Cognitive Dissonance And The Subsequent Environmental Changes: Literature Review

My previous projects were mostly dedicated to the theme of our planet’s fauna extinction. At this time, I want to look at current environmental concerns from the wider angle. I am convinced that almost everybody in the world has been faced with the cognitive dissonance in their life. We all feel lazy sometimes and throw the plastic bottle to the nearest bin for general waste, instead of walking a little bit further and put it into the recycling one. But when doing so we all think of “well that is going to be the last time I am doing so”. But all these “last times” leave their traces on our planet. I am interested in a notion of cognitive dissonance and how it impacts on the result of human activity in natural environment. Because all humans are sensitive to inconsistencies between actions and belief, they are trying to resolve the dissonance they face. As a result, they either change their belief or action, or change action perception. Over the last few decades, the degradation of our environment has increased rapidly. The planet is facing climate change, global warming, loss of biodiversity etc. We are all human living on this planet but acting not in favour of protecting it. Annotated bibliography list

1. A. Elimeliah, C. (2006) art Vs. design [Online], AIGA | the professional association for design. This is an online article, written by Craig A. Elimeliah and discussing the subject of difference between being an artist and being a designer. An author is sharing his opinion and providing several statements based on his research regarding the theme in this article. A designer could be considered as an engineer. Both of them must not only have an eye for colour and style, but also, they must adhere to functional details that meet the purpose of the project. While the designer follows the rules, the artist sets them for himself. I am completely agreeing that many artists nowadays find inspiration from older artists and they do not create something completely new rather than re-design the piece of work made by previous artist. Current article is very interesting if discussing the current debates in art and design. I believe this text could guide my essay to the right direction as it gives observation of deeds of contemporary artists. Moreover, author’s opinion regarding the difference between being an artist and being a designer is well explained here. However, as my theme is more dedicated to the cognitive dissonance and the environmental issues rather than the difference between those two occupations above, I do not find this text very relevant to my subject.
2. Anon. (2018) Cognitive dissonance [Online], Web. mst. edu. Current online document is a theoretical text written on the subject of cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance theory describes the mental discomfort experienced by a person having inconsistencies between actions and belief. An author, according to Festinger (cognitive dissonance theory developer), points out three ways to resolve the dissonance: change action, change belief and change perception of action. Unfortunately, this text does not indicate its author and publishers. Therefore, it is difficult to perceive this document as an official source of information despite the fact that it contains a bibliography list. Concerning its relevance to the topic, it is a brief summary of the theory of the cognitive dissonance written by Leon Festinger without particular examples described on behalf of the author. This document is still a good resource for those wanting to get a quick overview of the theme via reading a short introduction of the subject, however for anyone doing serious research, including me, should examine some more research works by various authors, produced in this field of study. This source is relevant to my theme. However, I am not going to use its text as a reference for my essay.
3. Frizzell, N. (2017) What’s the biggest question facing artists today? [Online]. Current article, written by Nell Frizzell and published last year, describes the problems and issues that contemporary artists face today. Frizzel interviewed artists of different origins and from different backgrounds, such as: Tacita Dean, Marina Abramovic, Arthur Jafa etc. A few artists pointed out that funding, commercialization and censorship are their main enemies today. In addition, one of the interviewing is facing feeling of having narrow limits due to his race orientation. In overall, I found this article quite useful in the sense of getting truthful firsthand information. Reading current article helped me to better understand the issues that may happen to everybody working in the art industry. It is very important to reckon with every single one from that group of “questions” in order to be able to cope with difficulties occurring on the path of artistic recognition. To sum up, an article written by Nell Frizzell might find great interest in youth generations considering of becoming artists. Therefore, I think that current article can still be linked with the themes of Cognitive dissonance and the subsequent environmental problems and the Current debates in Art and Design.
