Ecological art is an art genre and artistic practice that seeks to preserve, remediate and/or vitalize the life forms, resources and

ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

of Earth. Ecological art practitioners do this by applying the principles of

ecosystems An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

to living species and their habitats throughout the

lithosphere A lithosphere () is the rigid, outermost rocky shell of a terrestrial planet or natural satellite. On Earth, it is composed of the crust (geology), crust and the portion of the upper mantle (geology), mantle that behaves elastically on time sca ...

atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A s ...

biosphere The biosphere (from Greek βίος ''bíos'' "life" and σφαῖρα ''sphaira'' "sphere"), also known as the ecosphere (from Greek οἶκος ''oîkos'' "environment" and σφαῖρα), is the worldwide sum of all ecosystems. It can also be ...

, and

hydrosphere The hydrosphere () is the combined mass of water found on, under, and above the surface of a planet, minor planet, or natural satellite. Although Earth's hydrosphere has been around for about 4 billion years, it continues to change in shape. This ...

, including wilderness, rural, suburban and urban locations. Ecological art is a distinct genre from

Environmental art Environmental art is a range of artistic practices encompassing both historical approaches to nature in art and more recent ecological and politically motivated types of works. Environmental art has evolved away from formal concerns, for example ...

in that it involves functional ecological systems-restoration, as well as socially engaged, activist, community-based interventions. Ecological art also addresses politics, culture, economics, ethics and aesthetics as they impact the conditions of ecosystems. Ecological art practitioners include artists, scientists, philosophers and activists who often collaborate on restoration, remediation and public awareness projects.

Historical precedents

Art historical precedents include

environmental art Environmental art is a range of artistic practices encompassing both historical approaches to nature in art and more recent ecological and politically motivated types of works. Environmental art has evolved away from formal concerns, for example ...

, earthworks,

land art Land art, variously known as Earth art, environmental art, and Earthworks, is an art movement that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s, largely associated with Great Britain and the United StatesArt in the modern era: A guide to styles, schools, & mov ...

sustainable art Sustainable art is art in harmony with the key principles of sustainability, which include ecology, social justice, non-violence and grassroots democracy. Sustainable art may also be understood as art that is produced with consideration for the wide ...

landscape painting Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a coherent compos ...

, and

landscape photography Landscape photography shows the spaces within the world, sometimes vast and unending, but other times microscopic. Landscape photographs typically capture the presence of nature but can also focus on man-made features or disturbances of landscapes ...

. While historical examples may reach back to neolithic times, according to the history published in the book, ''Ecovention: current art to transform ecologies'', a short list of key works include

Herbert Bayer Herbert Bayer (April 5, 1900 – September 30, 1985) was an Austrian and American graphic designer, painter, photographer, sculptor, art director, environmental and interior designer, and architect. He was instrumental in the development of the ...

's ''Grass Mound'' (1955) at the Aspen Art Institute, Aspen, CO;

Joseph Beuys Joseph Heinrich Beuys ( , ; 12 May 1921 – 23 January 1986) was a German artist, teacher, performance artist, and art theorist whose work reflected concepts of humanism, sociology, and anthroposophy. He was a founder of a provocative art mov ...

1962 proposed action to clean up the Elbe River in Hamburg, German;

Hans Haacke Hans Haacke (born August 12, 1936) is a German-born artist who lives and works in New York City. Haacke is considered a "leading exponent" of Institutional Critique. Early life Haacke was born in Cologne, Germany. He studied at the '' Staatlic ...

's 1965 manifesto for time-based, "natural", dynamic indeterminate art;

Nicolas Uriburu Nicolas or Nicolás may refer to: People Given name * Nicolas (given name) Mononym * Nicolas (footballer, born 1999), Brazilian footballer * Nicolas (footballer, born 2000), Brazilian footballer Surname Nicolas * Dafydd Nicolas (c.1705–1774), ...

