Art is capable of much more than merely being beautiful to the eye. But does art contribute to a better world? preserving it? It could already be encouraging ecologically friendly conduct. This article is meant to back up that claim.
Let’s start by assuming that being mindful of the environment does not entail perfection; rather, it involves being aware of what needs to be done to improve the state of our planet for future generations.
Can the arts show us how? Can it increase our awareness of the state of the planet?
That is precisely the aim of an entire artistic movement. Environmental art is a group of creative practises that involve the depiction and expression of ecological issues including the effects of global warming, pollution, and other topics concerns the destruction of the environment. It is also sometimes referred to as environmental art or even climate change art.
Since the earliest cave paintings, humans have used nature as a subject for their creative creations. Furthermore, many of the most stunning works of art throughout history include scenes from nature. Consider the works of Monet, Van Gogh, Turner, and other artists. These are illustrations of landscape paintings when the artist sat in front of the subject and painted it. Paintings of landscapes have long established a link between the observer and the environment as well as between the creator and their surroundings.
But for the sake of today, we must concentrate on the outcomes of art produced with an awareness of the environment. Be it works created with the goal of raising awareness of our world and its changing climate, environmental art, activist art, or just works.
An example of this is Olafur Elliasson’s oeuvre
Famously, Eliasson and geologist Minik Rosing carried pieces of Greenlandic ice to open regions in Europe through their project Ice Watch. The installation of the melting ice blocks in Paris in 2015 was timed to coincide with the UN summit on climate change.
In an effort to make climate change apparent and relatable to everyday life, Ice Watch produces its own impacts. Of course, Ice Watch was not without its detractors (such as those who pointed out the carbon emissions associated with transporting and chilling ice chunks). Even yet, the shows fostered a genuine bond between the audience and the artwork: visitors kissed, caressed, and listened to the ice blocks; many also shared photos of the installation on social media to raise awareness of climate change.
Unfortunately, it is impossible to determine if Ice Watch or other installations like The Weather Project have changed people’s behaviours over the long term.
Diane Burko is a different artist well-known for her environmental work
Like Eliasson, Diane Burko has worked with scientists to express ideas about our planet in a way that is as accurate as possible for the general public.
At conferences and colloquia on how the arts might convey scientific findings and events, Burko is regularly invited to speak. And there it is—the nexus between science and the arts must be the route to the public. Since emotions are what actually linger with audiences, to people’s consciences and memories, data and facts simply may be emotionless.
Diane Burko is an artist who has explored locations on the ground, underwater and in the air from open-door helicopters and planes with cameras, drones and sketchpads. Traveling from the temperate zones of America to Western Europe, from rain forests to glaciers, from active volcanoes and to coral reefs below the equator, her art merges a vision that is at once panoramic, intimate and sometimes provocative. — Interalia Magazine
We can envision the consequences we have as humans on the earth with the aid of art. Our imaginations may be sparked through creativity, which also helps us connect with the world we live in. It is, in many respects, a communication issue. Art may serve as a moderator that is more personal, vivid, and palpable rather to employing impersonal data and facts that might not remain in everyone’s thoughts.
A significant portion of the art world is aware of their impact and power, and some of it is eager to join the green movement. In order to modernise our attitude to the subject, artists are creating technical advances, while institutions and galleries are devoting whole shows to climate change.
Future studies in behavioural psychology, visual arts, anthropology, sociology, and other fields may aim to provide us with some solutions.
How do you feel? Can the arts help us rescue the environment?