ABSTRACT

Keywords: nature, ecology, interventions, ecoactivism, Eco-Activist art

This presentation focuses on observations of an historical nature as well as considering emerging patterns in our individual and collective attitude to Nature, ecology and the environment. The dialectics also bring into relat the significance and future implications of a variety of initiatives by environmental art activists. Nature may be considered as the world of living organism and their environment; in a larger sense the shape of Nature can also be understood to include particular extents of space and time. These perspectives form a very specific thread that begins with the earliest depictions of Nature, the oldest theme in the history of art, and manifests today in the radical contributions of the Eco-Activist art movement. Contrary to popular belief, human interference with the environment dates back a long time, well before the advent of the modern period and its ‘new’ preoccupation with ecological harmony. While today the media as well as the general public seem pre-occupied with catastrophic predictions of global warming, – climate change has been a compelling factor for social collapse around the world for many centuries. Since the second half of the 20th century dramatic shifts have occurred in our attitudes and in the arts towards Nature. More specifically, over the past decades there has been a critical transition from passive representation to pro-active movements. Art today not only integrates new technologies and unconventional materials but it also blurs the boundaries between everyday life and art. Case studies will illustrate the new attitudes, to be compared with traditional approaches by indigenous people on different continents. The main goal of contemporary Eco-activist art is to re-Frame complex issues so that they maintain essential meaning while the process itself facilitates attitude changes to the environment – mainly through positive social innovation leading to social change.

• Nina Czegled (Hungary), University of Toronto / Concordia University, Montreal, Canada

Full text (PDF) p. 361-362