Art and Sustainability: Connecting Patterns for a Culture of Complexity: 25 (Image) - Softcover

"Sacha Kagan's work is impressive in the breadth of concepts, names and theories, the depth of their study, the saturation of the empirical material." (translated from Russian) Laboratorium, 5/2 (2013) "Sacha Kagan [...] presents a comprehensive and sophisticated analysis of the relationship between art and sustainability in the context of complexity theory." Anne Milne, The Goose, 11 (2012) "Kagan has done the scholarly sphere, and by association other spheres as well, invaluable service." George Kaye, International Journal of Cultural Policy, 1-3 (2012)

What is the cultural dimension of sustainability? This book offers a thought-provoking answer, with a theoretical synthesis on "cultures of sustainability". Describing how modernity degenerated into a culture of unsustainability, to which the arts are contributing, Sacha Kagan engages us in a fundamental rethinking of our ways of knowing and seeing the world. We must learn not to be afraid of complexity, and to re-awaken a sensibility to patterns that connect. With an overview of ecological art over the past 40 years, and a discussion of art and social change, the book assesses the potential role of art in a much needed transformation process.