Skip to content
1981
Art, Sustainability and Partnerships
  • ISSN: 1743-5234
  • E-ISSN: 2040-090X

Abstract

This article examines the environmental implications of ubiquitous information and communication technologies (ICT) manufacturing, operations and usage, using the theories of new materialism and digital materialism, and offers an interactive video installation as a case study for contemporary digital art’s pedagogical potential in response to such environmental issues. Contrary to the imageries of the cloud and the notion of immateriality as promoted by the tech industry, digital media systems are grounded in the material world and operate at the expense of the material substrate. Such a sociopolitical landscape warrants an exploration of potential counter tactics in the fields of digital art and art education. Being informed by digital materialism and hinged on the notion that encounters with contemporary art can cultivate critical and different ways of knowing, this article proposes that a focus on the material can function as an antithesis to the abstracting act of information/data and its purported immateriality.

Funding
This study was supported by the:
  • Canada Council for the Arts (Award 1003-21-2916)
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/eta_00119_1
2023-02-20
2026-04-18

Metrics

Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Barad, Karen. ( 2007), Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning, Durham, NC:: Duke University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Brecht, Bertolt, and Willet, John. ( 1964), Brecht on Theatre: The Development of an Aesthetic, New York:: Hill and Wang;.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Crawford, Kate. ( 2021), Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Cost of Artificial Intelligence, New Haven, CT:: Yale University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Dreyfus, Hubert L.. ( 1991), Being-in-the-World: A Commentary on Heidegger’s Being and Time, Division I, Cambridge, MA:: MIT Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Dreyfus, Hubert L.. ( 1998;), ‘ Why we don’t have to worry about speaking the language of the computer. ’, Information Technology & People, 11:4, pp. 28189, https://doi.org/10.1108/09593849810246101.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Ellsworth, Elizabeth. ( 2005), Places of Learning: Media, Architecture, Pedagogy, New York:: Routledge;.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Feenberg, Andrew. ( 1999), Questioning Technology, New York:: Routledge;.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Galloway, Alexander R.. ( 2014), Laruelle: Against the Digital, Minneapolis, MN:: University of Minnesota Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Garoian, Charles R.. ( 2015;), ‘ Performing the refrain of art’s prosthetic pedagogy. ’, Qualitative Inquiry, 21:6, pp. 48793, https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800415581883.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Golanska, Dorota, and Kronenberg, Anna K.. ( 2020;), ‘ Creative practice for sustainability: A new materialist perspectives on artist production of eco-sensitive knowledges. ’, International Journal of Education Through Art, 16:3, pp. 31932, https://doi.org/10.1386/eta_00035_1.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Golumbia, David. ( 2009), The Cultural Logic of Computation, Cambridge, MA:: Harvard University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Gottlieb, Baruch. ( 2018), Digital Materialism: Origins, Philosophies, Prospects, London:: Sage;.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Huang, Jon,, O’Neill, Claire, and Tabuchi, Hiroko. ( 2021;), ‘ Bitcoin uses more electricity than many countries. How is that possible?. ’, New York Times, 3 September, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/09/03/climate/bitcoin-carbon-footprint-electricity.html. Accessed 15 October 2021.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Jagodzinski, Jan. ( 2010), Visual Art and Education in an Era of Designer Capitalism: Deconstructing the Oral Eye, New York:: Palgrave Macmillan;.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Jagodzinski, Jan. ( 2017), What Is Art Education? After Deleuze and Guattari, New York:: Palgrave Macmillan;.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Marks, Laura U.,, Makonin, Stephen,, Przedpelski, Radek, and Rodriguez-Silva, Alejandro. ( 2021;), ‘ Tackling the carbon footprint of streaming media. ’, https://www.sfu.ca/content/dam/sfu/sca/Streaming-Carbon-Footprint/SSHRC%20KSG%20final%20report.pdf. Accessed 15 October 2021.
  17. McGovern, Gerry. ( 2020), World Wide Waste, Gormanston:: Silver Beach Publishing;.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. McGovern, Gerry. ( 2021;), ‘ Reducing digital energy waste. ’, Gerry McGovern, 9 May, https://gerrymcgovern.com/reducing-digital-energy-waste/. Accessed 1 June 2021.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. McLuhan, Marshall. ( 1966;), ‘ The relationship of environment to anti-environment. ’, University of Windsor Review, 2:1, pp. 110.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Obringer, Renee,, Rachunok, Benjamin,, Maia-Silva, Debora,, Arbabzadeh, Maryam,, Nateghi, Roshanak, and Madani, Kaveh. ( 2021;), ‘ The overlooked environmental footprint of increasing internet use. ’, Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 167, p. 105389, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2020.105389.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Stiegler, Bernard. ( 1998), Technics and Time, 1: The Fault of Epimetheus, Stanford, CA:: Stanford University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Sullivan, Graeme. ( 2006;), ‘ Research acts in art practices. ’, Studies in Art Education, 48:1, pp. 1935.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Verbeek, Peter Paul. ( 2005), What Things Do: Philosophical Reflections on Technology, Agency, and Design, University Park, PA:: Pennsylvania State University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Wilson, Stephen. ( 2002), Information Arts: Intersections of Art, Science, and Technology, Cambridge, MA:: MIT Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Winner, Langdon. ( 1986), The Whale and the Reactor: A Search for Limits in an Age of High Technology, Chicago, IL:: University of Chicago Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Day, Kevin T.. ( 2023;), ‘ The Medium Is the Environment: Digital materialism, climate crisis and digital art as pedagogy. ’, International Journal of Education Through Art, 19:1, Special Issue: ‘Art, Sustainability and Partnerships’, pp. 6982, https://doi.org/10.1386/eta_00119_1
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1386/eta_00119_1
Loading
/content/journals/10.1386/eta_00119_1
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error
Please enter a valid_number test