Insights into the Eco-art of Britain
生態永續的藝術想像和實踐
Introduction of the book:
Introduction
In
August 2009, I was on board of a flight to Manchester, ready to carry
out a research project on the development of ecological art in
Britain.
While reading the newspaper, I
saw all the news were about disasters brought by the typhoon Morakot
and its torrential rainfall. Before, people knew that Taiwan is an
island that suffers from tropical rainstorms and flooding from the
heavy rain that comes with typhoons. But year after year, the
damages have grown bigger and bigger. Even when the typhoon didn't
come inland, the circulating air currents in the typhoon's periphery
cause the island great uneasiness. As the Chinese idiom says, 'Water
can float the boat, as well as capsize the boat'. Now, the effects of
global warming and extreme weather conditions caused by climate
change, combined with the threat of 'losing ground' and its related
issues provide the focus of my trip.
The
development of environmental art in Taiwan is quite recent. Following
the context of public art, it appears in communities and the natural
environment. The former is represented by the programme, 'Art as
Environment: A Cultural Action on Tropic of Cancer', curated by the
artist and curator Wu Ma-Li and sponsored by the Cultural Bureau of
Chia-yi County Government annually since 2006. This encompassed the
whole region of Chia-yi county lasted until 2009. Art in the natural
environment can be represented by the 'Guandu International Outdoor
Sculpture Festival'. Also founded in 2006 by American curator and
artist Jane Ingram Allen, it is based at the Guandu Nature Park in
Taipei.
I
was invited to take part in the 'Art as Environment: A Cultural
Action on Tropic of Cancer' by Wu Ma-li in 2007. Initially the focus
was on the investigation and the preservation of historical buildings
as well as the empowerment of an agricultural village where young
people had gone to work in the cities rather than preserve and
revitalize the village. However, engagement with the community's
issues meant engagement with environmental issues, and those of
industry. All are related in a very complex way.
Wu
Ma-li invited American artists the Harrisons who have developed
ecological art since the late 1960's to give a lecture respectively
in Taipei and conduct a workshop in Dapu, Chiayi, the location of
Tseng-wen reservoir. It was during the ride to Dapu with associate
curator Chen Hung-Yi and art scholar Hsu Tiao-Hu, that I first heard
of the relationship between the planting of beetle nut trees and the
conservation of water and soil on the slopes of mountains. In the
workshop, the Harrisons introduced many of their environmental works,
including cases in different geographic conditions and different
countries. Their concerns touched many ecological aspects such as the
balance between the natural environment and human survival; as well
as the struggles between industries and social ideals or needs.
Taiwan ecologist Chen Yu-Feng also mentioned about the observation he
got from many years of research on the vertical migration of several
plants and insects in Taiwan, as indigenous evidence of the
influence of global warming and climate change.
A
year later, when the county government in Chiayi wanted to use big
land art projects to solve the environmental problems of waste oyster
shells from the local oyster farming industry, the organizer of Art
as Environment: A Cultural Action on Tropic of Cancer invited two
international advisers. The British artist David Haley who had worked
with the Harrisons on 'Greenhouse Britain: Losing Ground, Gaining
Wisdom'(2007-9), the project that considered the effecs of climate
change on Britain, had previously advised Wu Ma-li the similar
situatuion of Taiwan. He was joined by American eco-art curator
Patricia Watts. Both raised the perspective from a local
environmental pollution issue all the way up to a global issue of
climate change. It was on that occasion that the seeds of awareness
of what ecological art may contribute to the problems of 'losing
ground' and 'human survival' in Taiwan had been planted in my mind.
*
* * *
Ecological
Art and Environmental Art are two terms often used confusingly
interchangeably and mixed with Land Art or Earth Art, particularly in
Taiwan. It seems that any work taking one trace of Nature or making
art outdoors automatically becomes Environmental Art. Even taking
photos and doing paintings of creatures in Nature such as butterflies
or insects then they too become eco-art! But this confusion doesn't
do anything good to our understanding of eco-art or environmental art
except placing new labels on the old representative tradition of
Nature.
