part 2.0: ECO Art
My first exposure to ECO art was Andy Goldsworthy's photographs of sculptures set in lush environments and documented / packaged in gorgeous, oversize coffee table books. The second time was Joseph Beuys book "Energy Plan for the Western Man." As Joan Rothfuss, a curator from the Walker Art Center writes:
Overlay: Contemporary Art and the Art of Prehistory -Lucy Lippard
Conversations Before the End of Time, Suzi Gablik
part 2.1: Recent ECO Art Books and Culture
In the past few years there has been a renaissance of environmentally oriented exhibitions, books, websites, and artist work focused on themes centered around ecological issues. This includes ICP's exhibit Ecotopia: The Second ICP Triennial of Photography and Video from 2006. The catalog is filled with lovely photographs that look at, around, above, and inside the relationship of humans and nature. The lead into the pictures is entitled Ecotopia: A Virtual Round table and consists of "woven personal conversations, faxes, emails, group discussions, etc.," which reads like a long blog distilled to semi-grouped topics.
My first exposure to ECO art was Andy Goldsworthy's photographs of sculptures set in lush environments and documented / packaged in gorgeous, oversize coffee table books. The second time was Joseph Beuys book "Energy Plan for the Western Man." As Joan Rothfuss, a curator from the Walker Art Center writes:
"Beuys named the lecture tour "Energy Plan for the Western Man" and saw it as a chance to reinvigorate an enervated Western culture that was on the brink (at least in the United States) of an "energy crisis." He said he wanted to talk about "the whole question of potential, the possibility that everybody has now to do his own particular kind of art, his own work, for the new social organization. Creativity is national income." The trip was the beginning of a relationship with American audiences that continues, even after the artist's death, to be controversial, stimulating, and energetic."
I was moved by the writings of Beuys and found his passion compelling as an ideology. While Beuys work appeared to have nothing to do with the physical art I was educated to make, his optimism and humanity struck me as deep, soul filled, and wise with such quotes as:
"To make people free is the aim of art, therefore art for me is the science of freedom "
or
"I think the tree is an element of regeneration which in itself is a concept of time. "
or
"I think the tree is an element of regeneration which in itself is a concept of time. "
In the broadest sense, ecology (or ECO) refers to the notion of "friendly to the environment." When one is talking about such a broad term as ECO, it is perhaps important to distinguish the context. ECO in the arts means something different then ECO in such movements, as for example, deep ecology. Hence ECO, or environmental friendly art has its roots most distinctly in the 1960's (though I am sure it can be traced much farther back) with such movements as land arts, site specific art, installation, performance, feminist art, etc. An important book that discusses these works is of course Lucy Lippard's Overlay. In my mind, this is still the quintessential historical guide and resource on artist working with issues of the environment and ecology.
Overlay: Contemporary Art and the Art of Prehistory -Lucy LippardAnother interesting book is Suzi Gablik's Conversations Before the End of Time from 1995. Gablik asks many questions in the spirit of ecology. Her book is full of questions and is committed to a holistic way of looking at the world. She is skeptical of the institutions of art and specifically modernism and its affects. She reaches out with an interdisciplinary approach by not just artists, but poets, historians, writers, philosophers, etc. that share a passion and consciousness for life and often change.
Conversations Before the End of Time, Suzi Gablikpart 2.1: Recent ECO Art Books and Culture
In the past few years there has been a renaissance of environmentally oriented exhibitions, books, websites, and artist work focused on themes centered around ecological issues. This includes ICP's exhibit Ecotopia: The Second ICP Triennial of Photography and Video from 2006. The catalog is filled with lovely photographs that look at, around, above, and inside the relationship of humans and nature. The lead into the pictures is entitled Ecotopia: A Virtual Round table and consists of "woven personal conversations, faxes, emails, group discussions, etc.," which reads like a long blog distilled to semi-grouped topics.
Ecotopia linkThere are compelling photos in the catalog (I did not actually see the physical exhibit) with some of my photo heroes including Robert Adams. Equally, I found the catalog vacuous in terms of gaining any real knowledge. The large, diverse collections of photos left me feeling as through I just looked through a combination of National Geographic Magazine, a hip, contemporary design book, and an activist manual. It reads like a illustrated concept that perhaps represents a moment in time or zeitgeist of the age.
