Sustainable art is art in harmony with the key principles of

sustainability Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livi ...

, which include

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 overl ...

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals ...

non-violence Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...

and

grassroots democracy Grassroots democracy is a tendency towards designing political processes that shift as much decision-making authority as practical to the organization's lowest geographic or social level of organization. Grassroots organizations can have a v ...

. Sustainable art may also be understood as art that is produced with consideration for the wider impact of the work and its reception in relationship to its environments (social, economic, biophysical, historical and cultural).

History

According to the contemporary art historians and curators Maja and Reuben Fowkes, the origins of sustainable art can be traced to the

conceptual art Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes called ins ...

of the late 1960s and early 1970s, with its stress on dematerialisation and questioning of the functioning of the art system. They also connect the rise of the concept of sustainability to the ending of the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

in 1989 and the emergence of a new awareness of the global character of ecological and social problems. Sustainable art adopts, according to these authors, a critical position towards some key practitioners in the

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 ...

movement of the 1960s, who showed little concern for the environmental consequences of treating the landscape like a giant canvas with a bulldozer for a brush. They have questioned the

polemical Polemic () is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called ''polemics'', which are seen in arguments on controversial topics ...

division between 'autonomous' and 'instrumental' art originating with

modernism Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...

, arguing that it is 'autonomy that gives art, as well as artists as social actors, the potential to be free and able to offer alternatives to dominant ideological paradigms.' Since 2005 there is a Sustainable Arts

Biennale Biennale (), Italian for "biennial" or "every other year", is any event that happens every two years. It is most commonly used within the art world to describe large-scale international contemporary art exhibitions. As such the term was popular ...

running at

Ihlienworth Ihlienworth (in High German, in Low Saxon: Helmworth) is a municipality in the district of Cuxhaven, in Lower Saxony, Germany. History Ihlienworth belongs to the Land of Hadeln, first an exclave of the younger Duchy of Saxony and after its ...

near Hamburg, Germany, curated by the German conceptional artist and curator Samuel J. Fleiner. There are a range of interpretations over the relations between art and sustainability, besides the term 'sustainable art' promoted by Maja and Reuben Fowkes: Other authors prefer the broader notions of 'sustainability arts' or 'art and sustainability' (e.g. Sacha Kagan and

Volker Kirchberg Volker may refer to: * Volker (name), including a list of people with the given name or surname * Volker, Kansas City, a historic neighborhood in Kansas City * Volker Boulevard, Kansas City * ''Alien Nations ''Alien Nations'' (german: Die V� ...

.Eds Sacha Kagan and Volker Kirchberg (2008). "Sustainability: a new frontier for the arts and cultures". Frankfurt am Main: VAS. Still others explicitly rejected the use of the term 'sustainable art', referring instead to 'artistic work that inspires us to think about sustainability" (

Margot Käßmann Margot Käßmann (; born 3 June 1958) is a Lutheran theologian, who was '' Landesbischöfin'' (bishop) of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Hanover in Germany. On 28 October 2009, she was elected to lead the ''Evangelical Church in Germany'', a ...

). Professional discussion of the relationship of contemporary art to notions of sustainability blossomed across Europe in the early years 2000, with e.g. the conference of the German Society for Political Culture (Instituts für Kulturpolitik der Kulturpolitischen Gesellschaft e.V.), in January 2002 at the

Art Academy An art school is an educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, including fine art – especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. Art schools can offer elementary, secondary, post-second ...

of Berlin, and the 'Tutzinger Manifest'. An International

Symposium In ancient Greece, the symposium ( grc-gre, συμπόσιον ''symposion'' or ''symposio'', from συμπίνειν ''sympinein'', "to drink together") was a part of a banquet that took place after the meal, when drinking for pleasure was acc ...

on Sustainability and Contemporary Art took place at

Central European University Central European University (CEU) is a private research university accredited in Austria, Hungary, and the United States, with campuses in Vienna and Budapest. The university is known for its highly intensive programs in the social science ...

