Thames & Hudson’s Latest Book Spotlights How Artists Are Addressing Climate Change
Curated by art historians Maja and Reuben Fowkes.
The art world has always been quick to raise awareness to human’s complicated relationship with nature. Amongst her various Land Art projects, over 50 years ago, Agnes Denes predicted the current climate crisis we’re currently in and proposed to build farms on city rooftops as a way to offset this threat.
Since then, a number of artists have followed suit in warning humanity of the dangers we face through intriguing and sometimes disturbing art installations, from Olafur Eliasson’s The Weather Project’ (2003) to the “Sun & Sea” opera by Lina Lapelytė, poet and playwright, Vaiva Grainytė, and director Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė.
Thames & Hudson has published a new book, titled Art and Climate Change, which collects a wide range of artistic responses to our current ecological emergency. Curated by art historians, Maja and Reuben Fowkes, the publication is the latest installment of T&H’s “World of Art” series and showcases the ways in which contemporary artists are calling on the collective engagement with the planet in order to elucidate the particular threats to our biological survival.
Across five chapters, the authors examine these artworks in relation to the Anthropocene — from natural habitats being destroyed by human activity, to mass extinctions and the resulting art that has sprouted from communities that are most at risk.
Art and Climate Change is 224 pages in length and available to purchase for $22 USD at Thames & Hudson, along with select retailers around the world. The book will start shipping on Tuesday, June 7.
Elsewhere in art, Beverly Fishman’s relief paintings explore the dark promise of the pharmaceutical industry.
