"The reversal of entropy requires considerable energy and imagination and is accompanied by risk." This statement from the designer, planner and ecologist Frederick Steiner evokes the core challenge of the current environmental crisis: the energy that is required for every field of endeavor to rethink itself both in relation to itself, and to other knowledges and practices. The risk involves coming to terms with uncertainty and with the realization that this act of re-thinking will require us to challenge established ways of knowing and living. Helen Mayer Harrison (1929-2018) and Newton Harrison (1932-2022) - "the Harrisons" - have pioneered a practice that is focused by ecologies and have sought to engage in precisely such a re-thinking for over fifty years. They have explored ecosystems in different ways and at different scales, firstly in quasi-scientific experiments, then in watersheds and bioregions, and eventually at a continental scale. Entropy has been a key organizing concept in this work, particularly since 2007 in the Force Majeure projects.
Citation
DOUGLAS, A. and FREMANTLE, C. 2023. Thinking with the Harrisons: what does now demand? Field: a journal of socially-engaged art criticism [online], 23. Available from: https://field-journal.com/issue-23/thinking-with-the-harrisons-what-does-now-demand
Journal Article Type
Article
Acceptance Date
Jul 13, 2022
Online Publication Date
Feb 28, 2023
Publication Date
Feb 28, 2023
Deposit Date
Sep 23, 2022
Publicly Available Date
Oct 13, 2022
Journal
Field: a journal of socially-engaged art criticism
Print ISSN
2694-0094
Electronic ISSN
2694-0094
Publisher
Field-Journal
Peer Reviewed
Peer Reviewed
Volume
23
Keywords
Environmental sustainability; Society and the environment; Economy and the environment; Art and the environment; Artists and society
Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
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