Enhancing biophilic awareness in society through public art

Abstract

This project-based dissertation works towards the promotion of biophilic awareness within society . The research objective of this study analyses the possibility that public art and art installations create a dialogue with the public. The purpose of this dissertation is to engage the audience towards the relevance of the relationship between humanity and nature as well as to provoke interest in the benefits of absorbing the surrounding natural world through art. The research evaluates whether art as a language communicates with society and contributes to building biophilic affinities. Since this is a project-based and practice-led dissertation, the production of the project also forms an integral part of the objective as it is central to the research output. Together with the studio-based inquiry and the academic research, the reviewing of literature grounds this project theoretically. Interviews with local artists, together with photographic and videographic documentation, as well as sketches and written entries in journals all constitute towards the methodological process of this study. This research has proved to be challenging yet of great personal, academical and artistic growth steering me towards new artistic approaches whilst offering opportunities for reflective doubting and questioning my own modus operandi. The current construction works of the Central Link Project linking the towns of Balzan, Attard and Rabat, as well as the relinquishing of several trees for construction purposes, were the main cause which sparked an interest for this project-based study on the natural environment. Since this infrastructural artery road works took place within the student’s hometown, where she has resided in for the past forty years, she has opted to focus her study on this particular location, that is the bridge leading to Misraħ Kola and its appertaining site. The Central Link Project consists of the construction of an artery road from Mrieħel leading to Rabat hill, thus comprising of fourteen kilometres of road networking. This construction project includes ten kilometres of walkways as well as four kilometres of bicycles lanes. This controversial development included the removal of a substantial number of mature trees on its path of construction. Several hundreds of saplings and bushes were planted to substantiate the uprooting of the mature Aleppo trees. Nonetheless the uprooting of these flourishing trees has stirred up several debates amongst many, including environmentalists. After several environmental activists’ interventional actions, Infrastructure Malta subsequently altered the plans and a few mature trees were spared from being eradicated. Malta has a land coverage of three hundred and sixteen kilometres squared. Overbuilding consists of the process of the construction of several buildings in a specific area, often superseding the actual demand. The building splurge within the Maltese Islands has increased considerably since investing in a home is still considered as a sound asset in Malta. There has been an increase of 98.8% within the volume index of the production in the construction sector between the years 2015 and 2020. This rapid growth in the industry has caused several upheavals within varying sectors such as the environmental upkeep, the safety and safeguarding of the workers together with the neighbouring residents of the construction site, the changing skyline, the increase in air and sound pollution and the tarnishing of the island’s cultural heritage. An increase of 65.6% has also been reported, by the European Construction Sector Observatory, in the number of persons employed within the construction industry and these include employees in the architectural and engineering services as well as in real estate activities. There has been a drive of foreign workers into the construction industry as this may also be noted through the high influx of foreign labourers. This was portrayed in the sharp increase, in the past few years, in the net migration rate. 4 Besides due to the fact that there is a shortage of local skilled workers, the employment of low-skilled foreign workers within the construction industry had to be applied. The student stirred several questions around the possibility of eliciting biophilic awareness within the public through public art and art installations. Whilst keeping in mind that Malta’s forestry coverage consists of only one and one tenth percent (1.1%) land overlay, working on a project-based dissertation, where the study will expectantly be of benefit to the local natural environment, was of imminent importance to the researcher. Biophilia is a term that was coined by Erich Seligmann Fromm (1900-1980) in 1964. He believed that through progress, man should find unity with biophilia which he claimed was a prolific psychological acclimatization. This was then clarified and popularised by the theorist Edward O. Wilson (1929-2021). Wilson defines biophilia as human’s inborn kinship with nature as he explains that society has an inherent connection with nature and the natural world. This biologist specifies that all human beings are biophilic since there is an innate and genetically determined affinity within humans and the natural world. The human appreciation for the natural environment is seen in time spent in lush green open spaces such as trail walk activities. Besides offering a breath of fresh air, outdoor green sites are also a mode for one’s physical development and mental relaxation. The scenic verdure settings offer a relaxing environment, fresh air and mental wellbeing on the contrary to the chaotic urban spaces which are synonymous to pollution derived from the vehicles’ exhaust. Thus, the student’s choice of focusing her research on ways in which artistic installations and public art can create awareness about the prevailing benefits derived from the natural environment. I would like to convey my deepest gratitude to my supervisor and course co-ordinator for M.A. in Fine Art, Professor Giuseppe Schembri Bonaci, for propelling me towards becoming more investigative through innovative practice-based research whilst unwrapping my creative potential. My sincere appreciation also goes to the Head of Department of Art and Art History Professor Keith Sciberras, who believed in me and took great interest in my personal, creative and intellectual growth. Moreover, this project-based study would not have been so fruitful personally, both practice-wise as well as academically, if it were not for the valid suggestions made throughout the Research Methods for Fine Arts interventions partially held by Dr. Mark Sagona and Dr. Gilbert Calleja. Additionally, I would like to thank Ms Nadette Xuereb for answering all my administrative queries regarding the course. A note of appreciation goes to all the friends I have made and crossed paths with during these past two years whilst sharing thoughts, ideas and issues about my project-based research and studio-inquiry practices.