's 1968 performance "Green Power, coloration Grand Canal - Venice" and

Agnes Denes Agnes Denes (Dénes Ágnes; born 1931 in Budapest) is a Hungarian-born American conceptual artist based in New York. She is known for works in a wide range of media—from poetry and philosophical writings to extremely detailed drawings, sculpt ...

's 1968 performance, ''Haiku Poetry Burial, Rice Planting and Tree Chaining/Exercises in Eco-Logic'', in Sullivan County, New York. 1969 was a watershed year for ecological art practices. Landmark accomplishments include Haacke's ''Grass Grows'' in Ithaca, NY;

Alan Sonfist Alan Sonfist is a New York City based American artist best known as a "pioneer" and a "trailblazer" of the Land or Earth Art movement. He first gained prominence for his "Time Landscape" found on the corner of West Houston Street and LaGuardia P ...

's activities articulating the significance of native forests in urban areas; and his action to monitor air quality in New York City.

Betty Beaumont Betty Beaumont (born January 8, 1946) is a Canadian-American site-specific and conceptual installation artist, sculptor, and photographer. She is an internationally recognized artist known to explore cross-disciplinary media, interweaving the e ...

documented the clean-up of what was the worst U.S. ocean oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, while

Mierle Laderman Ukeles Mierle Laderman Ukeles (born 1939) is a New York City-based artist known for her feminist and service-oriented artworks, which relate the idea of process in conceptual art to domestic and civic "maintenance". She has been the Artist-in-Residence a ...

wrote ''Manifesto for Maintenance Art'' (Spaid) In 1969, the John Gibson Gallery in New York city mounted the exhibition, Ecologic Art, that included the work of

Will Insley Will Insley (October 15, 1929 – August 12, 2011) was an American painter, architect, and planner of utopian urban models. As a painter of geometric abstraction, he is known for his large-area geometrical picture elements. Biography Insley stu ...

Claes Oldenburg Claes Oldenburg (January 28, 1929 – July 18, 2022) was a Swedish-born American sculptor, best known for his public art installations typically featuring large replicas of everyday objects. Another theme in his work is soft sculpture versions ...

Christo Christo Vladimirov Javacheff (1935–2020) and Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon (1935–2009), known as Christo and Jeanne-Claude, were artists noted for their large-scale, site-specific art, site-specific environmental art, environmental art i ...

Peter Hutchinson Peter Hutchinson (born December 17, 1949) is an Politics of the United States, American politician, businessperson, businessman and philanthropy, philanthropy executive from the U.S. state of Minnesota. He ran as the Independence Party of Minnes ...

Dennis Oppenheim Dennis Oppenheim (September 6, 1938 – January 21, 2011) was an American conceptual artist, performance artist, earth artist, sculptor and photographer. Dennis Oppenheim's early artistic practice is an epistemological questioning about the nat ...

, Robert Morris,

Robert Smithson Robert Smithson (January 2, 1938 – July 20, 1973) was an American artist known for sculpture and land art who often used drawing and photography in relation to the spatial arts. His work has been internationally exhibited in galleries and m ...

Carl Andre Carl Andre (born September 16, 1935) is an American minimalist artist recognized for his ordered linear and grid format sculptures and for the suspected murder of contemporary and wife, Ana Mendieta. His sculptures range from large public art ...

Jan Dibbets Jan Dibbets (born 9 May 1941, in Weert) is an Amsterdam-based Dutch conceptual artist. His work is influenced by mathematics and works mainly with photography. Life and career In the late 1950s and early 1960s, he started as an art teacher at the ...

