What's Next?

Linda Weintraub

Description

By paying tribute to matter, materiality and materialisation, the examples of contemporary art assembled in What’s Next? Eco Materialism and Contemporary Art challenge the social, cultural and ethical norms that prevailed in the twentieth century. This significant frontier of contemporary culture is identified as Eco Materialism because it affirms the emergent philosophy of Neo Materialism and attends to the pragmatic urgency of environmentalism.     

In this highly original book, Linda Weintraub surveys the work of 40 international artists who present materiality as a strategy to convert society’s environmental neglect into responsible stewardship. These bold art initiatives, enriched by their associations with philosophy, ecology and cultural critique, bear the hallmark of a significant new art movement. This accessible text, written for students and a wider readership, is augmented with interactive opportunities that actuate eco material attitudes and behaviours. They invite readers to engage in this timely arena of contemporary art.

PREFACE: How Materiality Shaped This Book

INTRODUCTION: Where to Begin?

ECO MATERIAL ALLURES & REPULSIONS

Fingernails – Tim Hawkinson

Blood –  Marc Quinn

Placentas – Gu Wenda

Sweat Caitlin – Pautler Albritton

Tears – Rose-Lynn Fisher

Ear Wax – Amanda Cotton

Breast Milk – Jess Dobkin

Fat – Sun Yuan and Peng Yu

Spit – Spurse

Hair – Germaine Koh

Feces – Terence Koh

Corpse – Maurizio Montalti

Reader Interaction



ARCHETYPES OF MATERIAL USE & DISUSE

Pet Archetype – Amy M. Youngs

Sacred Archetype – Walter De Maria

Hazard Archetype – Hilda Hellström

Specimen Archetype – Alexandra Regan Toland

Resource Archetype – Jon Cohrs

Aesthetic Archetype –  Laura Parker

Merchandise Archetype – Joe Scanlan

Reader Interaction



ECO MATERIAL OPERATIVES

Do-It-Without-People –  James Bridle

Do-It-Yourself – Thomas Thwaites

Do-It-As-Community – Mary Mattingly

Do-It-As-Troop – Francis Alÿs

Do-It-With-Site – Rachael Mellors

Reader Interaction



ECO MATERIAL TOOLS

Fire Burns – Bruce Davies

Fire Melts Metals – Futurefarmers

Fire Sinters – Markus Kayser

Fire Cooks – Spurse

Reader Interaction



ECO MATERIAL CREATIVITY

Water Condenses –  Simparch

Water Dissolves – Dove Bradshaw

Water Forms Freshwater – Biomes Pierre Huyghe

Water Provides Marine Habitats – Jason deCaires Taylor

Water Inspires Reverence – Red Earth

Reader Interaction



ECO MATERIAL TECHNOLOGY

E-Energy Consumption – Gebhard Sengmüller

E-Omnipresence – Germaine Koh

E-Waste – Raphael Perret

E-Systems – SEAD/Angelo Vermeulen

E-Memory – Alice Anderson

E-Prayer – Kal Spelletich

Reader Interaction



WHAT’S NEXT?

Option 1: Desperation Chim↑Pom

Option 2: Relocation Zbigniew Oksiuta

Option 3: Recuperation Natalie Jeremijenko

Reader Interaction

Sujets

• Arts visuels
• Arts visuels
• Histoire des Arts
• Histoire des Arts
• Histoire des arts visuels
• PHILOSOPHY
• Matter
• History of art
• Materiality
• Environmentalism
• Stewardship
• General officer
• 20th century
• Ethics
• Ecology
• Art
• General
• Train de luxe
• Society
• History
• Culture

Informations

• Publié par: Intellect Books
• Date de parution: 15 février 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 2
• EAN13: 9781783209415
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 5 Mo