Search
the Internet and you will find that Environmental Art involves a
broad range of art works, from the early landscape paintings to the
1960's and 70's site-specific installation, land art and arte povera,
along with today's works which emphasize the goal of 'sustainable
living' and the challenge of climate change. There is a major
transition which is 'Many environmental artists now desire not
merely an audience for their work but a public, with whom they can
correspond about the meaning and purpose of their art.' 1
But if we look more closely into the subject, not every work mentioned above is free from iniquities. The most noteworthy example is the Spiral Jetty (1969) by American artist Robert Smithson. He used the land as canvas, a bulldozer to scrape and cut the land, impinging upon the lake, inflicting considerable permanent damage upon the landscape he worked with. 2
In
the well-known environmental art website greenmuseum.org it is stated
that 'In a general sense, it is art that helps improve our
relationship with the natural world. There is no definition set in
stone. This living worldwide movement is growing and changing as you
read this. Much environmental art is ephemeral (made to
disappear or transform), designed for a particular place (and can't
be moved) or involves collaborations between artists and others, such
as scientists, educators or community groups (distributed
ownership).' 3
In other words, the contemporary development of environmental art has
incorporated the concerns of environment and become a encompassing
terminology to include eco-art / ecological art, ecoventions, land
art, earth art, earthworks and art in nature, as well as other less
used categories.
The
contemporary origin of ecological art can be traced back to the
1960's when conceptual art was popular. Many of the practices
'frequently objectified the land as a medium or as a site. Far
from embodying sensitivity to, or awareness of, bioregional
complexity, much Land Art of the 1960s and 70s involved what we now
recognise as tremendous imposition on local eco-systems. Many giant
earthworks exist as monuments to the artist, a practice which critic
John Grande has referred to as egocentric, rather than eco-centric'
4
However, the Harrisons had already taken the stance of avant-guarde
interventions by making ecological art and activism. Art historian
Arlene Raven says that the Harrisons 'work from their aesthetics,
from which originates the impulse to restore the relationship between
the physical ground and the physical humans inhabiting that ground.'
They 'want to create actions that not only stand beside, but work
to undo the domination and manipulation of nature in the service of
man-made hierarchical systems' 5
Their practice of ecological art has developed from the 1960's to the
present day and is, perhaps, the best example of eco-art. The
Harrisons were also called the 'grandparents' of the genre.
*
* * *
What
on earth is 'ecological art'? I like to cite the words David Haley
always uses to open his remarks during different speeches. In
English, ecological art consists of two words, the 'ecology' and
'art'. From the Oxford English Dictionary - ecology: the study of
organisms in relation to one another and to their
surroundings, derived from the Greek word, oikos, meaning
house, or dwelling. 6
As for art, David Haley claims that the 'art' in English is
derived from the ancient Sanskrit word, 'rta',
Rta
retains its meaning in contemporary Hindi as a
noun-adjective for the dynamic process by which the whole cosmos
continues to be created, virtuously. It refers to the right way of
evolution and we still talk about excellence, or the correct way of
doing something as an ‘art’ – the art of cooking, the art of
football, the art of gardening, ‘The Art of Archery’, ‘The Art
of Making Cities’, and even ‘The Art of War’. 7
In
other words, for David Haley, the emphasis of art is not on its
'product', but rather its 'processes' – a dynamicly forming
process of creativity. It can be presented as a poem, a performance,
an action, a dialogue, a long-term project in a community or a
large-scale city and regional planning. Because of this character,
the expression of ecological art is quite diversified as well.
Generally it can be acknowledged by the following features:
1,
it is a combination of science and art, a inter-disciplinary
collaboration.
2,
focus on eco-systems, and not just the 'human' perspective.
3,
having momentum to change, art has become the means and tools to
intervene.
4,
a holistic grasp of whole systems, the relations and
inter-dependencies of all their elements.
From
June to October 2009, the famous art gallery in London, Barbican Art
Gallery, hosted a well-received exhibition 'Radical
Nature: Art
and Architecture for a Changing Planet 1969-2009'.
The works in the exhibition include many of the important artists,
architects and architect teams since 1960's, such as Ant Farm,
Richard Buckminster Fuller, Joseph Beuys, Agnes
Denes, Mierle Laderman Ukelese, Hans Haacke and Robert Smithson,
along with the younger generation's such as Heather and Ivan Morison,
R&Sie(n), Philippe Rahm and Simon Starling. Walking inside the
gallery to look at the retrospective exhibition of 40 years is like,
borrowing the comments from an architect, 'moving
through a 3-dimensional catalogue.'
