In What Sense Can Art Be Ecological? Art as an Event Flash of Nature According to Henri Maldiney

Abstract

Art or at least what is called “eco art” or “environmental art” knows numerous ways in which to respond to environmental issues and become ecological. This article is not an analysis of art history, which would map the various tendencies or themes within eco art, but a philosophical study attempting to describe the most profound sense in which art literally is nature: according to French phenomenologist Henri Maldiney, art is a “flash of being” ( éclair de l’être ) or, more precisely, a flash or glimpse of sensually experienced nature. The article attempts to clarify this thesis thoroughly and then briefly traces the link between eco art and eco-phenomenology, a branch of environmental ethics.