, and Richard Long. In 1969–1970,

Helen Mayer Harrison and Newton Harrison The Harrison Studio consists of Helen Mayer Harrison (1927–2018) and Newton Harrison (1932–2022) who are among the earliest and the best known social and environmental artists. Often simply referred to as “The Harrisons”, Helen and Newton ...

collaborated on mapping endangered species around the world. From 1972 to 1979, Helen and Newton Harrison realize seven projects designed for and about lagoons in California. In 1971, artist

Bonnie Sherk Bonnie Ora Sherk (née Bonnie Ora Kellner; May 18, 1945 – August 8, 2021) was an American landscape-space artist, performance artist, landscape planner, and educator. She was the founder of ''The Farm'', and ''A Living Library''. Sherk was a ...

performs ''Public Lunch with the Animals'' in the Lion House of the

San Francisco Zoo The San Francisco Zoo is a zoo located in the southwestern corner of San Francisco, California, between Lake Merced and the Pacific Ocean along the Great Highway. The SF Zoo is a public institution, managed by the non-profit San Francisco Zoologi ...

. She went on to found The Farm (also known as Crossroads Community in 1974 in San Francisco. The project involved growing edible crops as environmental sculpture; livestock were also raised there and it also served as a performance art venue and community education center.Blankenship, Jana. "The Farm by the Freeway". In Auther, Elissa, and Lerner, Adam, eds. (2012)
''West of Center: Art and the Counterculture Experiment in America, 1965–1977
University of Minnesota Press. The 1972 essay, ''Art and Ecological Consciousness'' by

György Kepes György Kepes �ɟøɾɟ ˈkɛpɛʃ(October 4, 1906 – December 29, 2001) was a Hungarian-born painter, photographer, designer, educator, and art theorist. After immigrating to the U.S. in 1937, he taught design at the New Bauhaus (later the Sc ...

in his book, ''Arts of the Environment''. presents the genre as distinct from environmental art. In the 1992 exhibition and book, ''Fragile Ecologies: Contemporary Artists' Interpretations and Solutions,'' art historian, Dr. Barbara Matilsky differentiates ecological art from environmental art in that the former has ethical underpinnings. In 1993, a workshop and exhibition, specifically about ecological systems and art, was presented by Don Krug, Renee Miller and Barbara Westfall at the

Society for Ecological Restoration The Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) is a conservation organization based in the United States, supporting a "global community of restoration professionals that includes researchers, practitioners, decision-makers, and community leaders". Th ...

in Irvine, California. The term ''

ecovention Ecovention was a term invented by Amy Lipton and Sue Spaid in 1999 to refer to an ecological art intervention in environmental degradation. The Ecovention movement in art is associated with land art, earthworks, and environmental art, and landsc ...

'', was coined in 1999 as a conjunction of the words ecology and intervention, in conjunction with an exhibition of the same name curated by Amy Lipton and Sue Spaid, representing artist's projects that use inventive strategies to physically transform a local ecology. In a 2006 UNESCO research report for the Art in Ecology think tank on arts and sustainability, "Mapping the Terrain of Contemporary EcoArt Practice and Collaboration," the artist Beth Carruthers uses the term Ecoart. A current definition of ecological art drafted collectively by the EcoArt Network of international artists, founded in 1998, is: "Ecological Art is an art practice that embraces an ethic of social justice in both its content and form/materials. EcoArt is created to inspire caring and respect, stimulate dialogue, and encourage the long-term flourishing of the social and natural environments in which we live. It commonly manifests as socially engaged, activist, community-based restorative or interventionist art."

Theories

The 2012 book, ''Toward Global (Environ)Mental Change - Transformative Art and Cultures of Sustainability'', proposes that the global crisis of unsustainability is a disruption of the ''hardware'' of civilization, as well as a crisis of the ''software'' of the human mind. The 2004 book, ''Ecological aesthetics: art in environmental design: theory and practice'', presents an analysis of a variety of tendencies and approaches to landscape architecture, science and theory that inform research and the transformation of the landscape for over thirty years. Green Arts Web, compiled by

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

senior librarian, Mo Dawley, is a compendium of core readings on contemporary environmental art, ecological art and theory (20th century to the present) that includes, among other sub-categories, for example,

deep ecology Deep ecology is an environmental philosophy that promotes the inherent worth of all living beings regardless of their instrumental utility to human needs, and the restructuring of modern human societies in accordance with such ideas. Deep ecolo ...

practices;

ecofeminism Ecofeminism is a branch of feminism and political ecology. Ecofeminist thinkers draw on the concept of gender to analyse the relationships between humans and the natural world. The term was coined by the French writer Françoise d'Eaubonne in h ...