The catalog Ecovention: Current Art to Transform Ecologies hails from the exhibition by the same title originally held at the Contemporary Art Center in Cincinnati. The books design and feel has a ECO-Aesthetic in terms of design, color, and fonts. Its focal point is more in line with activism, hence while one is looking, you also feel active vs. passive. The catalog reads "Coined in 1999, ecovention (ecology+invention) describes artist-initiated projects that employ an inventive strategy to physically transform a local ecology."
The catalog Ecovention: Current Art to Transform Ecologies hails from the exhibition by the same title originally held at the Contemporary Art Center in Cincinnati. The books design and feel has a ECO-Aesthetic in terms of design, color, and fonts. Its focal point is more in line with activism, hence while one is looking, you also feel active vs. passive. The catalog reads "Coined in 1999, ecovention (ecology+invention) describes artist-initiated projects that employ an inventive strategy to physically transform a local ecology."
Ecovention websiteThe book is broken down into such sections as valuing anew, biodiversity, reclamation and restoration aesthetics, etc. and is complete with a short history of ecoventions. The catalog/exhibit innately feels as much educational as artistic. While a book/exhibit such as Ecotopia has a cool, detached kind of personae, Ecovention cuts to the heart of the matter and deals with the issues dead on. Ecovention was co-sponsored by the Green Museum.
This online museum emerged from our own experiences making environmental art and from seeing firsthand some the challenges facing artists, community groups, nonprofit organizations and arts institutions when it came to presenting and discussing environmental art.
Linda Weintraub recently wrote a series of educational books /materials oriented towards ecological issues. The publisher was kind enough to send me a review copy of ECO Centric Topics: Pioneering themes for eco-art, one of three books from the series. The sections in Eco Centric include topics such as desire, newness, power, nature, globalism, diversity, mercy, death, decay, and dirt.
ECO Centric Topics, Cycle-Logical Art, Environ Mentalities, from the series Avant-Guardians by Weintraub
ECO centric is the most problematic book of the three I have just mentioned. While the authors intentions appear to be noble, many of the artist she includes appear to me, the antithesis of ECO art. Weintraub appears to simply be repackaging artists under a new context, ECO. My particular favorite is Damien Hirst. While I am a fan of his work, and he does use nature, it seems a stretch of how far or how little the notion of ecology can be interpreted when talking about work centered around ECO themes. I would argue that Hirst work has much more to do with the culture of art, commodity, the cult of the artist, scandal making, and myth making, then ecology. While I guess it is important that there are such pedagogical materials available as Eco Centric, maybe when you get down to it, a certain amount of skepticism has to occur when artists are re-packaged as ecologically centered in order to sell books. Does this mean I am then suggesting ECO art has to be modest, earthy, and crunchy? Perhaps. But more importantly, where is the integrity in the choice of the artists, particularly in the context of the larger themes and issues in their work?
The thin white duke embodies a great metaphor of changing with the times. David Bowie has always been adept at reinventing himself and evolving with trends. The questions we need to ask is, are we satisfied with the newest make-over, or are we ready for something completely new.
The thin white duke embodies a great metaphor of changing with the times. David Bowie has always been adept at reinventing himself and evolving with trends. The questions we need to ask is, are we satisfied with the newest make-over, or are we ready for something completely new.
David Bowie, Changes lyricsAnd my time was running wild
A million dead-end streets
Every time I thought I'd got it made
It seems the taste was not so sweet
So I turned myself to face me
But I've never caught a glimpse
Of how the others must see the faker
I'm much too fast to take that test
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
Ch-ch-changes
Don't have to be a richer man
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
Ch-ch-changes
Don't want to be a better man
Time may change me
But I can't trace time
I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
So the days flow through my eyes
But the days still seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consolations
They're quite aware of what they're going through
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
Ch-ch-changes
Don't tell them to grow up and out of it
Ch-ch-changes
Where's your shame
You've left us up to our necks in it
Time may change them
But you can't trace time
Strange fascination, fascinating me
Changes are taking the pace I'm going through
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
Ch-ch-changes
Look out you rock 'n' rollers
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
Ch-ch-changes
Pretty soon you're gonna get a little older
Time may change me
But I can't trace time