Extrait

This edition first published in the UK in 2019 by
Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK
This edition first published in the USA in 2019 by
Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street,
Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Copyright © 2019 Intellect Ltd.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Copy-editor: Emma Rhys
Typesetting: Holly Rose and Sherry Williams
Production editor: Tim Mitchell
Color images can be viewed at www.lindaweintraub.com .
Support from Nomad/9 Interdisciplinary MFA,
Hartford Art School, University of Hartford.
Print ISBN: 978-1-78320-940-8
ePDF ISBN: 978-1-78320-942-2
ePUB ISBN: 978-1-78320-941-5
Printed by CPI / Anthony Rowe, UK.
This is a peer-reviewed publication.
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
PREFACE: How Materiality Shaped This Book
INTRODUCTION: Where to Begin?
ECO MATERIAL ALLURES & REPULSIONS
Secretions
Fingernails
Tim Hawkinson
Blood
Marc Quinn
Placentas
Gu Wenda
Sweat
Caitlin Pautler Albritton
Tears
Rose-Lynn Fisher
Ear Wax
Amanda Cotton
Breast Milk
Jess Dobkin
Fat
Sun Yuan and Peng Yu
Spit
Spurse
Hair
Germaine Koh
Feces
Terence Koh
Corpse
Maurizio Montalti
Reader Interaction
ARCHETYPES OF MATERIAL USE & DISUSE
Dirt
Pet Archetype
Amy M. Youngs
Sacred Archetype
Walter De Maria
Hazard Archetype
Hilda Hellström
Specimen Archetype
Alexandra Regan Toland
Resource Archetype
Jon Cohrs
Aesthetic Archetype
Laura Parker
Merchandise Archetype
Joe Scanlan
Reader Interaction
ECO MATERIAL OPERATIVES
People
Do-It-Without-People
James Bridle
Do-It-Yourself
Thomas Thwaites
Do-It-As-Community
Mary Mattingly
Do-It-As-Troop
Francis Alÿs
Do-It-With-Site
Rachael Mellors
Reader Interaction
ECO MATERIAL TOOLS
Fire
Fire Burns
Bruce Davies
Fire Melts Metals
Futurefarmers
Fire Sinters
Markus Kayser
Fire Cooks
Spurse
Reader Interaction
ECO MATERIAL CREATIVITY
Water
Water Condenses
Simparch
Water Dissolves
Dove Bradshaw
Water Forms Freshwater Biomes
Pierre Huyghe
Water Provides Marine Habitats
Jason deCaires Taylor
Water Inspires Reverence
Red Earth
Reader Interaction
ECO MATERIAL TECHNOLOGY
Electronics
E-Energy Consumption
Gebhard Sengmüller
E-Omnipresence
Germaine Koh
E-Waste
Raphael Perret
E-Systems
SEAD/Angelo Vermeulen
E-Memory
Alice Anderson
E-Prayer
Kal Spelletich
Reader Interaction
WHAT'S NEXT?
Option 1: Desperation
Chim↑Pom
Option 2: Relocation
Zbigniew Oksiuta
Option 3: Recuperation
Natalie Jeremijenko
Reader Interaction
SUGGESTED READINGS
Acknowledgments
Writing a book is typically a solitary procedure, requiring countless hours spent in lonely silence. I’m pleased to report that isolation never factored into the writing of this book. The process was socialized by the intention of forming a community of like-minded artists who were not yet acquainted, and had not yet discovered their commonalities. This book bestows a name upon their shared vision, and examines the cultural and technological conditions that permeate their shared concerns. The forty-three artists whose works are presented on these pages are among the founding members of this community. Their particular forms of creativity embodied the abiding principles of Eco Materialism even before this book was written. I am pleased to have this opportunity to formally acknowledge the timely forms of artistic ingenuity offered by Tim Hawkinson, Gu Wenda, Marc Quinn, Caitlin Pautler Albritton, Rose-Lynn Fisher, Amanda Cotton, Jess Dobkin, Sun Yuan, Peng Yu, Germaine Koh, Terence Koh, Maurizio Montalti, Amy Youngs, Walter De Maria, Hilda Hellström, Alexandra Regan Toland, Jon Cohrs, Laura Parker, Joe Scanlan, James Bridle, Thomas Thwaites, Mary Mattingly, Francis Alÿs, Rachael Mellors, Bruce Davies, Amy Franceschini, Markus Kayser, Qiu Song, Ren Nuo Ya, Kang Pengfei, Bai Ying, Guo Shen, Spurse, Simparch, Dove Bradshaw, Pierre Huyghe, Jason deCaires Taylor, Red Earth, Gebhard Sengmüller, Raphael Perret, Angelo Vermeulen, Alice Anderson, Tal Spelletich, Chim↑Pom, Zbigniew Oksiuta, and Natalie Jeremijenko.
While the artists are acknowledged for providing the book’s rich and challenging content, converting content into a published volume was accomplished under the guidance of the conscientious and supportive staff at Intellect Books: the typesetter, Holly Rose; copy editor, Emma Rhys; the marketing team, Katy Dalli and James Campbell; and the production director, May Yao. Editor, Tim Mitchell, earns a special commendation for seeking sustainable publishing options that simultaneously reflect the content of this book and respect the limited budgets of a student readership. It is under Mitchell’s guidance that the Intellect staff entered uncharted publishing territories regarding production and distribution. This book received a generous vote of confidence, even before the draft was completed from Nomad9, the Interdisciplinary Master of Fine Arts program at Hartford University, where I have been a guest artist since its inception. I am honored to acknowledge its generous grant that enabled Intellect Books to adopt environmentally responsible publishing strategies. In addition, I would like to acknowledge Carol Padberg, founder and director of this very special MFA program. While developing this text I was privileged to receive a measure of the guidance and encouragement she regularly bestows upon her students.
