ART IN BATTLE
By Jonaya de Castro, from the Megaphone Coalition
The unavoidable future of oil is underground, the unavoidable future of the forest is standing upright
Text excerpt originally published in the free research on art activism, environment and climate collapse, in November 2021, and republished in the 1st edition of the Voices for Just Climate Action Magazine Brazil in June 2023. Read the full magazine here.
We are rapidly moving towards global warming of 1.5 °C above normal temperature (without human intervention). This limit is the maximum we can reach, according to scientists and scholars, to avoid the worst disasters and impacts on life on Earth and the extinction of several species, including the survival of the human species.
According to studies by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) we are already in a scenario of climate collapse. We will face irreversible environmental disasters if we do not slow down the consumption of fossil fuels and the deforestation of the planet’s forests, among several other human actions.
CULTURAL MODEL TRANSITION
A new draft of the final agreement of the 2021 Climate Summit (COP-26), held in November 2021 in Glasgow, maintained the basic demand for countries to define plans to face global warming. The proposal maintained the call for countries to accelerate “efforts toward the progressive elimination of coal-fired power and inefficient fossil fuel subsidies”, but, in a new amendment, now points out that nations will recognize “the need to support a just transition”, a reference to requests for financial assistance from developing countries.
The idea of a “just transition” emerged in the United States in the 1970s, during the strike that was called the first environmental strike by the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union (OCAW) on health and safety issues at Shell refineries. We will talk more about Shell throughout the text.
The “just transition” is a cultural pact. A new model of society needs to emerge, in all areas. Public and private initiatives and organized civil society, working towards changes that avoid climate breakdown. And it is in this place that culture plays a fundamental role. Culture is the platform where theories, paths and narratives are built in the human imagination. Culture is the platform of the imaginary. To avoid the point of no return, the climate collapse, art activism can be one of the main tools for building the imagination of the transition.
COMMUNICATION AS WORK OF ART, THE ART ACTIVISM
Art activism, as an artistic action, is part of the contemporary scene that, in addition to recording history, intends to provoke political and social engagement. Activist art finds space in artists, collectives, and movements. Art activism makes use of artistic, aesthetic, or symbolic strategies to amplify, sensitize and problematize society, causes and social demands.
Acting collectively means acting in the field of cross-cutting, producing forms of subjectivity, and working with cooperation and inter-activism. Art activism operates in any space, but the city, the urban space, a place for social interaction in both dimensions, is the main stage for actions and interventions.
Communication as a work of art, or art seen as a means of communication that occupies a radical media space, causes a great impact on aesthetic and interactive content.
The actions of an art activist are not only linked to rhetoric, engaged discourse, the artist’s aesthetics, or ethics, but his involvement in social issues that can, through his practices, produce real changes.
“To access the complete “Art in Battle” research click here.
Voices for Just Climate Action Magazine is a publication collectively produced by the VCA Brazil Regional Team and the organizations supported by the program in the country.
