Sustainability Way Beyond Academia: Public Art as a Driver for Behavioural Change and the Participatory Quest of Gayle Chong Kwan

Abstract

The paper offers a survey on the recent academic interest surrounding the field of art and sustainability, arguing that scholars have lingered on descriptive studies, focusing on the assumed ‘emotional’ potential of art, or on an instrumental attitude towards art taken as just one more communication channel to deliver scientific data. One more strain of scholarly investigation emerged among art historians exploring recent environmentalist or ecological art, though without taking into full account its aesthetic dimension and thus how it contributes to different ways of knowledge production. The present research offers instead a take on public art practices showing their particular capability of immersing participants in a different vision and changing behavioural patterns. Analysing the programme of art and sustainability delivered at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice over a period of eight years, especially by means of the Sustainable Art Prize at the ArtVerona fair, the paper provides fieldwork on how public art bridges sustainability scholarship towards new horizons, stressing the importance of audience participation to tackle global challenges. The participatory project developed by Gayle Chong Kwan together with the students and the wider university community serves as a paramount example of paradigm shift by means of an artistic contribution in a specific social and economic context.