Animating Democracy
Americans for the Arts
2011
A Working Guide to the Landscape of Arts for Change
by Sam Bower
From an environmental perspective, we are living in transitional times; the practices we engage in now have far-reaching implications for the survival of the earth and all its life forms. “Environmental Art” is an umbrella term for a wide range of work that helps improve our relationship with the natural world. Art provides a lens through which to explore aspects of society–from urban food production, climate policy, watershed management, and transportation infrastructure to childhood education and clothing design–from an ecological perspective. This paper provides a brief history and salient examples of projects and practices in this field over the last several decades. Although primarily meant to provide a U.S. perspective of the Environmental Art movement, all of the work cited exists within a networked global system characterized by the rapid exchange of ideas.

Xavier Cortada’s “The Reclamation Project: Installation at the Verge Art Fair, Miami Beach, FL,” 2009 (curated by Amy Lipton, ecoartspace).
Annually, Reclamation Project volunteers collect mangrove propagules in coastal areas and distribute them across the community, symbolically “reclaiming” urban areas that once flourished with mangrove forests. The propagules are then exhibited in clear, water-filled cups, nurtured into seedlings, and eventually planted along coastal areas to create new habitats above and below the water line.