;

ecopsychology Ecopsychology is an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinarity field that focuses on the synthesis of ecology and psychology and the promotion of sustainability. It is distinguished from conventional psychology as it focuses on studying the emotion ...

;

land ethic A land ethic is a philosophy or theoretical framework about how, ethically, humans should regard the land. The term was coined by Aldo Leopold (1887–1948) in his ''A Sand County Almanac'' (1949), a classic text of the environmental movement. The ...

and

bioregionalism Bioregionalism is a philosophy that suggests that political, cultural, and economic systems are more sustainable and just if they are organized around naturally defined areas called bioregions, similar to ecoregions. Bioregions are defined throug ...

;

sense of place The term sense of place has been used in many different ways. It is a multidimensional, complex construct used to characterize the relationship between people and spatial settings. It is a characteristic that some geographic places have and some ...

; and

systems thinking Systems thinking is a way of making sense of the complexity of the world by looking at it in terms of wholes and relationships rather than by splitting it down into its parts. It has been used as a way of exploring and developing effective actio ...

Principles

Artists considered to be working within this field subscribe to one or more of the following principles: * ''Focus'' on the web of interrelationships in our environment—on the physical, biological, cultural, political, and historical aspects of ecological systems. * ''Create'' works that employ natural materials or engage with environmental forces such as wind, water, or sunlight. * ''Reclaim'', restore, and remediate damaged environments. * ''Inform'' the public about ecological dynamics and the environmental problems we face. * ''Revise'' ecological relationships, creatively proposing new possibilities for coexistence, sustainability, and healing.

Approaches

Ecological art involves numerous diverse approaches, including: *

Representational art Representation is the use of signs that stand in for and take the place of something else.Mitchell, W. 1995, "Representation", in F Lentricchia & T McLaughlin (eds), ''Critical Terms for Literary Study'', 2nd edn, University of Chicago Press, Chica ...

work: reveals information and conditions through image-making and object-making with the intention of stimulating dialogue. * Remediation projects: reclaim or restore polluted and disrupted environments – these artists often work with environmental scientists, landscape architects and urban planners. * Activist and protest art: engage, inform, energize and activate change of behaviors and/or public policy. *

Social sculpture Social sculpture is a phrase used to describe an expanded concept of art that was invented by the artist and co-founder of the German Green Party, Joseph Beuys. Beuys created the term "social sculpture" to embody his understanding of art's potential ...

s: are socially engaged, time-based artwork that involve communities in monitoring their landscapes, and take a participatory role in sustainable practices and lifestyles. * Ecopoetic art: initiate a re-envisioning of the natural world, inspiring co-existence with other species. * Direct encounter artworks: utilize natural phenomena such as water, weather, sunlight, plants, etc. * Didactic or pedagogical works: share information about environmental injustice and ecological problems such as water and soil pollution and health hazards through education. * Lived-and-relational aesthetics: involve sustainable, off-the-grid, permaculture existences.

Orientations

Contemporary ecological art has been articulated across interdisciplinary and scholarly groups in terms of life-centered issues, community participation, public dialogue, and ecological sustainability. In 1996, the educator and activist, Don Krug identified concepts frequently addressed by ecological artists that can be used by to interpret ecological perspectives and practices. The following four orientations were identified: Environmental Design, Ecological Design, Social Restoration, and Ecological Restoration. *

Environmental design Environmental design is the process of addressing surrounding environmental parameters when devising plans, programs, policies, buildings, or products. It seeks to create spaces that will enhance the natural, social, cultural and physical environm ...

