ART AND ENVIRONMENT

SANART 3rd International Symposium and Art Events
October 20-22, 1997

Organized By
SANART, Association of Aesthethics and Visual Culture
in collaboration with
Middle East Technical University

Symposium Concept

SANART, The Association for the Promotion of Visual Arts in Turkey, is organizing its third international symposium in October l997 in Ankara. The Association has selected the theme of ‘Art and Environment’ and developed five sub-themes titled: Contemporary Art and Environment; The City and Art; Landscape; Politics, Environment and Culture; The Earth and Its Memory.

The presentations will be in the form of lectures and panel discussions; and the theme of the symposium will be visualised in exhibitions and performances. Before the symposium an international environmental art workshop will take place on the campus of METU on October 15-19.The proceedings will be published in their original languages and in Turkish, following the symposium.

The theme of the symposium has great potential as it can yield a very enriching discourse on the issues of contemporary art and environmental concerns. One of the defining characteristics of 20th century science and culture is that due to the regressions and the threats created by the adverse effects of advanced industries and technologies, the earth is being perceived in new ways with new attributes bestowed upon it. As a result, a new awareness about the environment is evolving. When approached with phenomenological references (i.e. Edmund Husserl, M.Merleau-Ponty, Martin Heidegger) ‘environment’ is the internalized meaning of existence and of the physical and cultural space that surrounds us. The environment can also be perceived as a political as well as an ecological realm, from the perspective of production, consumption and of ownership rights. In the last decades, environmental issues have become quite important in the realm of architecture, urbanism, and landscape. It may also be possible to regard today’s city , with its information systems as a complex artistic network. The various evaluations of the subject of environment throughout time and in different cultures and different rural and urban contexts have been very richly reflected in arts and in the general realm of aesthetics.

The sub-themes can be regarded within the following concepts, besides others:

Contemporary Art and Environment - Art’s questioning of its role, boundaries and methods has brought the artist closer to actual problems. Since the middle of the 20th Century, artists are increasingly abandoning the traditional madıa to work with the social, political issues and to treat the city, the environment, nature, earth and sky as their basic material. This has also meant artists’ involvement with ecological issues.

The City and Art - In various ways and implications the city is a work of art, a dream, a solution and a problem,a network of information, an inner garden, a memory, a desire, freedom, escape, exile,a prison, a stage, a school, an order , chaos, a body, a monster, and wilderness.

Landscape - The appearance of the earth is perceived according to human values and is eventually transformed with cultural and political paradigms. Since cave art, landscape has taken on the images of human need, desire and dreams.

Politics, Environment and Culture - Throughout history the earth and the environment have been defined and shaped according to power mechanisms involved in use and ownership interests. Industrialization, urbanization and ecological problems seem to be basically politically grounded.

The Earth and Its Memory - Nature which seems to independently and eternally repeat itself with seasons and atmospheric movements, may in fact be the memory of forgotten lives and experiences.

The Symposium will take place in Ankara on October 20-22, l997, following an international environmental art workshop on the campus of METU and on the Eymir Lake Park nearby on 15-19 October, l997. Since the International Istanbul Art Biennale (Curator: Rosa Martinez) will be open since the 5th of October, visitors can plan to also visit Istanbul. The dead-line for the submission of one-page abstracts is June 15, l997. Participation fees: Students free; those presenting a paper US D: 75, others US D. 15O payable to SANART by credit card no, or international money order. Economy hotel, bed/breakfast arrangements, as well as trips organizations to Cappadocia and other interesting sites will be made by Sanart.

 

SANART Association of Aesthethics and Visual Culture © 2002