Most, or all, environmental artists are warmly concerned for the well-being of the more-than-human networks of species in any ecosystem. Now, there is a budding network of artists who are specifically thinking about these inter-species relationships. It’s an interdisciplinary movement, with anthropologists, philosophers, all kinds of eco-focused scientists, which is pretty darned hopeful in my opinion!
“Multi-species Ethnography” is the name that anthropologists are using to frame this field of art/science study, and there is an exceptional website being developed for multispecies studies, which is also a companion to the new book by Eben Kirksey, Multispecies Salon. I confess, that my own work is included in a sliver of these pages, along with a growing tide of authors, artists, and ABC’s.
The book is dedicated to Beatriz da Costa. In the final months of her life, she made deeply thoughtful works about the lab mice who had given their own lives to prolong hers.
Check it out!
http://www.multispecies-salon.org/
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