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Nature, Art, ACTIVISM 233
Sommerer’s project Interactive Plant Growing.” A Hungarian example is Slow animals,
exhibited in the Szombathely Gallery.”!
Environmental activism
Initiated by artists in Los Angeles and Chiapas in the 1990s, its aim is to fuse art and
activism toward the realization of anti-capitalist and anti-globalist goals. Activism and
ecology are integrated in this subcategory of environmental activist art.
Environmental arts therapy, EAT
It is based on the hypothesis of biophilia which means that human beings have a deeply
ingrained love of nature and that human mental development and health need to have
a profound and balanced relationship with other species and with nature (Wilson 1984).
Blending aspects of eco-art and eco-psychology, environmental arts therapy aims to
enhance human health and well-being through (re)connection with the natural world.
It employs countless methods: dramatic performances, drama paedagogy, storytelling,
sculpting with natural materials, etc. Certain therapeutic methods have been elaborated
to handle traumas, for instance war trauma or therapy for (climate change) refugees, etc.
Contemporary indigenous art
It is a branch of environmental art that reaches back to the modes of “artistic” expression
in traditional cultures (aboriginal “dreamtime stories” of Australian culture, rock
drawings, etc.) Often the artists are also members of indigenous communities.
Examples of environmental art in Hungary
Hungarian examples of artists’ ecological activism include the groups xtro realm
and Artists for Climate Consciousness.
The group xtro realm (https://xtrorealm.hu/) has existed since 2017 as a union
of three artists: Gideon Horvath, Rita Siiveges and Anna Zilahi. The name xtro
realm was inspired by French philosopher Quentin Meillassoux’s text Science Fiction
and Extro-Science Fiction. They debuted with the following words: “Xtro realm
have been organizing programs (reading circles, exhibitions, field exercises) for
knowledge sharing and transdisciplinarity which provide access to climate change
and the Anthropocene, the decisive facts of our present, based on neo-realist and
ecological theories criticizing the anthropocentrism of contemporary thought.”
Accordingly, the activity of the group has widespread ramifications: in addition
to exhibitions (see, for example, Unstable State of Things, 2020, Glassyard Gallery,
Budapest)”, they organize reading sessions (Climate imaginary reader: Interdisciplin¬
ary Voices on Ecology and the Climate Crisis) and field trips with the name /magination
7 http://www.interface.ufg.ac.at/christa-laurent/ WORKS/CONCEPTS/PlantsConcept.html
21 https://magyarmuzeumok.hu/cikk/slow-animals-szokatlanul-izgalmas-kiallitas-a-szombathelyi¬
keptarban
https://xtrorealm.hu/.
The exhibited works reflected upon the irreversible consequences of the ecological crisis, which
permeate all fields of life.
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