Art, Activism, and the Environment

Although ecology has received little systematic attention within art history until very recently, its visibility and significance has grown in relation to the threats of climate change and environmental destruction. We are currently witnessing a burgeoning of artistic and activist practices focused on environmental crisis and conflict, which is in turn sparking interest in critical genealogies of environmentally oriented visual culture. Examples of such cultural production include potent analyses of ecological destruction of various sorts, including forms of extreme extraction such as deep-water oil drilling, as well as creative alternatives that explore environmentally sustainable and socially just modes of life. The explosion of work on ecological themes is taking place in fields of visual culture that extend far beyond institutional art practice, including broadcast and online media, experimental video and film, creative activism, and collective social movements. This seminar focuses on this unfolding conjunction of art, ecology, and activism in the context of today’s climate emergency, situating such work in a history of engaged and environmentally minded art production.