Twentieth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability

Abstract

This paper investigates the significance of Nanshan Nature Art Festival (NNAF) as a public environmental literacy project that merges art education, environmental education, and youth education. Founded in Shenzhen, China, in 2018, the annual NNAF embodies a collaborative endeavor of government environmental agencies, civic organizations, educational institutions, and public art practitioners in addressing one of the most pressing demands of our time: environmental protection. Its core program, “Zero Waste Nature Art Competition” directly tackles a long-neglected issue of contemporary cultural production: the art world’s contribution to the ecological crisis, manifested in lavishly equipped artist studios, energy-intensive artworks, and direct environmental pollution from art-related trash, among others. As climate change, resource depletion, pollution, and trash accumulation have become increasingly shared experiences of humanity, the environmental footprint of artistic practices can no longer be ignored. Departing from the conventions of the contemporary art world that produce detrimental environmental consequences is the development of ecological art, in which artists take into serious account the material impacts of production, exhibition, and final disposition of their artworks. Nature art promoted at NNAF is such kind of artistic endeavor in which the organizers uphold “reduce, reuse, and recycle” as the three “R” principles in selecting award winning artworks. In advocating for these principles in various public programs such as exhibitions and workshops, NNAF foregrounds ecological value as the foundation of artistic creations and aesthetic appreciations, and, via which, calls for a more holistic understanding of human-nature relationship and a more sustainable way of living.