“These industrial environments are so desensitizing in that you, even if you are an animal lover, become complaisantly accepting of the fact that the live beings are only raw materials for mass commodity production. This needs some serious questioning.”

These are some of the thoughts of New York Based artist Miru Kim in relation to her latest series “The Pig That Therefore I Am”. Bringing us face to face with the harsh, inhumane industrial environment of modern, large scale pig farming, Kim explores the experience of coming close to these pigs who are treated as “product”.

Commenting on the physiological closeness between pigs and humans that makes them, for instance, candidates for use in xenotransplantation, Kim explores her ability to get close to these pigs through skin to skin contact. Much like lovers feel an intimate sense of connectedness when lying skin to skin, so Kim tries to explore this experience with pigs – lifting them out of their commodity status in the farm to a position of intimacy. “When two bodies come in contact–each of them touching and being touched at the same time–the souls meet and interweave on the skin, and the subject and the object become one.”

Maybe the pig farm is a mere illustration of our modern relationship with ‘nature’ or all of that which is not human.  The transformation of ‘nature’ to commodity is not limited to farm animals but extends to almost every aspect of the natural world – from national parks and wilderness areas that are products for tourist consumption or for the accumulation of scientific knowledge, to the very commoditization of the word ‘natural’ that comes splattered on every product packaged in a green plastic bottle.

Our relationship with and dependence on nature is there for all to see. But maybe in an industrialized, technological world with an ever growing human population, it is inevitable that nature becomes industrialized. Kim’s work reminds us that sometimes it may be worth spending time exploring any residual deeper connection we might have with the non-human.

I have always argued that when environmental issues start being incorporated into mainstream culture, then we stand a chance of some notice being taken.

It’s encouraging to note that “Greenland” – a play about climate change – has recently launched at the National Theatre in London. For a review of the play, see this article in the New York Times.

Judging by the review, the play may or may not be a wild success.  However, it bodes well that a major institution decides to give stage time to the subject.

Bullfighting has recently been banned in Catalonia (the ban to take effect in 2012) and has been banned in the Canary Islands since 1991.  The above-referenced article was arguing that there are significant cultural differences between Catalonia and the Basque Country making a ban in the latter highly unlikely – however imaginative the protests.  A recent poll suggests that 60% of Spaniards do not care for bullfighting but that 57% do not want to see it banned.

What’s this all got to do with environmental conservation?

My own belief is that it is difficult to build a sustainable conservation effort unless we also manage to change the relationship between man and nature (and here I am including animals as part of nature) to go beyond seeing nature as simply that which is to be exploited for human gain – however small and frivolous that gain. My question is: can reasonably protect species and our natural environment while culturally embracing practices like bullfighting, fighting with dogs, cock fighting, hunting with dogs, and other traditions that reduce the maiming and killing of animals to a mere entertainment for the few? Any and all opinions welcome.

In a final twist, it bears noting that bullfighting proponents have their own conservation argument. If bullfighting were to be abolished, there would be no need to continue to farm the special species of bull that is used for bullfighting and that species would likely become extinct!

Jennifer Monson describes herself as an ‘experimental dance artist’.  Her interest is in exploring the use of the human body to explore the dynamic relationship between humans, art, nature and the environment.

In order to take her vision further and to support her own work, she founded iLAND – Interdisciplinary Laboratory for Art, Nature and Dance. The aim is to investigate the power of dance, in collaboration with other fields, to explore issues of environmental sustainability as it relates to art and the urban context.  The organization cultivates cross-disciplinary research among artists, environmentalists, scientists, urban designers and other fields.

In her first project, BIRDBRAIN, Jennifer followed the migratory pathways of birds and other animals while exploring their relationship to humans as world travelers and navigators. The project consisted of free, site-specific outdoor performances, workshops for students and the public, panel discussions on migration, navigation, and conservation, and a website that tracked the migrating birds and dancers participating in the project.

Subsequent projects have included collaborations that address the urban environment and issues of urban migration, human interventions in natural spaces and the dependence of local communities on local aquifers.

The idea of incorporating dance into multidisciplinary projects addressing environmental issues is no doubt effective in getting public engagement through free, public performances. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all dance our way into a rosy future.

The exhibit “sets out to consider the impact of climate change, and our transition to a new world, on the practice of a broad range of contemporary artists, working in a wide-variety of media.”  It is encouraging that an institution like the Royal Academy has chosen to address environmental issues in a major exhibit and that it has showcased the work of so many contemporary artists addressing these issues. Chris Jordan and Edward Burtynsky were two of the artists featured in the exhibit.

However, for me, Lemn Sissay’s poem performed on video was one of the more powerful works in the exhibit.

You can view the video here and the text of the poem is reproduced below.

A lost number in the equation
A simple, understandable miscalculation
And what if on the basis of that
The world as we know it changed its matter of fact

Let me get it right. What if we got it wrong?
What if we weakened ourselves getting strong?
What if we found in the ground a file of proof?
What if the foundations missed a vital truth?
What if the industrial dream sold us out from within?
What if our unpunishable defense sealed us in?
What if our wanted more was making less?
And what if all of this wasn’t progress?

Let me get it right. What if we got it wrong?
What if we weakened ourselves getting strong?
What if our wanting more was making less?
And what if all of this wasn’t progress?
What if the disappearing rivers of Eritrea,
the rising tides and encroaching fear
What if the tear inside the protective skin
of Earth was trying to tell us something?

Let me get it right. What if we got it wrong?
What if we weakened ourselves getting strong?
What if the message carried in the wind was saying something?
From butterfly wings to the hurricane
It’s the small things that make great change
In the question towards the end of the leases
no longer the origin but the end of species

Let me get it right. What if we got it wrong?
What if the message carried in the wind was saying something?