Julie Niemie accepted the responsibility of preparing the manuscript for publication by formatting endnotes and captions. Carlos Nazario generously provided technical assistance. Sherry Williams contributed her design acumen to developing the graphic style of the text. Their devoted attention to such details is greatly appreciated. In addition, The Crafts Council - Make:Shift; Ikon Gallery; David Zwirner Gallery; DIA Art Foundation; Pace Gallery; Futurefarmers; SEAD Network; Postmasters Gallery are acknowledged as arts organizations that either waived or reduced the fee for permission to reproduce images.
Informal conversations about this text as it was evolving were as vital to the outcome as the contributions of professionals . I am particularly grateful for the responses and queries offered by the following colleagues: Paula Turkon, Garry Hagberg, George Quasha, Aviva Rahmani, Lenore Malen, Ellen Levy, Nobohu Nagasawa, Michael Asbill, Matthew Friday, Iain Kerr, Dan Franck, Carlos A. Nazario, Carolyn Koppel, Matthew Burke and Victoria Vesna. Finally, a heartfelt expression of gratitude is extended to my husband, Andrew, whose unwavering support appeared whenever I wavered and needed support.
Preface
How Materiality Shaped This Book
Like other homesteaders, I create habitats on my property in upstate New York. These environments facilitate an organism’s ability to reproduce and thrive. I provide sources of pollen for bees, stream-fed ponds for amphibians, nesting shelters for wild birds, meadows for wild plants, and compost for beneficial microbes. Likewise, this book has been created to provide such a congenial setting for a special group of contemporary artists who share a radical vision of the future, but who have never been granted a suitable context. In art, a habitat is known as a ‘movement’. The art movement that is identified and named in this text is Eco Materialism. The analogy is apt. Ecologists define a habitat as a territory in which the organism can find food, shelter, protection, and mates. Artists define an art movement as a context in which shared values are cultivated, acknowledged, and explored. Without associating with a movement, pioneering artists tend to be viewed as oddities pursuing idiosyncratic impulses. But as contributors to a movement, their common beliefs and strategies gain significance as pertinent cultural assets. Thus, whereas an ecological habitat is made up of such physical factors as soil, moisture, temperature, light, and life forms, an art movement consists of a group of artworks that convey shared values, along with the analysis, discourse, and cultural traction that they inspired. The analogy also extends to the ever-changing nature of these phenomena. Habitats are subject to violent events such as earthquakes and gradual occurrences like rising ocean temperatures. Likewise, art movements emerge and fade in response to current technological, political, economic, and other cultural and environmental shifts. What is the impetus for the emergence of Eco Materialism as an art movement? Eco Material artists address the mounting threats to the planet’s ability to support diverse forms of life on Earth. While they acknowledge humanity’s role in causing this jeopardy, they are determined to avert the collapse of threatened eco systems. Their shared approach is to reassert the primacy of materiality, which has been displaced by contemporary technologies and manufacturing protocols. They honor the sensory, ethical, and pragmatic benefits of material interactions.
Some of the artists presented in this volume have international reputations. Others do not. Many have reported that they thought they were pursuing isolated courses until Eco Materialism was named as an emerging art movement. This book situates their individual endeavors at the fulcrum where three contemporary movements converge: the philosophy of Neo Materialism, the biological/geological concerns of environmentalism, and the bold inventiveness of art.
The ‘How’ of Eco Materialism
Author’s ‘How’
Artists’ ‘How’
Publishers’ ‘How’
Readers’ ‘How’
Author’s ‘How’: Materiality Shapes This Book’s Content
As a contemporary art h