bottled New York tap water. Aiming to highlight the concept of local, and to sideswipe the traditional concept of mischievous marketing, they use lines such as "No glaciers were harmed in the making of this water" and "we do not deliver to Fiji or France- they can keep their water and we'll keep ours." An ‘anti-bottled-water bottled water is still a bottled water (not so great), but the product is progress and the sentiment even more so.
Again to possibly address the concept of a seemingly endless yet truly finite supply of energy, Cristian Metzner and Aylin Kayser's Ikarus depicts a wax lamp that melts with use.
A more obvious but no less compelling work is the I.V. plant pot, feeding the sickened plant as if a patient in the hospital. Or the pipeline piercing the eagle's head in Jason Middlebrook's Alaskan Pipe Line.
Curators Jimena Acosta and Emiliano Godoy describe the exhibit as more than a showcase for eco-art but more "about sustainability. It is not about green design, ecology or environmentalism. It's about humanity and it's incapability to sustain its habits and culture for future generations."
Keep an eye on these curators as well as the Art and Ecology Centre- both are opening the door to endless possibilities.
Related Reading:
Art as an Activism Tool
We the People
