Student: Sofia Linden
Graduation date: May 2019
Type: Area of Interest (double major)
Date approved: November 2016
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Summary
It can be baffling, as a terrestrial being, to comprehend life underwater. There are various layers of water in aquatic bodies with different density and heat levels, and the biotica which exists in these ecosystems must work within these stratifications. (Barnes and Mann, 1991, 4). Aquatic ecosystems consist of the fresh and saltwater bodies on the Earth’s surface, such as oceans, estuaries, bays, lakes, ponds, rivers/streams and various kinds of wetlands (Barnes and Mann, 1991, 3). Caves and arctic regions have similarly detailed parameters that require organisms to have their own set of unique specializations. These regions are all frontiers, geographical areas where few or no humans have settled, distinct from civilization. They are relatively unknown areas with extreme climatic conditions for humans, and lack accessibility. One of the first things humans do when they settle is decorate the area. Yet, art has also been placed in areas where human settlement was neither widespread nor, for most of history, feasible.
Caves are a foundational place to explore frontier art. They were one of the first places humans took shelter and created art, but the use of them for both purposes has for the most part died. Subterranean spaces such as caves share similarities with aquatic ecosystems. They are below land, and much of it, like oceans, receives little to no sunlight (Culvur and Pipan, 2009, 1). Only specialized species can live in many caves and other subterranean habitats, and little to no photosynthesis takes place (Culvur and Pipan, 2009, 23). Despite their dark, mysterious nature, caves were an original catalyst for the creation of art. Historian David Lewis-Williams (2002) pondered this phenomena, asking questions about subterranean art such as, “why did the person of 13,000 and more years ago undertake such a hazardous journey? What emotions did he experience?” (18) He continues this thought, saying, “these questions are not just about human history. They take us to the heart of what it is to be human today” (Lewis-Williams, 2002, 18). Art can function as a mechanism for interpreting environmental conditions. Paleolithic people would both carve animals and place animal parts such as teeth in the walls. Animal imagery remained in cave art for more than 25,000 years (Lewis-Williams, 2002, 13 and 168). The world around these people, which was both dangerous and vital for survival, became essential in decoration. Although hazardous, caves were considered a safer alternative for the people that occupied them then the various environmental conditions and threats presented in the exposed world outside them. Today caves not only are no longer places for habitation, but are usually only explored by professional spelunkers or under the supervision of professionals. Categorizations of frontiers change as perspectives and circumstances change.
Jumping to the modern era, during the 1960’s and 70’s, it became especially popular to create works of art outside the habitual confines of an enclosed museum/gallery space. One form of art that emerged during the 60’s and 70’s was Earthworks, which requires sculpting in and from landscapes, with earth as their main material, often on a very large scale. Usually there is no clear relation to ecology or activism in the artist’s concepts (Smith, 2005, 14). Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty, 1970, used the surrounding earth at the Great Salt Lake in Utah to create a massive spiral jetting out into the water (Kastner and Wallis, 1998, 58). In order to study a monumental work like this, one must gauge the possible effects of the labor and ecological alteration involved in this process. This work was only accomplished with extensive labor, large working forces, huge machines such as bulldozers and large amounts of rocks and sand (Kastner and Wallis, 1998, 58). One of the main critiques of Earthworks is that people accept large effects on the land when it is for the sake of art more so than with other large-scale land altering activities such as mining. Whether or not this attitude is true is up for speculation, but Earthworks certainly deal with how the form and materials of a piece influence the message. Crazy Horse, for instance, was supposed to be a monument honoring a native american war leader from the Western frontier during American colonization, but whether or not the natives in the area wanted what they considered sacred land bulldozed and dynamited is unclear (Humphrey, 1985).
Unlike Earthworks, sometimes art is placed upon a landscape with a clear ecological function. (Smith, 2005, 22). This type of art often exhibits features of reconciliation ecology, a theory that seeks to restore biodiversity and depleted habitats in more developed areas (Rosenzweig, 2013, 1,2). Jason De’Claire Taylor’s project The Silent Evolution, follows such practices. The Mexican Government commissioned Taylor to place 400 sculptural humans at the bottom of a barren marine area in Cancun. His sculptures were pH balanced, which facilitated the growth of coral reefs and attracted a new wave of tourism for the local economy (Gocova, 2013, 34-37) . Coral reefs are highly productive and host plentiful resources and biodiversity due to the microhabitats that form there (Barnes and Mann, 1991, 223). This art can be seen as an attempt to care for a frontier – the ocean floor – that humans have relatively little knowledge of or accessibility to. Taylor placed depictions of human activity on top of a location substantially altered, but not inhabited by humans (Moyer and Harper, 2011, 164.) He is marking civilizations’ impact in a place far away from civilization. Both metaphorical and functional, Taylor’s art also shows how the definition of art is expanded when it no longer purely serves aesthetic or conceptual purposes, but applied science as well. I want to examine how the meaning of art and ecological perspectives are influenced by this dynamic with biogeochemical cycles and the coalescing of civilization and frontiers.
Bibliography:
Barnes, R. S. K., and K. H. Mann. 1991. Fundamentals of Aquatic Ecology. Second. Oxford [England] ; Boston: Blackwell Scientific Publications.
Culvur, C. David and Tanja Pipan. 2009. The Biology of Caves and Other Subterranean Habitats. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press.
Gocova, Anezka. 2013. “Artlantis: Jason DeCaires Taylor’s Underwater Sculptures Protect Coral Reefs and Usher in a New Era of Tourism.” Alternatives Journal 39 (3): 34–37.
Humphrey, P. 1985. “The Ethics of Earthworks.” Environmental Ethics 7 (1), 5-22.
Kastner, Jeffrey, and Brian Wallis. 1998. Land and Environmental Art: Themes and Movements. London: Phaidon Press.
Lewis-Williams, David. 2002. The Mind in the Cave. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd.
Moyer, Twylene, and Glenn Harper. 2011. The New Earthwork: Art, Action, Agency. 1st ed. Hamilton, NJ : Seattle, WA : ISC Press: University of Washington Press.
Rosenzweig, Michael. 2013. Win-Win Ecology: How the Earth’s Species Can Survive in the Midst of Human Enterprise. New York: Oxford University Press.
Smith, Stephanie, David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, and Independent Curators International. 2005. Beyond Green: Toward a Sustainable Art. Chicago ; Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago ; New York: Independent Curators International.
Questions
- Descriptive: What materials and resources are involved in frontier art? How have different cultures viewed and interacted with frontiers? How has the classification of different areas as frontiers changed over time?
- Explanatory: Why do humans decorate the places they settle? What historical events facilitated ecological integration in artistic practices?
- Evaluative: What resources are used in frontier art and what impact do these various works have on surrounding habitats and ecosystems? What distinguishes art in areas that people rarely frequent from waste? How might intersecting art with scientific functionality change the meaning and interpretations of art?
- Instrumental: What methods can be used in land or ecologically altering frontier art to allow for harmony between the materials, the form, the surrounding ecosystem and the intention of the piece? How can humans care for parts of the Earth that we have little knowledge of or access to?
Arts and humanities courses
- HIST 261 (Global Environmental History, 4 credits). Pre-approved A&H course; no justification required.
- Germ 230 (Humans, Animals and Nature, 4 credits) Although I already took this course, it is a perfect ENVS humanities credit because we explored ENVS topics through the lens of art, experience, literature, film, and german culture. We explored the relationship between humans animals and nature through german literature and films, twice went hiking and then created some type of art (poetry, painting, photography...) based on our sensory experience. Twice during the semester we also had to participate in some form of civic engagement and then reflect on it.