There
was a reconstruction of an early work by the Harrisons in the
exhibition, the 'Full Farm' from 1974. Originally, it was
commissioned by the Houston Museum of Contemporary Art for its
opening exhibition entitled “10”, 1974. It was intended as a
possible teaching system for grade school and high school as well as
having an existence as a complex installation. Entitled 'Full Farm:
Survival Piece #6', the work contained Portable Orchard, Potato Farm,
Flat Pastures, Upright Pastures and Worm Farm. There was neither
space nor funding to add a fish farm, which would have added protein
to the ensemble of fruits beans, vegetables and potatoes. 8
Under
the impending challenge of Climate Change, the work of 'Full Farm'
was recommissioned by the Barbican Art Gallery in 2009, and the
Harrisons noted that the work used electrically powered light, which
is not a sustainable element, but was not a consideration in the
original work. This point was included in an information panel and
also stated that they would "only make work that would benefit
ecosystems" henceforward. David Haley discussed this in his
email explaining that 'Regarding
the Harrisons' piece at the Barbican, their note referred to the only
element that would now be considered unsustainable was the use of
electrically powered light. The rest is sustainable now and the use
of electricity was not an issue when they first made the work. There
are (among many others) two things to be learned here: 1. everything
changes; 2. start thinking 'whole systems'.
9
So to speak, for serious ecological artists, the principle of
examination on each work and the core spirit of ecological art is 'to
benefit the ecosystems'!
In
this book, I have collected seven examples of ecological art in
Britain. Each one of them presents very different contents and forms,
but all are based on the thinking of ecosystem. Although some people
think that ecological art originated in the United States, my
decision of choosing Britain as the research field has its own
particular benefits and coincidence. As stated before, the 2008
International Forum of Oyster Shells Land Art in Chiayi gathered
domestic and international scholars and experts from various fields
to discuss the influence of climate change and how it will affect the
southwest coast of Taiwan. One of the two international advisers was
British artist David Haley, who was the associate artist working with
the Harrisons on the project, 'Greenhouse Britain'. He also leads the
MA Art As Environment Programme at Manchester Metropolitan
University. We may compare the reality that Taiwan and Britain are
both ocean-bound island countries, and 'Greenhouse Britain' was an
important focus of my research from the beginning. Through David
Haley's introduction to other important British eco-art projects,
networks unfolded in a short time. For a researcher who only has a
limited budget and duration to visit the country, Britain was the
best choice and David Haley certainly is the best guide for this
study.
Each
of the seven chapters in this book represented a case study that I
visited in my research trip. Each chapter is an independent case to
be read. All are arranged into
three categories: Water, People v.s. Community, and Activism. The
first three chapters are in the 'Water' category. The first
chapter is about a water system and the story of unculverting a town
beck (stream) in Ulverston, in North West England, where David Haley
lives. Contrasted with usual forms of urban water management, this
exploratory project opened up a section of the Town Beck and revived
the nature along its banks, becoming a pioneer of similar projects in
Britain. As an artist, David Haley broke with some of the norms and
constraints of engineering thinking and routines to set an exciting
example for ecological art and water management.
Chapter
Two introduces the British artist group Platform and their 25 years
art practices, based in London. Their practice of eco-art began with
camping in the city, getting feelings of a city as an organism with
holistic understanding through the five senses, then discovering
London as a financial headquarters of multi-national corporations to
affect many international, political, economical, environmental,
energy and human rights issues. These included stories of the rivers
meandering through and under the city, and their works with many
experts from different disciplines. Their work shows various forms,
including walking in the city, performance, dialogue, installation,
publication and workshops, presenting diverse outputs.
Chapter
three introduces one of
the major projects on eco-art in recent years, 'Greenhouse Britain:
Losing Ground, Gaining Wisdom'. The project explores the potential
effects of climate change on mainland Britain, and the opportunities
for interdisciplinary collaboration with many experts. British artist
David Haley invited American pioneering artists, Helen Mayer Harrison
and Newton Harrison (the Harrisons) and scientists to collaborate on
the issues. In the subsequent touring exhibition, the display of
works presented several novel ideas and propositions based on
rigorous science. Like Britain, Taiwan is an island country, facing
the urgent issue of climate change, so 'Greenhouse Britain' is worth
a detailed examination to gain understanding.
Chapters
four and five belong to the category of People v.s. Community.
Chapter four is an example of ecology and art in communities: Knowle
West in Bristol, southwest England. Initiated by a long-term resident
artist Carolyn Hassan who used photography to develop the goal of
community empowerment, the well-received popularity and continuation
of her project inspired further opportunities for art and
sustainability in Knowle West.
Chapter
five focuses on the
concept of a city, trying to think of a properly-built process for
urban planning and development by applying the ecosystem model and
eco-management. Owing to the fact that it's still an on-going idea,
this chapter will focus on the city of Bristol as an example, and how
the artist Alan Boldon who develops and promotes 'ecological
place-making and learning' built up his theoretical construction. The
subsequent results will need close attention and continuous
observation.
