11.04 Mirrors of Utopia / Dystopia (Art has to Rework on the Environment)

Human-induced environmental tragedies, which many of us choose to ignore, threatens the survival of whole species on Earth. The recent re-debate on the social practice of art begins with urgent climate change and ecological issues rather than political art. Ecological artists and practitioners centered their practices on activism, creating publicly accessible, site-specific collaborative works that illuminate and utilize ecosystem to promote an eco-friendly movement.

Artistic production has become a prefigurative methodology of social practice and movement. How can art rework the environment? If emissions continue at their current rate, climatologists and scientists foresee submerge of coastal giant cities, widespread coastal land loss, agricultural and economic collapse, food and water shortages, severe natural disasters including flood and wild fire, and unprecedented refugee crises.

Shanghai Project, co-curated by Yongwoo Lee and Hans Urlich Obrist in 2016 and 2017, is socially and ecologically engaged festival of ideas to explore and act on the sustainability of human's future. The programs brought together 120 researchers from 23 different field of researches including artists, film makers, architects, philosophers, activists, politicians and people of Shanghai to propose approaches and solutions to the urgent problem of environmental and social sustainability.

Is the civilization(technology) an enemy of nature and natural life? What's the philosophical redefinition of organic and artificial representation of life and artistic practice?