Aesthetica Magazine – Visions of the Future

The decade between 2010 and 2020 was a record breaking one. Exceptional global heat, retreating ice and record sea levels were driven by greenhouse gases produced by human activities. The year 2019 was the hottest on record, and as each one passes, we see increasingly frequent and more intense heatwaves, droughts, flooding, winter storms, hurricanes and wildfires. Many people in society are urging action. If we are to slow the tide of climate change and prevent the coming catastrophe, we have to act. Artists and creatives have always been a loud voice in the call for a more sustainable future, using their platforms to call for change and awareness. Established figures like Olafur Eliasson and Agnes Denes have committed decades to the issue, whilst new artists like Steph Huang have now taken up the mantle and carried it forward. Their unflinching work addresses the biggest existential threat humanity faces, offering both a bleak vision of a disastrous future, and a hopeful glimpse of what change and collective action can do. 

If asked to name an artist whose work concerns the climate, many people’s minds would jump to Olafur Eliasson (b. 1967). Best-known for The Weather Project (2003), the artist has been producing installations that consider our relationship with the natural world for more than two decades. His Ice Watch series (2014-2018) saw enormous ice blocks placed in major cities around the world as a response to climate change conferences and reports, whilst the Glaciers Melt (1999/2019) is a collection of photographs taken in Iceland in 1999, and again from the same perspective in 2019, showing the decimation of the country’s glaciers. Now, Your Curious Journey brings together work from across Eliasson’s oeuvre and visits across various locations in Asia. True to form, the artist has placed sustainability at its heart. Devices installed in the transport crates will create abstract drawings of the artworks’ long trip to their destination by truck, train or boat. The pieces selected are lightweight, already located in the region or use materials that can be sourced locally to keep transport distances to a minimum. This exhibition reminds us why Eliasson is widely regarded as a titan of contemporary, environmental art. 

Agnes Denes: Exercise in Eco-Logic 

Lunds konsthall, Sweden | Until 25 August 

Agnes Denes (b. 1931)’s Rice/Tree/Burial (1969) was considered the first site-specific performance piece with ecological concerns. The artwork involved planting rice seeds in a field in upstate New York, chaining surrounding trees and burying a time capsule filled with copies of her haiku. Denes said, “it was about communicating with the earth, and communicating with the future.” Since then, she has used artistic as well as scientific, mathematical and philosophical methods to investigate and influence humankind’s impact on the environment. In Exercise in Eco-Logic, Denes’ site-specific installation mirrors her pioneering work. Time Capsule consists of a collection of messages to the future that will be provided by visitors to the exhibition, which will then be ritually buried and laid to rest for 1000 years. In asking people to engage with the work and leave a message to be found in a millennium, Denes asks us to consider the people and planet of the future. We may be able to leave a message for our descendants but are we also leaving them a legacy of environmental harm that will be impossible to reverse?

 

In the UK, 6.2 million tonnes of food is wasted every year, and almost a fifth of all food produced is thrown away before it can be consumed. As meals are provided to us pre-packed, processed and ready to eat on supermarket shelves, many believe that we are becoming increasingly detached from what we eat. Steph Huang (b. 1990) is known for her investigations into mass production and the history of the food industry. The new exhibition at Tate Britain, named after the traditional “A Sailor Went to Sea” song, considers how our consumption impacts the ocean’s ecosystem. Sculptures made using food jars and packaging and a crushed supermarket trolley are scattered across the gallery floor, whilst a neon sign, suggestive of an upmarket restaurant, hangs on the wall. Bronze casts of shells appear throughout the presentation, and a film exploring scallop diving off the coast of Devon will be displayed. The recurring image of the shells reference waste products of the food industry that are rarely seen by the consumer. Huang’s work encourages us to reflect on the conditions that shape what, how and where we eat. 

This immersive photography and video exhibition visualises the causes and consequences of the climate crisis and seeks to foreground creative solutions. Comprising the work of more than 30 artists from around the world, COAL + ICE traces a photographic arc from deep within coal mines to the melting glaciers of the great Himalayas where rising sea levels and extreme weather events are wreaking havoc. The imagery included ranges from glass-plate negatives to smartphone videos, and spans more than a century, providing a comprehensive and intimate portrait on how the environment has changed over the past one hundred years. More than simply documenting the toll of human damage on the environment, the exhibition captures the reality of life in the face of catastrophe and the resilience of communities like those working in coal mines. Artists including Song Chao, Noah Berger, Camille Seaman and Darcy Padilla come together to paint a portrait of a world in crisis – and offer hope for a solution. 

Words: Emma Jacob

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