涌现: 气候危机下的生态艺术行动

Sweeping heat waves, melting glaciers, and rising oceans. All indicate climate change has become a reality and it is posing serious threats to both human and planetary survival. In the midst of the ecological ruin of the planet, ecological art and other forms of creative actions (such as permaculture, ecovillages, and transition towns) are jointly seeking to heal the planet from the wounds wretched by relentlessly industrial growth, rethinking human’s ecological niche in a larger system of life with rapidly diminishing finite resources.

Unleashing unexpected creativity, these restorative actions could be understood as the expression of emergent property, the unexpected, orderly patterns created from disorderly elements, according to system and biological science. The concept of emergent property, intrinsic in all living systems and an embodiment of the intelligence of nature, brings new insights into approaching the climate crisis, and into creating a sustainable future nourished by ecological and cultural diversity.

The artists in the exhibition offer examples of emergence. Their transdisciplinary practices integrates art, science, pedagogy, activism, audience engagement and participation. Their creative actions intend to open up new ways of thinking, living, and being with human and nonhuman others in a complex and interconnected world. Their visions will create new hopes for cultivating our ecological consciousness and shaping a livable and sustainable future.