Is Eco Art 'Art'? Is Eco Art 'Eco'?
Although some eco artworks promote sensory and emotive engagements, the overt functionality of much eco art introduces a particularly disputed form of innovation.
Because it frequently seems indistinguishable from engineering, gardening, farming, researching, educating, etc., eco art tampers with the popular assumption that art only engages
the human spirit. How can eco artists defend themselves against the accusation that pragmatic practices do not belong within the realm of ‘art’?
First, they might remind their detractors that no new justification should be necessary because art that focuses on the practical requirements of survival already appears throughout the historic trajectory of art. Consider, for example, the many world cultures where art functions as offerings to gods who reciprocate the favor by blessing their children, producing rain, multiplying flocks, healing the sick, curdling milk, and raising the sun.
Second, artists hisgtorically have served the needs of their contemporaries. In the past, art has awakened devotion in times of spiritual unrest and it has aroused protest in times of suppression. Artistic innovation in the current era perpetuates this tradition by including utilitarian strategies to address the onslaught of environmental hazards regarding pollution, resource depletion, climate change, escalating populations, etc.
In addition to defending its status as art, eco artists are often called upon to justify their adoption of the prefix ‘eco’. On one level, this is satisfied by noting the shared goal between ecologists and artists participating in today’s environmental movement; both actively strive to ensure the vitality of Earth’s ecosystems.
The attributes artists adopt in an effort to fulfill this mandate formally validate their adoption of this prefix ‘eco’. One is identified by thematic choices. Two, interconnection and dynamism, are structural and formal. The fourth, ecocentrism, constitutes a new value system.
These attributes provide channels to navigate the ever-evolving production of eco art. An inspiring profusion of new discoveries is continually being made at their intersections, feeding into a surge of creative problem-solving that artists are directing at the pressing environmental concerns of the 21st century.