When art questions us about ecology and degrowth

To share

Global warming, over-exploitation of resources, over-production, over-consumption… Humanity today lives far beyond its means and it seems urgent that it strives for more sobriety for its survival. The political, economic and social theory of degrowth could lead us collectively to live more soberly, “to reduce the production of goods and services in order to preserve the environment. (Source: http://geoconfluences.ens-lyon.fr/glossaire/decroissance), to get out of the logic of economic growth – the harmful effects of which we can now see.

The art world is very concerned by these ecological issues: the Palais de Tokyo recently hosted the exhibition claim the landthe exhibition Vegetal took place at the Beaux Arts in Paris, the Lille Fine Arts Museum is currently organizing an exhibition on forests… All these cultural events sponsored by major institutions are geared towards climate and ecological issues and raise awareness among visitors.

However, is art decreasing? Is it extracted from market and production logics? Does it alert populations and is it the lever of change in the world?

To find out, let’s take a look at some currents and artists who seem to be tending towards leaving the art market, towards a strong ecological commitment and sometimes radical sobriety.

Art that fits into nature

Art has greatly represented nature, it is a privileged model for many artists. But the artists of the movement land art are no longer satisfied with a representation of nature: they inscribe their works in a natural environment in the form of ephemeral installations. They are subject to the same hazards as the environment in which they are produced and inseparable from it. This is a great way to bear witness to the beauty and fragility of nature, to sublimate it.

the land art being an outdoor art, it cannot be transported to museums or galleries and is extracted from art institutions, but also from the art market because, if the work cannot be separated from its environment, if it is perishable, then it is not salable. the land art is therefore both a form of communion with nature and an exit from productivist mercantile logic. However, the land art is not a frank commitment against our society of overconsumption and overproduction nor an urgent call for the preservation of the environment. It is an art that settles in nature, which sublimates it, and which desacralizes the work by prohibiting its durability, but it is not a warning message or a political commitment.

AT in the age of recycling

Another artistic approach shocks more by its commitment and by the denunciation that it puts in place: art made with waste. Indeed, artists seize waste produced every day to build surprising sculptures and installations. Their works do not require new materials to exist, since they are produced in recovered materials, broken objects, abandoned waste. They are, so to speak, “second-hand”, and this goes in the direction of degrowth and ecology.

These works exhibit waste, things that we get rid of, that we throw away, that we don’t want to see, and which, by their enormous profusion, endanger the environment. Exposed, we can no longer not see them, we are forced to identify them and understand the message conveyed by these works taken from landfills: you pollute. These are both works that recycle, by reusing discarded materials, and that alert on the immense production of waste induced by our consumer societies. These artists have a deeply ecological awareness and denunciation approach: unlike the land artist which exposes a natural work in nature to illuminate its beauty, they put in the spotlight what we put dirty in this same nature, our waste.

Anti-productivism or the art of degrowth.

Finally, for the most seasoned artists of degrowth, it is a question of no longer producing, as the decreasing theory would have it: to overproduction, we must respond by non-production, even by destruction. The following two artists are advocates of “less” against our “more” societies.

With the artists Thierry Jaspart and Jean-Baptiste Farkas (“Art at the time of decline?”, Tracks, ARTE, March 4, 2022), we are reaching the high point of decline applied to art. Thierry Jaspart, self-proclaimed “ungraffiti artist”, is a Belgian artist defending less and nothing. For example, his “ungraff” approach consists of filming himself in the process of graffitiing a large motif on a white wall then covering it with white paint: the wall regains its initial appearance. Thierry Jaspart also makes water tags in the streets and went to the town of Sticker to stick his on the entrance sign in the small town. If all his performances seem fruitless or useless, in any case they are disconcerting: with Blacked, he invites visitors to put on headphones that only broadcast the sound of silence and to pass behind a large black curtain to plunge them into an empty room, in complete darkness. His subject was the absence of subject, the void. In 2018, he organized a major exhibition of his collages in Belgian sewers to make sure no one came to look at them. In the streets of Namur, he sticks labels under the rubbish, spitting, dead leaves he comes across, using the codes of museum labels: “Anonymous pigeon, Pigeon Shit, 2018, Public art, Donation to the city of Namur, Belgium”. His last big project, and the one that allows him to do as little as possible, because it’s his credo: “Chiant Chiant”, a “neo-folk green” music group that produces no sound, because “it’s is far too polluting. He “shamelessly” seizes the albums of other artists by affixing the logo of “Chiant Dog”. The paroxysm of anti-productivism.

In the sense of “less” and unproduction, the artist Jean-baptiste Farkas does not organize any exhibition, does not produce any work and even invites destruction. He advocates an art of subtraction: he invites, via manuals which take up the codes of the instructions for use entitled IKHEA, to create frustration and failure in our world of speed and efficiency, to slow down the pace in a situation where you would like things to go quickly – like in the cocktail queue at an opening where waiters and waitresses must prepare drinks as slowly as possible – or destroy objects that we hold dear to rethink our relationship to things and property. This is what he calls “acting out”: these are not productions as such, but have an impact on reality, ranging from slowing down to destruction. It’s a minimalist approach to life and art, a way of subtracting rather than adding, a decreasing approach.

Finally, we understand that radically decreasing art calls into question the materiality of art through the work. Decreasing art seems to have to be ephemeral, take the form of a message which can then make things happen by raising awareness, by inviting change. This demateriality of art through degrowth calls into question the notion of artistic heritage for future generations, but this decreasing approach aims to preserve the world in which these same generations will live. A fine legacy, then.

Become aware of ecology through art and culture…

Ecological challenges and the notions of heritage and heritage were honored during the last European Heritage Days to raise awareness of “Sustainable Heritage” and the major challenges that Europe will have to take up in the years to come. 

At the Bicolore (House of Denmark, 142 avenue des Champs Elysées) in Paris, the exhibition “Architecture and landscape in symbiosis” is taking place, which defends constructions that respect their natural environment and are inspired by it: human know-how goes hand in hand with nature and stop going against it for sustainable architecture. The architect Dorte Mandrup is honored there. Find all the information on the exhibition “Architecture and landscape in symbiosis” on the Bicolore website Find out more

Cleo Ragasol

Discover New Full Cast Dramatized Audio Books with GraphicAudio

How to fast improve your well being?Powerful Zen word Chinese Calligraphy Wall Art & Chinese painting Matte Canvas, Physical art, Canvas prints. Discover Art B Zen Store