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Is Eco Aesthetics possible? : Systematization of eco art on the basis of ‘self - organization’ Ⅰ
The Journal of Aesthetics and Science of Art
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This essay is intended to approach to the core principle of eco aesthetics in which is immanent in eco art, from the viewpoint of system theory. This essay takes complex theory and self-organization theory as the methodology of the essay in order to understand the eco art practices on the basis of ecology. Therefore I can enunciate the fact that there are the peculiar aesthetical patterns in which eco art consists through those theories. As a matter of fact eco art is distinguished from similar genres such as 1960s' environmental art, land art, earth work and so on in that it came out in 1990s' and have dealt with eco issues. In other words, it is that eco art does not make simply nature a leitmotif, but let us see ‘connect’ of whole systems of the planet. According to the theory of ‘self-organization’, all the living organisms which react to their environment organize the patterns of their cells and forms ‘emergence’ of new system by organizing patterns in particular when a system comes to disequilibrium. If we apply this logic to art system, eco art comprises all arts that see the systems of respectively humans, society and nature from the view of how these can sustain and discover the ‘connect’ patterns, that means, all systems are interdependent. ‘Interdependency’ and ‘resilience’ largely epitomizes the principles of eco art which organizes ‘connect’ patterns. ‘Interdependency’ is the principle which counts the relations of systems of multi levels-humans, non-humans, society, politics, culture, history and so on. ‘Resilience’ is the principle which make us recognize biodiversity and cultural diversity as sustainable eco environment and heal systems in question. Hans Haacke, Joseph Beuys, Helen Mayer Harrison and Newton Harrison, among eco artists in 60s,' are those who show eco aesthetical principles beforehand. Their artworks which consider the relation between nature's complicated dynamics and humans and reflect human's intervention to nature awaken the fact that our being is interdependent in complex. In addition, they deliver the message that we should try to recover injured lives. Complex is an open system. Eco art can be seen a self-organizing system being accord with the changes in environment and always opens to artists who are interested in environment. In this way, eco aesthetics could be valid as a sub-system of aesthetics in that genre(system) of eco art takes root inside of art system.
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