To Life! Eco Art in Pursuit of a Sustainable Planet documents the burgeoning eco art movement from A to Z, presenting a panorama of artistic responses to environmental concerns, from Ant Farm’s anti-consumer antics in the 1970s to Marina Zurkow’s 2007 animation that anticipates the havoc wreaked upon the planet by global warming. This text is the first international survey of twentieth and twenty-first-century artists who are transforming the global challenges facing humanity and the Earth’s diverse living systems. Their pioneering explorations are situated at today’s cultural, scientific, economic, spiritual, and ethical frontiers. The text guides students of art, design, environmental studies, and interdisciplinary studies to integrate environmental awareness, responsibility, and activism into their professional and personal lives.
Linda Weintraub is author of Art on the Edge and Over: Searching for Art’s Meaning in Contemporary Society; In the Making: Creative Options for Contemporary Art and Avant-Guardians: Textlets in Art and Ecology. The first book deciphered vanguard art for popular audiences; the second examined the unique challenges of contemporary art-making; the third introduced the material, thematic, and conceptual innovations being introduced by eco artists.
"Linda Weintraub creates the first thorough and illuminating study for rethinking the environmental impact of art practices, and the meaning of aesthetics, in relation to larger ecosystems. Through a carefully curated selection of international artists, she lays the foundation for a deeper analysis of the complexity and diversity of eco practices, linking these to other movements, past and present. The critical language is accessible and invaluable for understanding and analyzing the historical and conceptual underpinnings of ecologically based art works. All those interested in shaping the uncertain future will find To Life! a must-read."—Patricia Olynyk, Artist, Director, Graduate School of Art, Florence and Frank Bush Professor of Art, Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, Washington University in St. Louis.
"To Life! is an informative guide that illuminates and elucidates environmental problems and ecological relationships. This remarkable multidisciplinary effort cuts the jargon of both the art and science worlds to bring the inspiration and insights of EcoArt to environmentalists, conservationists, and the general public."—Daniel Simberloff, Nancy Gore Hunger Professor of Environmental Studies, University of Tennessee
384 pp.6.75 x 10Illus: 100 scattered thoughout
9780520273627$34.95|£30.00Paper
Sep 2012