, in Budapest (Hungary) in March 2006. This was the first in a series of international symposia organised by Maja and Reuben Fowkes bringing together contemporary artists, philosophers, environmental sciences and activists to explore common ground around issues such as 'Exit or Activism' (2008), 'Hard Realities and the New Materiality' (2009) and 'Art,

Post-Fordism Post-Fordism is the dominant system of economic production, consumption, and associated socio-economic phenomena in most industrialized countries since the late 20th century. It is contrasted with Fordism, the system formulated in Henry Ford's a ...

and Eco-Critique' (2010

In March–April 2007 at the Lüneburg University, Leuphana University Lüneburg, the Arts Research Network of the

European Sociological Association The European Sociological Association (ESA) is an academic association of European sociologists with over 2800 members. It is a member of the Initiative for Science in Europe and the International Sociological Association. History ESA was establ ...

focused its attention on the recent movements and approaches to 'arts and sustainability' at its biennial conference. Key texts in the emerging field of sustainable art include 'Kultur - Kunst - Nachhaltigkeit' (2002) by Hildegard Kurt and Bernd Wagner, ‘The Principles of Sustainability in Contemporary Art’ (2006) by Maja and Reuben Fowkes and 'Art and Sustainability' (2011) by Sacha Kagan. A collection of interdisciplinary analyses of the arts and cultures with relationship to sustainability is available in 'Sustainability: a new frontier for the arts and cultures' (2008) edited by Sacha Kagan and Volker Kirchberg. Exhibitions devoted explicitly to "sustainable art" include e.g. ‘Beyond Green: Towards a Sustainable Art’ at the

Smart Museum The David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art is an art museum located on the campus of the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois. The permanent collection has over 15,000 objects. Admission is free and open to the general public. The Smart Mus ...

in Chicago in November 2005. For an analysis of the conflictual politics of sustainability and the ambiguity of the term sustainability (which oscillates between "ecological sustainability" and "economic sustainable development," see

TJ Demos T.J. Demos is an art historian and cultural critic who writes on contemporary art and visual culture, particularly in relation to globalization, politics, migration and ecology. Currently a Professor in the Department of History of Art and Visua ...

, “The Politics of Sustainability: Art and Ecology” (2009). For a recent account of the multi-faceted role of contemporary art in highlighting environmental issues, expressing criticism towards unsustainable factors in society, and offering imaginative solutions for the achievement of sustainability, see Maja and Reuben Fowkes's essay on 'Art and Sustainability' in Enough for All Forever (2012).Maja and Reuben Fowkes, 'Art and Sustainability,' in ''Enough for All Forever: A Handbook for Learning about Sustainability'', eds Joy Morray, et al. (Common Ground:Champaign, Illinois, 2012)

Modern Sustainable Artists

Modern sustainable artists include artists who are using non-toxic, sustainable materials in their art practices as well as integrating conceptual ideas of sustainability into their work. Washington, DC based glass sculptors

Erwin Timmers Erwin Timmers (born 1964) is a Dutch-born American artist and the co-founder of the Washington Glass School in the Greater Washington, D.C. capital area. Timmers has been recognized as one of the early "green or environmental artists", working mostl ...

and Alison Sigethy incorporate some of the least recycled building materials; structural glass.

References

External links

Center for Art Education and Sustainability (CAES)Art Exploration and DevelopmentecoartspaceGreen MuseumCultura21: international network for cultures of sustainabilityArts & EcologySustainability and Contemporary ArtNew Frontiers in Arts Sociology: 2007 ESA Arts ConferenceThe Center for Sustainable Practice in the ArtsFinal report of the 2007 conference of The ESA (European Sociological Association) Arts Research Network
{{Branches of the visual arts , autocollapse Environmental art Visual arts genres Art

History

Modern Sustainable Artists

See also

References

External links