The Ethics of Art
Ecological Turns in the Performing Arts
There is a new growing ethical consciousness within the arts, both in the way it relates to the larger social, political and economic challenges and in how it reflects on its own production and distribution mechanisms. The ‘Ethics of Art’ attempts to describe how artistic imagination can produce new situations, based on the potentials and limits of the singular ‘body’ within its environment. It addresses performance and dance in Europe, but embeds this in the larger context of eco-art practices by also providing striking examples from the USA and Canada.
The first section Ecosophy, discusses eco-art practices and how the ethical turn in the arts implies a greater receptivity for the environment we live in. The second section, Caring for the Body, focuses on dance and the renewed interest in ‘the body’, body politics and collaboration. This structure allows the specificity of an art-inspired ethics to emerge.
