“If it’s not fun and hopeful, it is not sustainable”
Image credit: Rebeca Buenrostro
How can the cultural sector contribute to the green transition? And can it convey environmental art without being boring and didactic? The interdisciplinary curator and co-founder of Fotofestiwal Lodz, Krzysztof Candrowicz, who participated in Copenhagen Photo Festival’s panel discussion on sustainable art practices this summer, has recently published an inspiring article on the subject that we are happy to share on our platforms. Not least because Candrowicz preaches ‘pleasure activism’ and points to constructive and hopeful approaches to how we can engage with the green transition in our everyday practice of art and institutions.
“It is crucial to provide intelligible and stimulating artistic content that makes the public emotionally or intellectually engaged with the subject matter” – Krzysztof Candrowicz, co-founder of Fotofestiwal Lodz
Art and photography as a conveyor of change
In the article The Bold and Sustainable published in the recent edition of Il Giornale dell’arte called New Images: The ecological Footprint of Photography, Candrowicz proposes numerous constructive go-to solutions to approaching the glooming climate crisis from an art or art institutional perspective. He convincingly argues that art in general is a tremendously effective method to raise awareness and create activism around pressing matters like the full-toned climate crisis – and that photography in particular can help convey comprehensive understanding to some of the approaching catastrophes because of its ability to “make distant realities visible and available for experiencing.”
The institutional responsibility
But the importance of the institutional practice surrounding art is equally important in bringing on a change for the benefit of the climate. Candrowicz argues that even though the radical crisis can be overwhelming, the cultural sector is crucial for a ‘structural reconstruction’ of how we understand and solve the crisis, and he points specifically to how institutions and festivals like Utopias Lahti, Getxophoto, Fotofestiwal Lodz, FUTURES Photography platform and our very own Copenhagen Photo Festival work with this transformation on both a curatorial level as well as institutionally.
Pleasure activism or doomsday practice?
Lastly he advocates for ‘pleasure activism’ – that it is a main point to find a balanced way of sustainable practice. It is actually instrumental for the green transition, because a ‘doomsday’ practice will only have the opposite effect.
With permission by Candrowicz we can now share his full article in English here, so you can get your dose of positive green transition art practice inspiration – scroll to page 27 to 35 for Candrowitcz’s article.
Click here to view the english version of the article
Click here to view the online version of the article in Italian