Sustainable design Environmentally sustainable design (also called environmentally conscious design, eco-design, etc.) is the philosophy of designing physical objects, the built environment, and services to comply with the principles of ecological sustainability ...

– Some artists work with nature as a resource for particular aesthetic endeavors. Artists with an orientation to environmental design are interested in achieving particular formal aesthetic effects. In the 1980s and 90s, artists, architects, designers, and civil engineers explored ways to link art, aesthetics, ecology, and culture. *

Ecological design Ecological design or ecodesign is an approach to designing products and services that gives special consideration to the environmental impacts of a product over its entire lifecycle. Sim Van der Ryn and Stuart Cowan define it as "any form of de ...

– Artists who work in the area of ecological design create art that is contingent on direct experiences and interactions with a particular place where the art is created. An ecological view of design considers the artwork within larger contexts of how people, plants, and animals are interconnected with each other, the site, and/or the earth. *

Ecological restoration Restoration ecology is the scientific study supporting the practice of ecological restoration, which is the practice of renewing and restoring degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystems and habitats in the environment by active human interrupt ...

– Some artists attempt to alert viewers to environmental issues and problems through scientific exploration and educational documentation. They seek to restore fragile places and educate the public to the systemic character of bioregions through the use of communication, ritual, and performance. Some ecological artists engage people directly in activities or actions by confronting environmentally unhealthy practices with social, ethical, and moral ecological concerns. * Social restoration – An ecological ethic where humans live in relationship to larger communities of life to catalyze socially responsible artwork. Socio-ecological artists critically examine everyday life experiences. These artists scrutinize relations of power that produce community tensions about ecological issues.

References

Bibliography

* Adams, Clive, Environmental Art: A Brief Introduction Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural World, 2002. * Beardsley, John. Earthworks and Beyond: Contemporary Art in the Landscape, Abbeville Press, 1989 and 2008. * Berleant, Arnold, ed., Environment and the Arts. Ashgate, 2002. * Braddock, Alan C. A Keener Perception: Ecocritical Studies in American Art History, University of Alabama Press, 2009. * Boetzkes, Amanda. The Ethics of Earth Art. Minneapolis; London: University of Minnesota Press, 2010. * Brown, Andrew, Art & Ecology Now, Thames & Hudson, 2014. * Cheetham, Mark A. Landscape into Eco Art: Articulations of Nature since the '60s. Penn State UP, 2018. * Demos, T.J. and Francesco Manacorda, Radical Nature: Art and Architecture for a Changing Planet, Walter Koenig, 2010. * Giannachi, Gabriella and Nigel Stewart, eds. Performing Nature: Explorations in Ecology and the Arts , Peter Lang, 2005. * Kagan, Sasha and Volker Kirchberg, Sustainability: A New Frontier For The Arts And Cultures, Verlag Fur Akademisch, 2008. * Kastner, Jeffrey, ed. Nature (Whitechapel: Documents of Contemporary Art) 2012. * Lippard, Lucy. Undermining a Wild Ride Through Land Use, Politics, and Art in the Changing West. The New Press, 2014. * Marsching, Jane and Andrea Polli, eds. Far Field: Digital Culture, Climate Change and the Poles, Intellect, 2012. * Miles, Malcolm, Eco-Aesthetics: Art, Literature and Architecture in a Period of Climate Change (Radical Aesthetics, Radical Art), 2014. * Smith, Stephanie and Victor Margolin, eds. Beyond Green, Smart Museum of Art, 2007. * Sonfist, Alan, Nature, the End of Art: Environmental Landscapes , Gli Ori, 2004. * Strelow, Heike. Ecological Aesthetics: Art in Environmental Design: Theory and Practice. Initiated by Herman Prigann. Birkhäuser, 2004. * Szerszyski B, W. Heim W & C. Waterton. Nature Performed: Environment, Culture and Performance. Blackwell, 2003.

External links

ecoartnetwork.org
{{environmental humanities Visual arts genres Environmental art Contemporary art