Chapter
6 and 7 are accounted as 'Activism'. Chapter 6 introduces a market
town in southwest England famous for its 'Transition Town' movement
and transition culture: Totnes. The 'Transition Town' movement was
promoted by a Permaculture 10
teacher living in
the town. Totnes was already famous for its art tradition,
alternative culture and lifestyle, but in 2006 the Transition
movement started, and received popular support and acknowledgments,
that quickly spread to other places of the world. The aim of the
movement is to develop a system of action plans, to achieve the
lifestyle that is carbon-reducing and less dependent on oil, thereby
increasing the resilience of cities and towns facing the impact from
both the climate change caused by global warming and the depletion of
oil. In other words, it is to become more self-sustaining on food
production, energy use, health care, job opportunities, and economy.
Since many artists reside in the town, their response to the
call of the 'Transition Movement' and 'sustainable lifestyle',
becomes an interesting question of how successful they have been.
Chapter
seven, the last chapter of this book, is about John Jordan, an
artist who is engaged in social and environmental activism. He was a
co-chair of the London artists group Platform for many years, and
worked on several eco-art projects. Later he left Platform to form a
new group with others and took a more direct approach of walking into
the crowds on streets to make the social and environmental
interventions. Inheriting the experience of working with the
Platform, his methods show diversity and liveliness, sometimes with a
great sense of humor and irony, which demonstrates another different
approach of eco-art.
All
the seven chapters mentioned briefly above, stand as independent case
studies within the book, but in reality they overlap. The artists of
each example either know each other or have worked together, and more
or less draw a network of the major trends in British ecological art.
Due to the constraints of time and budget, it's impossible to collect
all examples big and small in Britain. The approach in this book is
my personal perspective, trying to grasp the knowledge generated by
the cases which can then reflect on the issues that Taiwan now faces.
Keeping my writing in plain words, I aim to bring different visions
and opportunities of ecological art to the reader.
Moreover,
at the end of each category there are brief introductions of
ecological art practices in Taiwan from recent years and related
links, which are intended to help interested readers gain further
knowledge through the links on the development of eco-art in Taiwan,
as well as provide comparisons to further understand the British
cases in this book. Again, since Eco-art is a practice about systems
and relationships, like the British examples mentioned above, the
Taiwanese examples are assigned to the three different categories of
'Water', 'People v.s. Community', and 'Activism'. However, each
project involves all three aspects to varying degrees.
Additionally,
the Appendix has an article by David Haley entitled, 'Ecology
in Practice: Art and the Deconstruction of Climate Change',
which was the text of his speech in the Eco-Art Master Lecture at
Treasure Hill International Artist Village, Taipei, Taiwan on
December 10, 2010. The text presented a development of David Haley's
thoughts on ecological art and research that introduces complexity
and ecology to expand our understanding of economy. At a time when
most of the public and the government officials were tangled in the
dilemma of adopting either environmental protection or economic
development, David Haley undertook the theme from etymology and
epistemology perspectives, to deconstruct the psyche of the climate
change dilemma and dispel the myth that prevent our understanding of
each issue. He does this as combined form of ethics and aesthetics.
1Cited
from: John Beardsley, 'Earthworks and Beyond', New York: Abbeville
Press, 1998, p 127. See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_art
。
4See:
John Grande, 'Balance:
Art and Nature', Montreal:
Black Rose Books, 1994.
Cited from: Beth Carruthers, 'Mapping the Terrain of Contemporary
EcoART Practice and Collaboration',
http://greenmuseum.org/generic_content.php?ct_id=263
5Arlene
Raven, 'Two
Lines of Site and an Unexpected Connection: The Art of Helen Mayer
Harrison and Newton Harrison', in Burnham,
Linda Frye and Durland, Steven, editors, 'The
Citizen Artist: 20 Years of Art in the Public Arena', Gardiner,
NY: Critical Press, 1998, p 69.
Cited from: Beth Carruthers, 'Mapping the Terrain of Contemporary
EcoART Practice and Collaboration', see:
http://greenmuseum.org/generic_content.php?ct_id=263
6See:
David Haley, 'A Drop in the Ocean, A Trace of Life', 2008, provided
by the artist.
7David
Haley, 'The Art of Complexity: from Ecology to Economy', December
10, 2010, Eco-art Master Lecture, Treasure Hill International Artist
Village, Taipei. See: Appendix 1.
9Email
discussion with David Haley. June 6, 2010.
10樸門農學is
the Chinese translation of 'Permaculture', which means both
'permanent agriculture' and 'permanent culture'. It is an approach
to designing human settlements and agricultural systems that are
modeled on the relationships found in natural ecologies, aimed to
create stable, productive systems that provide for human needs,
harmoniously integrating the land with its inhabitants.
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