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Art in a changing climate

In This Series

  • Songs about climate change are not so hot

    The green sliver to your right represents songs that express environmental concern and don’t suck. It is populated by “Big Yellow Taxi” from Joni Mitchell. Oh, and “Mercy Mercy Me” by Marvin Gaye. “Earth Song,” by Michael Jackson, if you’re into that kind of thing. A couple of Neil Young songs. They call it a […]

  • Climate activism as performance art [SLIDESHOW]

    Someone wise in the PR biz once said “any publicity is good publicity,” and climate activists certainly seem to take these words to heart. They’re not afraid to dress up as polar bears or penguins or CFL bulbs to get their message across. And they recognize the power of a good aerial shot, too, arranging […]

  • Preview the Royal Academy of Arts exhibit ‘Earth: Art of a Changing World’ [SLIDESHOW]

    More than 30 leading contemporary artists have contributed work on the theme of climate change for an upcoming exhibit at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. Entitled “Earth: Art of a Changing World,” the exhibit runs from Dec. 3 through Jan. 31, 2010.

  • Resources and links for the art-hungry

    Most of the pieces in this series focus on individual artists or one-off works. But climate art is gaining an institutional foothold too. Check out our tour of green museums — and read on for more examples of groups taking a broader look at climate through art. Welcome to Cape Farewell. Population: earth. Founded in […]

  • A tour of green-leaning museums [SLIDESHOW]

    Far from their sometimes musty, dusty reputations, many museums in the U.S. stand on the cutting edge of eco-innovation. Whether it’s behind the scenes (using recycled materials to build exhibits, renovating to LEED standards) or inescapably out front (a whole museum dedicated to wind power), museums are showing visitors the green light. Take our tour […]

  • Audio slideshow: Chris Jordan on America’s coal consumption

    Artist Chris Jordan is known for his creative representations of American consumption habits, but even he was shocked to find out the numbers involved in producing coal-fired electricity. After learning about mountaintop removal mining in the Appalachian range, Jordan decided to illustrate just how much coal we consume each day — and the project turned […]

  • Audio slideshow: Facing climate change — and wildfire

      Photographer/writer duo Benjamin Drummond and Sara Joy Steele have traveled to the Arctic and back to record the impacts of climate change. And while they realize we are facing a global problem, they’ve found that every community has a local story. Through their multimedia project “Facing Climate Change,” they aim to tell those stories […]

  • Four years after my pleading essay, climate art is hot

    That pleading little essay I wrote in 2005? It was probably the last moment I could have written it. Clearly there were lots and lots of people already thinking the same way, because ever since it’s seemed to me as if deep and moving images and sounds and words have been flooding out into the […]

  • Portrait of an artist as a climate activist

    This image of a polar bear on Barnard Harbor in Alaska was used in a Senate debate about the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.Photo: Subhankar Banerjee   “Art has always reflected what is in our world and in our horizon and what our fears are — which is all tied in to climate change.” Coco Howard, […]