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NATURE, ÁRT, ACTIVISM 231
Reflection, participation, regeneration
In researching guestions of art and sustainability, Sasha Kagan discerns six
characteristic features of eco-art (Kagan 2012):
1. an emphasis on ecological relationships,
. dialogue with scientific concepts, principles, and methods,
. connections to the natural elements of water, air, rock, and soil,
. the restoration of degraded habitats,
. a commitment to educating the public on ecological issues through art,
. the formulation of new possibilities for interspecies ethics, community
transformation, urban sustainability and personal healing.
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In contemporary environmental art, nature is both a partner and an entity in need
of protection. Nature used to be immense and strong, open to us to be tamed and
cultivated; it was Mother Earth, on whose strength and fertility the fate of human
communities depended. By the present day, she has become fragile, in need of
protection and treatment, of help (Andrews 1999: 213). Environmental art has
the task of reflecting on contemporary environmental problems and supporting
the process of regeneration.
Environmental art is first and foremost a process of reflection: the artist queries
and criticizes the unreflective social thoughts and acts underlying the ecological
questions and invites the viewers to do likewise. It urges us to think about our
moral responsibility and to enter into partnership with the non-human world.
(Furthermore, this partnership ought to be extended to the future generations,
too, for life today is not at all being lived in a responsible way concerning the life
and future of our offspring.) The art critic Ruth Wallen describes eco-art as art
“grounded in an ecological ethic and systems theory, addressing the web of
interrelationships between the physical, biological, cultural, political, and historical
aspects of the ecosystems” (Wallen 2012: 235). In her view, eco-art has brought
environmental awareness into artistic practices by also addressing the socio-political
forces which influence the natural world.
In the creative process, environmental artists regard nature as their collaborator
and interpret their works as living organisms which come to life, grow, and perish.
It is perfectly exemplified by Agnes Denes’s above-mentioned Wheatfield —
A Confrontation. Another early work is Barry Thomas's Vacant Lot of Cabbages
(1978)'® In an environmentally degraded site in Wellington, New Zealand, he
planted 180 heads of cabbage in a pattern that traced the word Cabbage. Later,
the local council planted the lot with trees: the art project has completed its mission.
Ecological art typically demands that detached viewers become active
participants, which not only means interpretation, but also actual physical
participation. Let us think of Agnes Denes’ example of Tree Mountain: A Living
Time Capsule in Finland, which meant 11 thousand people planting 11 thousand
trees. Art critics also see eco-art as creative practice, but participation also means
involvement in reflecting on the work and its ethical principles and sharing its
social critical attitude.
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