City as Nature was invited to contribute a paper on our work to Sculpting Solutions: art-science collaborations for environmental sustainability a special issue for Elsevier’s Nature-Based Solutions Journal, edited by Changwoo Ahn, professor of wetland ecology at George Mason University.
“The goal of the special issue is to share the ideas, outcomes, and lessons of arts-based environmental sustainability practices and projects that collaborate with nature in an attempt to find solutions for environmental sustainability. This special issue is one of the very first attempts by a science journal to bring together exemplary ideas, activities, and case studies by internationally recognized eco-artists … seeking nature-based solutions.”
excerpt from the issue introduction / Changwoo Ahn, editor
How Art Helps us Ask Questions of Nature
City as Nature’s director authored the paper Asking Questions of Nature: Art as a Catalyst for Ecological Consciousness. From the paper’s abstract:
“The challenge of breaking through preconceived societal norms and narratives is a common hurdle in advocating for transformative ideas. Cultural conditioning and the expectations placed on individuals and institutions are powerful forces, and they often keep new ways of seeing — and ideas like Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) — trapped in conventional patterns of thought and behavior. This paper suggests alternatives for connecting to these ways of seeing through artist-led exhibitions and interventions that not only ask questions of nature, but also allow nature to ask questions of us.”
The paper looks at five projects by City as Nature studio, including Forest is the Artist an exhibition which gives agency to a Korean forest, and a concept restaurant World’s Slowest Restaurant where the artist makes customers wait for 6–8 weeks for their meal to be grown. Common to all of the artworks explored in this paper, is the view of nature as a partner.
Publishing Details
Asking questions of nature: Art as a catalyst for ecological consciousness
Author: Patrick M. Lydon
Publication: Nature-Based Solutions
Publisher: Elsevier
Date: December 2024
DOI: 10.1016/j.nbsj.2024.100138
in the Journal:
Sculpting Solutions: art-science collaborations for environmental sustainability
edited by Changwoo Anh
Professor of wetland ecology at George Mason University
Director of the Wetland Ecosystems Lab
Read the Full Special Issue
More from City as Nature In Print
1+1=3: The Art of Nature-Based Solutions for Edward Elgar Publishers
Art & Ecology Chapter in Routledge Handbook
Special Issue on Art and Nature-Based Solutions for Elsevier Press
