Landscape to Climate Crisis: Art Ecology and Activism 6.1

Spiral Jetty

Robert Smithson | 1970. Great Salt Lake, Utah. Massive spiral earthwork made from basalt rock, salt crystals, earth, and water. Key Land Art piece exploring entropy, geology, and time.

Sun Tunnels

Nancy Holt | 1973–76. Great Basin Desert, Utah. Four concrete tunnels aligned with summer/winter solstices; drilled holes map constellations. Connects human scale to cosmic time.

A Line Made by Walking

Richard Long | 1967. Temporary line made by repeatedly walking through grass. Photograph documents the action. Emphasises movement, ephemerality, and walking as art.

A Line in Scotland

Richard Long | 1981. Landscape intervention using natural materials in Scotland. Continues Long’s interest in walking, geometry, and temporary marks in nature.

Et in Arcadia Ego (After Nicolas Poussin)

Ian Hamilton Finlay | 1976. Reworks Poussin’s pastoral image by inserting a tank. Contrasts idyllic landscape with warfare and history.

Little Sparta

Ian Hamilton Finlay | 1966 onward. Garden in Lanarkshire, Scotland combining sculpture, text, planting, and landscape. Explores politics, nature, and classical references.

Rhinewater Purification Plant

Hans Haacke | 1972. Krefeld, Germany. Gallery installation filtering polluted Rhine water into a tank with live fish, then using clean water for a garden. Political/ecological critique of industrial pollution.

Wheatfield – A Confrontation

Agnes Denes | 1982. Two-acre wheat field planted beside Wall Street, New York. Symbolised food systems, commerce, waste, hunger, and ecological imbalance.

7000 Oaks: City Forestation Instead of City Administration

Joseph Beuys | 1982. Kassel, Germany. Social sculpture project planting 7,000 oak trees paired with basalt stones. Advocated reforestation and civic renewal.

Extinct?

Ravi Agarwal | 2008. New Delhi installation highlighting collapse of India’s vulture population caused by veterinary drugs entering food chains. Examines ecological interdependence.

The Substitute

Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg | 2014. Digital animation reconstructing the extinct northern white rhino. Questions technology, extinction, and synthetic nature.

The Weather Project

Olafur Eliasson | 2003. Tate Modern, London. Giant artificial sun and mist installation. Immersive work encouraging reflection on climate and collective experience.

Ice Watch

Olafur Eliasson | 2014–15. Blocks of Greenland glacier ice placed in cities to melt publicly. Makes climate change visible and immediate.

Crochet Coral Reef

Christine Wertheim & Margaret Wertheim | 2005–ongoing. Community-made crochet coral forms responding to coral bleaching and ocean crisis through collaborative craft.

Ark

Alexis Rockman | 2014. Painting imagining species survival and environmental catastrophe. Combines science fiction with ecological warning.

What is Us and What is Earth

Ilana Halperin | 2026. Exhibition exploring links between human bodies and geological processes such as volcanoes and thermal landscapes.

What is ecocritical art history?

Study of art through ecology, environmental conditions, and human/nonhuman relationships across any period or medium.

What is Land Art / Earthworks?

1960s movement using the landscape itself as material rather than simply representing scenery.

Why did Land Art emerge in the 1960s?

Response against commercial gallery art, interest in nature, counterculture politics, and new ecological awareness.

What is site-specific art?

Artwork designed for one location and inseparable from that place.

What is entropy in art?

Idea of decay, disorder, and transformation over time; central to Robert Smithson.

What is Social Sculpture?

Joseph Beuys’ idea that society can be creatively reshaped through collective participation.

What is the Anthropocene?

Proposed geological age in which human activity has significantly altered Earth systems.

Why was the Earthrise photograph (1968) important?

It showed Earth as one fragile planet, encouraging environmental consciousness.

Why was Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962) significant?

It exposed dangers of pesticides like DDT and helped launch modern environmentalism.

What did Jonathan Benthall argue in 1969?

That art criticism and art history could be understood ecologically through relationships and systems.

Why is Spiral Jetty important?

One of the most famous Land Art works; merges sculpture, geology, remote landscape, and changing natural processes.

Why is Sun Tunnels important?

Connects sculpture to astronomy, solstices, and human experience of cosmic time.

Why is A Line Made by Walking important?

Redefined sculpture as an action and temporary trace rather than permanent object.

Why is Rhinewater Purification Plant important?

Combined activism and installation art to expose pollution while literally cleaning water.

Why is Wheatfield – A Confrontation important?

Brought agriculture into financial Manhattan to critique capitalism, food systems, and land use.

Why is 7000 Oaks important?

Long-term ecological artwork transforming Kassel through tree planting and public participation.

Why is Extinct? important?

Shows how human industry and pharmaceuticals can collapse animal populations.

Why is The Substitute important?

Uses digital technology to question extinction and artificial replacement of lost species.

Why is Ice Watch important?

Makes climate change physically visible through melting glacier ice in urban spaces.

Why is Crochet Coral Reef important?

Uses community craft to address coral bleaching and environmental damage.

What is eco-art?

Art addressing ecology, sustainability, climate crisis, or environmental activism.

What global justice issue appears in eco-art?

Environmental damage often affects poorer regions most while wealthier nations consume resources.

What criticism is made of museums in this topic?

Many accepted sponsorship from fossil fuel companies, leading to protests such as Liberate Tate.

What is Liberate Tate?

Activist movement protesting BP sponsorship of Tate galleries.

Why is materiality important in ecocritical art history?

It asks where art materials come from, who extracted them, and their environmental cost.

How does eco-art differ from traditional landscape art?

Landscape art depicts scenery; eco-art often critiques environmental systems or intervenes directly in them.