Seeing the Whole: Art, Ecology and Transdisciplinarity
Abstract
Climate Change and species extinction are perhaps two symptoms of a psychotic society that has lost contact with reality. The pandemic pathology of economic and industrial values have possibly altered the very course of planetary evolution. As humankind starts to recognize that apocalyptic change is imminent, the practice of art(s) may be an essential discipline to emerge beyond collapse.
This paper considers art in an ecological context to help us ‘see anew’ the potential for adopting complex ways of thinking, and ‘transdisciplinary’ ways of working. Challenging existing belief systems and normative ways of thinking through ‘question-based learning’, we may consider drawing as a means of gaining insights and practical approaches to diverse futures. ‘Turning the face of disaster to the face of opportunity’, this paradigm shift attempts ‘to bring the whole to life’ through ‘growth ecology’.
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