Art is the expression of the mind, the release of an artist’s creativity aimed at engaging the audience’s senses and feelings. Over centuries, art has communicated culture by depicting ideals, documenting historical events and capturing the social and political Zeitgeist (Kendall and Wickham, 2001).
The Digital Era has led art to adapt to the evolving digital environment we live in today (Bridle, 2014). New technologies have pushed the boundaries for artists by developing opportunities for the creation of digitally-born art and art using digital tools (Samandis, 2016; Paul, 2016). Furthermore, these changes enable advanced possibilities for artists to distribute, and audiences to perceive artworks, as new technologies facilitate interconnectivity and interaction democratising and encouraging criticality. Scott (2016) notes that, ‘The internet is a hive of the kind of quarrelsome contention that is one manifestation of the critical spirit. (…) It’s the job of art to free our minds, and the task of criticism to figure out what to do with that freedom.’
Therefore, the aim of this blog is to outline and critically analyse digital artworks linked to arguably the biggest problem mankind is facing today: Global Warming – the warming caused by increasing amounts of gas such as carbon dioxide being closed in by the atmosphere (NASA, 2019). Global warming is an issue that affects the entirety of the world and humanity no matter what age, gender, race, religion or class they may be. Everybody’s home and health is affected by global warming and thus it should be of upmost priority to counter it before its damage becomes irreversible. The United Nations (2019) warn that, ‘There is alarming evidence that important tipping points, leading to irreversible changes in major ecosystems and the planetary climate system, may already have been reached or passed.’Artists therefore increasingly cover this subject to raise awareness for the depth of the issue by criticising industries that cause this problematic effect and by encouraging society to understand, engage and act upon this matter. Artists do this in the framework of socio-political art that can be referred to as activist art. Activist artworks can take action on these socio-political issues by allowing them to be seen and understood in a new light (The Tate Official Website, 2019). By making the seemingly incomprehensible, visually stimulating and thought-provoking, an artist can make a statement to support this cause they feel needs bringing to the surface.
This first artwork is an installation by Michael Pinsky called Pollution Pods. Pinsky is an internationally acclaimed English artist, with a background in research, activism and urban planning, known for working with a myriad of different media to create innovative, immersive and meaningful works of art.
This second artwork is called Climate Signalsby American artist Justin Brice Guariglia. As an artist, Guariglia almost exclusively concentrates on subjects linked to the environment and climate change in his creations.
TheECOde Projectis a collaborative artwork created by British sound artist and composer Rob Mackay. Although Mackay has a musical background, his projects often reach across different disciplines including,‘(…) geology, soundscape ecology, theatre, audiovisual installation work, and human-computer interaction’ .
The three artworks discussed in this blog show
how digital tools have helped artists expand their creative craft. These
artists arguably haven’t created anything that was necessarily brand new, but have
instead combined already existing technologies, objects and ideas to convey
their message (Craig, 2014) through interesting artworks that evoke and criticise
the current lack of care within society and promote cultures of care for
oneself as well as care for one’s environment. King and McCarthy Auriffeille (2009,
p.IX) make us understand that is as important as ever by noting that, ‘humans have
come to a turning point in terms of our destruction of ecological resources and
endangerment of human health’.
Moreover, all mentioned artworks all
communicate the message through different human senses. Pollution Pods concentrates more on taste and touch whereas Climate Signals mainly uses sight and the
ECOde Project focusses on hearing. This
makes us question if the medium that art uses is actually relevant, as artworks
manage to convey a message as long as they engage with the human senses in one
way or another.
Though all of these artists, with some slight
variety on how they portray their views, have the same aim. They want to
persuade humans to counter the governing capitalist ideology and consequently
adapt behaviours and efforts to saving the planet. Bowles (2013, p.49) explain that
capitalism goes against nature by saying that, ‘It is a system premised on the
desirability of industrialization with its emphasis on a human-centred, rather
than an ecology-centred, view of the world. It is a system which focuses on the
use of resources in pursuit of economic growth, assuming that these resources
are limitless.’ They encourage society to go against cultural hegemony, against
the underlying beliefs and choices that the ruling world powers make, which harm
the environment in the name of capitalism. Bates (1975, p.352) explains that, ‘The
concept of hegemony is really a very simple one. It means political leadership
based on the consent of the led, a consent which is secured by the diffusion
and popularization of the world view of the ruling class.’
The artists mentioned in this blog have
therefore resisted against the dominating power. Heller (1996, p.78) quotes Foucault
stating that, ‘As soon as there is a power relation, there is the possibility
of resistance’ By making the public conscious of climate change, artists want
to invite them to join the resistance. We could argue that their artworks do raise
awareness but have limitations, as none of the artists inform audiences on how
to make that change. These artworks can make their spectators worried about their
environment whilst simultaneously leaving them in the dark on what needs to be
done to save it. Therefore it may be interesting for artists to develop artworks
that will either actively fight the cause with aid of the public or inform
their audiences on how they can help.
Nevertheless, the discussed artists and the
digital artworks they have created do successfully make a stand for certain
values that our society needs to implement in order to make a change in the
upcoming future.
Bibliography
Bates, T. R. (1975). Gramsci and The Theory of Hegemony. In Journal of The History of Ideas. 36(2): 351-366.
Bowles, P., 2013. Capitalism As A System: ‘Unjust’ And ‘Unstable’. In Capitalism. 2nd edn. Abingdon:
Routledge.
Heller, K. J. (1996). Power, Subjectification and Resistance in Foulcault.
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Kendall, G. and Wickham, G., 2001. Understanding
Culture – Cultural Studies, Order, Ordering. London: SAGE Publications.
King, L. and McCarthy Auriffeille, D., eds., 2009. Environmental Sociology – From Analysis To Action. Lanham: Rowman
& Littlefield Publishers.
Locus Sonus Official Website (2019). Locus
Sonus – Locusstream Project. [Online]. Available: http://locusonus.org/locustream/. [Accessed 23 April 2019].
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (2019). The Causes of Climate Change. [Online]. Available:
https://climate.nasa.gov/causes/. [Accessed 15 April 2019].
Paul, C. ed., 2016. A Companion to Digital Art. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell.
Rob Mackay Official Website (2019). About. [Online]. Available: https://robmackay.net/about/. [Accessed 22 April 2019].
Samandis, M. (2016). The
Impact of New Technology on Art. In Art
Business Today: 20 Key Topics, Hackforth-Jones and Robertson (Eds.), London:
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Digital Art representing Global Warming 