Art as resistance : artists' reflections on environmentally engaged art and their roles as civil actors in society
(2020) HEKM51 20201Human Geography
Human Ecology
- Abstract
- As climate change intensifies, more voices are being raised in favor of re-conceptualization and transformative systems change, where actions are taken on a social, political and economic level. Environmentally engaged art and its artists are brought forward as potential instigators of change, as both researchers and as civil actors in society.
Through semi-structured interviews and discourse analysis, this project analyzed the responses of artists in Malmö, Sweden when reflecting on their roles as civil actors in society, on climate change and art’s potential to be transformative. The findings show that the artists are conflicted in their roles and whether or not art possesses transformative capabilities. All the artists question the... (More) - As climate change intensifies, more voices are being raised in favor of re-conceptualization and transformative systems change, where actions are taken on a social, political and economic level. Environmentally engaged art and its artists are brought forward as potential instigators of change, as both researchers and as civil actors in society.
Through semi-structured interviews and discourse analysis, this project analyzed the responses of artists in Malmö, Sweden when reflecting on their roles as civil actors in society, on climate change and art’s potential to be transformative. The findings show that the artists are conflicted in their roles and whether or not art possesses transformative capabilities. All the artists question the perceived commodification of art, where art is being instrumentalized to fit a neoliberal capitalist form of valuation, while also expressing an awareness of their own roles in reproducing the system. Whilst the findings show that the role of art and the artist is vital in creating spaces of reflections and values that are not linked to economic defined valuation, the artists are increasingly concerned about the neoliberal capitalist influences on the art world, and how they have to negotiate their role and reproduction of it.
By engaging with theories from human ecology and art sociology to explore the artist’s responses, this thesis concludes that when viewed as an act of resistance, art plays a fruitful role in critical political ecology, and creates spaces for reflection that promote critical inquiry and imaginative thought. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9026476
- author
- Lindgren Havsfjord, Linnéa LU
- supervisor
-
- Thomas Malm LU
- organization
- course
- HEKM51 20201
- year
- 2020
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- art, environmentally engaged art, political ecology, enterprise culture, visuality, discourse analysis, political art, art worlds
- language
- English
- id
- 9026476
- date added to LUP
- 2020-09-03 09:13:45
- date last changed
- 2020-09-03 09:13:45
@misc{9026476,
abstract = {{As climate change intensifies, more voices are being raised in favor of re-conceptualization and transformative systems change, where actions are taken on a social, political and economic level. Environmentally engaged art and its artists are brought forward as potential instigators of change, as both researchers and as civil actors in society.
Through semi-structured interviews and discourse analysis, this project analyzed the responses of artists in Malmö, Sweden when reflecting on their roles as civil actors in society, on climate change and art’s potential to be transformative. The findings show that the artists are conflicted in their roles and whether or not art possesses transformative capabilities. All the artists question the perceived commodification of art, where art is being instrumentalized to fit a neoliberal capitalist form of valuation, while also expressing an awareness of their own roles in reproducing the system. Whilst the findings show that the role of art and the artist is vital in creating spaces of reflections and values that are not linked to economic defined valuation, the artists are increasingly concerned about the neoliberal capitalist influences on the art world, and how they have to negotiate their role and reproduction of it.
By engaging with theories from human ecology and art sociology to explore the artist’s responses, this thesis concludes that when viewed as an act of resistance, art plays a fruitful role in critical political ecology, and creates spaces for reflection that promote critical inquiry and imaginative thought.}},
author = {{Lindgren Havsfjord, Linnéa}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Art as resistance : artists' reflections on environmentally engaged art and their roles as civil actors in society}},
year = {{2020}},
}