io-magazine (environmental art) SUMMER 1998 file:///C|/www-site/root/io98/index.html [9.7.2001 11:42:42] What is Environmental Art? Stephanie Ross Rooted Art?: Environmental Art and our Attachment to nature Emily Brady Kissing the Mess Aesthetic Engagement with Ideas of Nature Hester Reeve Hans Haacke- Environmental Artist with Sociopolitical Concerns Anita Seppä Environmental Art. A New Sanctification Jale Erzen Highway, Art and Environment Olli Immonen The Highway Number Four Roadside Art Project Antero Toikka Thoughts about "Art in nature" Hermann Prigann file:///C|/www-site/root/io98/articles.html [9.7.2001 11:42:43] IO_contents file:///C|/www-site/root/io98/contents.html [9.7.2001 11:42:44] IO contributors CONTRIBUTORS Emily Brady is a Lecturer in Philosophy at Lancaster University, England. Agnes Denes is an American artist of international renown. She also lectures at the universities in U.S and abroad. Jale Erzen is a painter and Secretary-General of the International Association for Aesthetics. Olli Immonen is Secretary of the International Institute of Applied Aesthetics. Hanna Johansson is a Ph.D. student at Helsinki University, Finland. Hermann Prigann is an artist who also teaches in Bauhaus, Dessau, Germany. Hester Reeve is a performance artist who is completing her MA in Values and the Environment at Lancaster University, England. Stephanie Ross teaches in the Philosophy Department at the University of Missouri, St. Louis. Anita Seppä is a Ph.D. student at Helsinki University, Finland. file:///C|/www-site/root/io98/contribu.html [9.7.2001 11:42:45] IO bibliography BIBLIOGRAPHY Art in the Land: A Critical Anthology of Environmental Art, ed. by Sonfist, A. New York: Dutton, 1983. “Art into Nature: Decoration, Incursion, or Revelation?” in P.J. Cormick, ed. The Reasons of Art University of Ottawa Press, 1985, pp. 232-42. Beardsley, John Probing the Earth: Contemporary Land Projects. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1977. Carlson, A. “Is Environmental Art and Aesthetic Affront to Nature?”. The Canadian Journal of Philosophy, vol. 16, no. 4, December 1996. Cavsey, Andrew "Space and Time in British Land Art", Studio International 2/1977. Crawford, D. “Nature and Art: Some Dialectical Relationships”. Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, vol. 42, 1983. Endo,Toshikatsu Nordiskt Konstcentrums utställningkatalog nr.3. Pohjoismainen taidekeskus, Helsinki. 1989. Frankenstein, A. “Christo’s ‘ Fence’, Beauty or Betrayal?”. Art in America, vol. 64, 1976. Gablik, Suzi The Reenchantment of Art. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1991. Garraud, Colette L’Idee de nature dans l’art contemporain. Flammarion, Paris, 1993. Gussow, A. A Sense of Place: Artists and the American Land. San Francisco: Friends of the Earth, 1972. Haacke, H. Framing and Being Framed. The Press of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design; New York University Press, 1975. Humphrey, P. “The Ethics of Earthworks”. Environmental Ethics, vol. 7, 1985. Irwin, Robert Being and circumstance: Notes Toward a Conditional Art. California: The Lapis Press, 1985. Lippard, Lucy, R. Overlay: Contemporary Art and the Art of Prehistory. N.Y. file:///C|/www-site/root/io98/biblio.html (1 of 2) [9.7.2001 11:42:45] IO bibliography 1983. Ross, S. “Gardens, earthworks and environmental art”, in S. Kemal and I. Gaskell, eds., Landscape, Natural Beauty and the Arts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. Sonfist, A. Natural Phenomena as Public Monuments. Purchase, NY: Neuberger Museum, 1978. Trilogi: Kunst - Natur - Videnskab (Trilogy: Art - Nature - Science), ed. Jürgensen, A. ja Sutton, G. K. Kunsthallen Brandts Klædefabrik, TICKON. Danmark, 1996. The Writings of Robert Smithson ed. by Holt, N. New York University Press, 1979. file:///C|/www-site/root/io98/biblio.html (2 of 2) [9.7.2001 11:42:45] how to contribute Instructions for Authors IO – The Internet Magazine of Applied Aesthetics is intended to provide an international forum for discussion on issues in applied aesthetics. Applied aesthetics embraces various disciplines, including philosophy, art theory and practice, etc., and covers a range of subject areas, such as environmental aesthetics, art studies, and cultural and environmental policies. As an on-line publication, the magazine aims to make use of the special possibilities and opportunities of the internet. We encourage authors to explore these opportunities, and to write in a style which is likely to promote discussion. Authors are discouraged from writing in a style that is overly academic or technical. The writers should also bear in mind the requirements of an international readership when making reference to localized places or events. Footnotes, which will appear at the end of the article, should be kept to a minimum. Citations should include author s name, title, publisher, date of publication (for example, for a book: R. Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, ed. Holbrook Jackson (London, G.M. Dent and Sons, 1978), p. 53. For an article, G. Hardin, “The Tragedy of the Commons,” Science, vol. 162, 1968, pp. 1243-8.). Contributions should be submitted as follows: one printed copy and one on 3.5 diskette, PC or Macintosh format, Word or Word Perfect preferred. If pictures or graphics are used, authors should indicate if they have a preference for the layout. The editors reserve the right to make final acceptance of submissions and to make alterations which do not involve any change of meaning. Contributions should be sent to: Editor IO – The Internet Magazine of Applied Aesthetics International Institute of Applied Aesthetics Kannaksenkatu 22 15140 Lahti file:///C|/www-site/root/io98/howto.html (1 of 2) [9.7.2001 11:42:46] how to contribute Finland file:///C|/www-site/root/io98/howto.html (2 of 2) [9.7.2001 11:42:46] IO links LINKS Philosophy in Cyberspace: Aesthetics Lancaster Environmental pages Aesthetics On-Line file:///C|/www-site/root/io98/links.html [9.7.2001 11:42:47] IO web design Jonna Iljin Tuukka Savolainen Tommi Tienhaara Institute of design / Lahti Polytechnic file:///C|/www-site/root/io98/design.html [9.7.2001 11:42:47] IO editorial note We are pleased to introduce the first issue of IO, The Internet Magazine of Applied Aesthetics, which has emerged from activities and projects initiated by the International Institute of Applied Aesthetics, based in Lahti, Finland. IO is intended to provide an international forum for discussion on issues in applied aesthetics, and it aims to open creative and critical perspectives to the subjects discussed. As an area of research and education, applied aesthetics focuses on issues emerging at the intersection of theoretical aesthetics and various applied disciplines. The disciplines that applied aesthetics embraces include philosophy, art theory and practice, etc., but the questions raised are also often closely connected to a range of special subject areas such as environmental aesthetics, art studies, and cultural and environmental policies. And of course, in connection to these issues the ethical and ideological perspectives become often more than relevant. The title of the magazine was chosen for its relevance to electronic media - I,O referring to the whole conceptual basis of digital information and at the same time to turning on and turning off. And also the title has more complex cultural and even astronomical connotations; IO being one of Jupiter's moons, and playing as well on ancient Greek mythologies. The issue at hand is focused on environmental art. The subject merges the artefactuality of art with natural processes in the nonhuman world. This phenomenon raises complex issues including questions of aesthetic, ethical, ecological, spiritual value, and social and political considerations. The articles, art work and other resources in this issue address these questions from various perspectives - artistic, philosophical, and also more interdisciplinary approaches. The magazine is divided into two main sectors: the articles and the gallery. A short bibliography on environmental art has also been collected from the authors, which can be found through the contents page. We hope you enjoy our first issue - and welcome your comments and discussion. Emily Brady and Anita Seppä, Editors file:///C|/www-site/root/io98/note.html (1 of 2) [9.7.2001 11:42:48] IO editorial note file:///C|/www-site/root/io98/note.html (2 of 2) [9.7.2001 11:42:48] Stephanie Ross What is Environmental Art? Before addressing the aesthetic problems raised by environmental art, we must find a way to delimit the category in question. Just what counts as environmental art? There are a variety of candidates, and they suggest a number of related and overlapping criteria that seem relevant. While I have no interest in seeking a set of necessary and sufficient conditions for the category “environmental art”, I shall begin by examining a set of examples, each of which blends in a different manner the notions of art and environment. I should note that except for the case of gardens, my examples will be almost exclusively drawn from the North American artworld. I hope readers will supplement them with examples from other locales and cultures. For a start, we can certainly think of many works of art that are about the environment and responsive to it. Consider the landscapes of the Hudson River school, Cézanne's many portraits of Mont Sainte Victoire, or – in a different medium – Smetana's tone poem The Moldau (about a river) or Moussorgsky's composition Night on Bald Mountain. These are all nuanced and sensitive works of art that are descriptive of the natural environment. Yet we wouldn't classify them as environmental art. The problem is not simply their failure to reside in the environment; exhibiting Cézanne's canvases at the foot of the mountain they portray would not transform them into the sort of art we are seeking. Nor do we consider all works of art that are located in the environment to be environmental art.