Green my art(ist)
(City Food shop from Marjolijn Dijkman, participating artist of the SB8 )
Greenpaece seems quite succesful with their campaign 'Green my Apple' for an environmentally friendlier Apple. Apple is, as we all know, heavily associated with the 'creative class' using these machines to design their 'designy things' on. Allright, I do as well, for that matter, and have done so since the first Apple II appeared in our household back in .... 1980 or so? Never mind that. Anyhow.... the Greenpeace campaign rekindled a topic I wanted to write about before: art(ists) & ecology.
We (Norman and I) are pretty much environmentally aware regarding our lifestyle: we eat organic, we don't eat lots of meat, we don't drive the car that much, we're careful with water, turn off the lights in rooms we're not using, conscientiously separate our garbage - in fact, the whole shebang. And I know of some (but not too many) other artists who live similar lives. However, how environmentally friendly are we when it comes to making art? Not very, if one thinks about it. I'd say that the production of art works in terms of energy and materials make for fairly large CO2 footprints.
For most of the committee members commissioning public art works in Holland it's not an issue either. We were never asked to make a 'sustainable' art work, a work that is recyclable, that can be taken apart in it's different components and be disposed off if and when the need arises. People buying those fabulous large photographs mounted on aluminum or sandwiched in a kind of di-bond, are they aware that this kind of work involves the use of toxic materials? I doubt it sincerely. In a way, I find this rather strange, a little schizofrenic even maybe. We demand from our food and consumer goods producers that they take a stand in these matters, but we make exceptions for art works, as if these were not part of production processes.
Of course there have been groups of artists who are more focussed on this issue and try to make something like 'green art', but honestly, a lot of it is not very 'contemporary' nor is it taken seriously by curators of modern art institutes that can make a difference. As of late, though, I sense a change. Check out the Arts & Ecology or the Latitudes website. Or take, for instance, the Sharjah Biennale's theme of this coming year: Still Life - art, ecology and the politics of change. From a press announcement:
"The Sharjah Biennial 8 (SB8) will present various attempts in visual arts and film that address the growing social, political and environmental challenges the world is facing due to excessive urban development, pollution, political ambitions, and the thoughtless misuse, abuse and exhaustion of natural resources. SB8 will focus on the renewed role of art in addressing a wide range of issues that directly and radically affect, and in an alarming magnitude the human existence on this earth (man's relation to earth and earth's relation to man). The biennial will not only stand for these issues as a venue and a platform for presentations, exhibits and discussions, but will take an active role in commissioning artists to produce new work corresponding to the topic at hand and will also partner with institutions to stimulate wider involvement with the issues brought up particularly amongst educational institutions. "
The participating list of artists is impressive, showing that the curators mean business: ?Ignasi Aballí, Lida Abdul, Jennifer Allora & Guillermo Calzadilla, Lara Almárcegui, El Anatsui, Roy Arden, Vladimir Arkhipov, Mireille Astore, Lara Baladi, Noor Al-Bastaki, Taysir Batniji, Cheri Cherin, Marjolijn Dijkman, Muratbek Djoumaliev & Gulnara Kasmalieva, Bright Ugochukwu Eke, Sophie Elbaz, E-xplo, Mounir Fatmi, Peter Fend, Franz Gertsch, Abdulnasser Gharem, Simryn Gill, Tue Greenfort, Group Tuesday (Fadi Abdallah, Bilal Khbeiz, Walid Sadek), Graham Gussin, Khaled Hafez, Henrik Håkansson, Anawana Haloba, Ilana Halperin, Mona Hatoum, Susan Hefuna, Uschi Huber, Mohammed Ahmad Ibrahim, Alfredo Jaar, Marya Kazoun, Amal Kenawy, Leopold Kessler, Suchan Kinoshita, Joachim Koester, Christina Kubisch, Deborah Ligorio, Claudia Losi, Lutz & Guggisberg, Tea Mäkipää, Ahmed Mater, Hassan Meer, Gustav Metzger, Mind Bomb, Abdal Rahman Al Muani, Maha Mustafa, Jesús Bubu Negron, Jacques Nimki, Cornelia Parker, Pablo Patrucco, Dan Perjovschi, Dan Peterman, Marjetica Potrc, Michael Rakowitz, Ibrahim Rashid, Noguchi Rika, Budoor Al Riyami, Abdallah Saadi, Huda Saeed Saif, Michael Sailstorfer, Tomás Saraceno, Joe Scanlan, Zineb Sedira, Anas Al-Shaikh, Ranjani Shettar, SOI Project, Samir Srouji, Simon Starling, Gerda Steiner & Jorg Lenzlinger, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Sergio Vega, Luca Vitone, Shatha Al-Wadi, Akram Zaatari, Camille Zakharia.
It seems that art and ecology have made a new pact and everyone is celebrating. However, in the back of my mind is a nagging worm of doubt wondering if there is really such a 'renewed role' for art in addressing wide ranges of such eco issues. Isn't all this just a matter of trends and the right moment for the arts to jump on the ecological band wagon along? In any case, I'd say it's a development in contemporary arts that needs some closer attention and analysis. And watch that Sharjah Arts Museum! Things do happen over there in the United Arab Emirates.