Environmental Art and Activism: Editors’ Notebook

Editorial introduction to the special issue on environmental art and activism, The Goose, volume 17, issue 2 (2019)

Ecological Art: Art with a Purpose

Ecological art is purposeful and often prescriptive: the actions and directions intended by the artists for activists to undertake often are clearly represented. Yet, ecological art has been no more successful than, for example, targeted scientific research, deposits on returnable bottles, or land-protection campaigns at slowing global warming, reducing the amount of waste we generate every day, or halting the ongoing sixth mass extinction in the history of the Earth. Here, we consider the idea that prescriptive ecological art provides insufficient mental space for creative reflection about future scenarios of, and responses to, environmental change. We ask whether, by presenting a limited range of possibilities in ecological art, we limit the range of options that viewers consider in deciding on possible actions that they could take to slow or halt environmental decline. We conclude by asking how we artists and scientists can best engage diverse audiences in critically thinking about, and taking action to mitigate, environmental change. These questions and issues are addressed through a discussion of two of our recent ecological art installations: Hemlock Hospice and Warming Warning

Earthworks, environmental art, and land art

AR 592.Art history seminar.May 1988.Includes bibliographic references

Public access to environmental information: Past, present and future

Since the late 1960s and the "environmental revolution", information and information systems have been an integral part of the environmental debate. In the decade that has passed since the Rio conference and the establishment of the "sustainable development" principle, there have been legislative and practical moves to open access to environmental information for all stakeholders that are involved in environmental decision making processes. In this paper, the origins of environmental information and public environmental information systems are explored and scrutinised. The paper questions the current state of the art in environmental information provision, and offers some directions for possible improvements. © 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd

Building Community: Making Space for Art

Examines the role of the arts in communities; artists working in community development, education, health, or environmental fields; and contemporary art spaces in community planning and revitalization strategies

A Phenomenological “Aesthetics of Isolation” as Environmental Aesthetics for an Era of Ubiquitous Art

Here the concept of the human being as a “relatively isolated system” developed in Ingarden’s later phenomenology is adapted into an “aesthetics of isolation” that complements conventional environmental aesthetics. Such an aesthetics of isolation is especially relevant, given the growing “aesthetic overload” brought about by ubiquitous computing and new forms of art and aesthetic experience such as those involving virtual reality, interactive online performance art, and artificial creativity

The archaeology of rock art in Northern Africa

The first reports on the rock art of north Africa were written in the mid-nineteenth century. Since then, rock art has become a key area of African archaeological research. Commencing with a short background on the environmental setting, this chapter reviews past research and major theoretical perspectives through to the present, highlighting contributions to wider debates. The main geographical, temporal, and archaeological frameworks of north African rock art are summarized in broad chronological order, beginning with late Pleistocene engravings up to ‘Camel art’ of more recent, historical age. Despite current hurdles faced in today’s research environment, rock art studies are of great importance in north Africa, especially when undertaken by African scholars. This precious, irreplaceable, nonrenewable cultural resource is of great educational value, and its preservation, teaching, and dissemination may contribute to a renewed awareness of the cultural value of rock art for future generations

Positive impacts of environmental characteristics on health and wellbeing in health-care facilities: A review

Well-designed indoor environments can support people’s health and welfare. In this literature review, we identify the environmental features that affect human health and wellbeing. Environmental characteristics found to influence health outcomes and/or wellbeing included: environmental safety; indoor air quality (e.g. odour and temperature); sound and noise; premises and interior design (e.g. construction materials, viewing nature and experiencing nature, windows versus no windows, light, colours, unit layout and placement of the furniture, the type of room, possibilities to control environmental elements, environmental complexity and sensory simulations, cleanliness, ergonomics and accessibility, ‛‛wayfinding’’); art, and music, among others. Indoor environments that incorporate healing elements can, for instance, reduce anxiety, lower blood pressure, lessen pain and shorten hospital stays

Advancing Climate Change Research and Hydrocarbon Leak Detection : by Combining Dissolved Carbon Dioxide and Methane Measurements with ADCP Data

With the emergence of largescale, comprehensive environmental monitoring projects, there is an increased need to combine state-of-the art technologies to address complicated problems such as ocean acidifi cation and hydrocarbon leak detection

Beuys through Heidegger

Most celebrated artists are as influential artistically as they are critically. Beuys’ reception to date, remains controversial and contradictory; his artistic influence is unquestioned but this is not matched by his critical acclaim. In an attempt to address this difficulty with the publication of Joseph Beuys: Mapping the Legacy (2001), Gene Ray notes that Beuys “inspired, enabled, or enriched important directions of contemporary art production, from what can broadly be called ‘history of art’ to installation, performance, and environmental art”, (Ray 2001: 1). And yet, despite his overwhelming influence in the artistic world, critical reception of Beuys remains somewhat polarised and contentious