Art and Science in the Age of the Anthropocene

Rohr's text is a contribution to the dialogue of art to science and proposes that art is effective in raising ecological awareness. Rohr argues that such intentions are reconcilable with John Ruskin’s proposal to interpret nature in a holistic way. The author reflects on how contemporary visual art contributes to topical issues of ecology, climate and loss of biodiversity, and discusses the relevance of visual methods such as painting and drawing, locating the author’s own drawing practice in critical and visual cultural contexts. Case studies are Josef Beuys (drawings in relation to environmental actions), Jane Rushton (drawing and painting plein air in landscape through deep immersion), Chris Drury's drawings and prints ('Everything Nothing'), and Eoin McHugh’s series of paintings titled 'Romantic Science'. McHugh’s paintings address Russian neurologist Alexander Luria’s concept that romantic science can accommodate the fictional or improbable. Rohr concludes that creative fiction, imagination and fantasy complement laboratory research. Artists not only need to challenge claims of objectivity in scientific research and enrich such through poetic imagination, they also have a moral duty to provide a critical and imaginative voice in a challenged ecology of post human relations with the natural world