If earth, air, fire, and water are the ancient alchemical elements of the universe, the elements of art—art before the computer, anyway—are wood, plants, clay, stone, minerals, and metals. It’s a short step from the elements of art (as in the materials that artists use) to the idea of material culture, that is, the examination of objects in the larger context of the cultures that gave rise to the creations themselves.
The “material” half of the phrase “material culture” is on the minds of museum curators around the world as they ask themselves and are asked: “What is the carbon footprint of an exhibition? What are the costs to the environment? Where does the museum fit in its own cultural context?” With yet another short step, this concern with materiality leads to questions of artistic production as scholars consider: “What is the artist’s environmental impact? What are the ecological costs of the raw materials the artist requires?”
“The Nature of Things: Medieval Art and Ecology, 1100-1550,” an exhibition at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis, Mo., century can mount exhibitions while reducing their impact on an overstressed planet.
