We know it: climate change is one of the most serious environmental problems that living beings face and one of the most difficult to combat. Faced with this, there are thousands of initiatives that have initially managed to raise awareness among the masses about the great possibilities that we, each individual, have to contribute to mitigating it.
A beautiful example of this is ecological art, which today is reinvented with the help of brilliant technologies to share massive messages to the community. Like any other type of art, andl ecological art It contains infinite possibilities to make us aware of problems that concern us all, in this case, the unfortunate future to which we are leading our planet. TO Through resources such as irony, humor, caricature and the plastic manifestation of the imaginary, it invites us to get involved.
He ecological art can serve as a consciousness trigger and—unlike information presented in reports and graphs—by translating data into creative and interactive formats, can reach any kind of audience. In this way he speaks to us “in our language”, no matter what it is. Besides, Ecological art makes use of different techniques and means to create, mixing all kinds of disciplines and taking advantage of very varied discourses. And as a meeting point between formats, visions, stories and concepts, art generates community.
From some friendly paper mache pandas, traveling the world, to elegant fashion designs made with, These are some ecological art proposals that will change your way of understanding climate change and other environmental problems.
Paulo Grangeon: Traveling pandas
1,600 paper mache pandas seem like a lot, but knowing that we only have 1,600 pandas left in the world, they become few, so few that the artist has taken them to more than 20 countries, to visit iconic places. Thus, this sculptor invites us to become aware of species in danger of extinction.
Aida Sulova: Trash cans
With this illustration, what the plastic artist wants to remind us is that the garbage we throw away eventually finds its way back to us. Plastic is such a common waste that its particles are everywhere, even in what we eat.
Superflex: McDonald’s flooded
In this strange film made by a group of artists, we are shown what a completely flooded McDonald’s would look like. To carry it out, a replica of this restaurant was built in a swimming pool, with all the furniture, food and other paraphernalia. The narrative uses the paradox that it is businesses like this that are harming the environment, but if we continue down the path, the environment will harm them.
Agnes Denes: Wheat Fields
This artist decided to plant a plot of wheat in front of Wall Street in 1982, to make a comparison between the traditional economic activities of the United States, close to nature, and the “artificiality” of the modern economic environment.
Naziha Mestaouis: One heartbeat, one tree
This spectacular idea makes use of new media for art. It is about projecting this virtual forest on buildings in different cities. The animation of the forest is interactive and they grow in rhythm with the heartbeats of the spectators, who connect with the piece through a cell phone application, conceptually erasing the distance between the forests and the cities and reconnecting the human life with the environment. Furthermore, for every virtual plant that grows, a real one is planted.
Maizz Visual: spirits of the trees
Blink Twice & trippy Trees, USA & Canada festivals 2014/2015 from Maizz Visual on Vimeo.
This Mexican collective projects the faces of ancient gods and spirits onto the trees that protest against deforestation and . They have carried out similar projects against the .
Olafur Eliasson: Your waste of time
The artist displayed large pieces fallen from the largest glacier in a special refrigerated room, which used solar energy. The title tells us about temporality, these pieces are 800 years old on Earth and each of us is, in comparison, a blink of an eye. But in that blink we are ending everything. On the other hand, could it be that we can’t put a little of our time into avoiding this environmental problem? The modern lifestyle is definitely fast-paced and is quickly destroying our living environment.
Tres Art Collective: Ubiquitous trash
Through extensive research, the Mexican collective TRES is dedicated to finding out the origin of the strangest garbage and, incidentally, they are discovering fragments of social history around these objects.
Luzinterruptus: Labyrinth of plastic waste
This group designed a labyrinth made with plastic bottles and bags. While it may be recreational for visitors, it also reminds us that plastic is everywhere and we live in the maze of trash we are constantly building.
Chris Jordan: Intolerable beauty, portraits of mass consumption in America
Chris Jordan’s photographs remind us that even the most unusual of our objects, if discarded, will become part of the tons of useless matter that pollutes the environment, on many levels. Garbage does not stay in one place and it is not a single thing, an object is composed of multiple contaminating materials. Before throwing away or buying something, it is worth thinking better.
Marina DeBris: Fashion with trash
Sea navy and Debris, means rest or waste in English. This artist works with garbage found in the sea and that begins to deteriorate and fragment due to exposure to that environment. Her costumes made from garbage tell us about a problem that she has to solve as soon as possible, but from a fun and very particular approach.