4. Gielen, P. (2015) The murmuring of the artistic multitude, Global Art, Politics and Post-Fordism. Moscow: Ad Marginem Press, Garage pro. Below is a review and annotation of The murmuring of the artistic multitude, Global Art, Politics and Post-Fordism by Pascal Gielen, translated into Russian by Tabenkin, M. L. and Borovikova, A. P. Pascal Gielen (1970) is a sociologist of art and the author of many books, written on the theme of contemporary art, as well as the sociology of art and cultural policy. In the current book Gilen begins with the concept of artistic diversity, which is due to a sharp increase in the number of artists due to the democratization of the art scene. However, the notion of multitude here points not to the masses, but to a mixture of ideas, things, actions and opinions. He is also convinced that the hallmark of the artistic multitude is a heterogeneous murmur that, in Greek, mormurein, is associated with “bubbling” and “life”, carrying in themselves the possibilities and great deeds that must occur. Gilen finds support in the face of French sociologists and philosophers, arguing that: “Today’s world of art is a field replete with paradoxical meanings that constantly conflict, undermine each other and exchange mutual references. This is, indeed, a collective murmur, visual and sound”. (p. 22) In his book, Gilen hypothesizes that the world of contemporary art has become a “social laboratory for post-fordism”. Indeed, the author has defined his arguments by providing necessary background information regarding these issues. For example, as the modern society is built on a non-material labour, curator must be able to catch the opportunities and act outside the box in the constantly changing terms of labour, i. e. to be a great opportunist, because a good idea in the art world must be understood as a new idea. It is important to emphasize that the book has achieved its goals. The murmuring of the artistic multitude, Global Art, Politics and Post-Fordism is a good essay collection, dedicated to current issues of contemporary art. The book analyzes and reveals its interaction with politics, economics and social processes. However, the book is very specified in interaction of political order and contemporary art of the Netherlands, so I did not find part of it relevant to my essay’s subject. Regrettably, it reads with difficulties due to the highly professional linguistics and therefore some information may have been misunderstood. In overall, the book carries the main idea that over the past twenty years, art has moved from the periphery to the center of society. To sum up, several pages of this book can still be used by myself as a reference text to write about Current debates in Art and Design as they cover relevant topics, for example, situation of artists and art as a whole in society from the past to nowadays.
5. Mocnik, R. (2011) Identity and the Arts [Online]. Identity and the Arts is an online essay written by a Slovenian sociologist and political activist Rastko Mocnik. It effectively discusses the notion of an ideological mechanism and its part in state regulations as well as in the arts. Mocnik outlines that identity is being ultimately destructive for the artistic achievement proper due to it is a such limitative subject. It should be emphasized that most of the author’s allegations regarding the role of the ideological mechanism in the role of state regulations, as well as art, are not supported by actual evidence, and the opinions of other sociologists on this subject are not given. As an example, Mocnik indicates that there is a paradox between the artist and the state: the more the artist gets success – the more he becomes individualised at the same time as the less his origins ever matter. “This is a paradox, but it works” states the author. On the other hand, Mocnik describes his research in detail and accompanies it with illustrated schemes. I found this essay helpful in order that the author analyzed artistic intervention into identity very detailed. The example of Sanja Ivekovic’s practical procedure (the reproduction of national monument) becomes extremely relevant information since the theme of the Mocnik’s essay is Identity and the Arts. Due to I read this text while being on the summer break and while thinking that Identity in the Arts could become my potential essay theme, this source is not relevant to my writing anymore as my preferences regarding the topic has been changed to the Cognitive dissonance and the subsequent environmental changes.
6. Multiple artists. (2018) Fashioned from Nature. Exhibition held at Victoria and Albert museum, London, visited on the 10th of September 2018, on until the 27th of January 2019. This exhibition is devoted to the elements of fashion, as well as materials that have served for its manufacture in the period from 1600 to the present. Fashioned from Nature exhibition takes place at Victoria and Albert museum, London. While walking through the ground floor, visitors can observe products made of natural fur, cotton dresses and luxury items made of bird plumage, glass etc. The text description box next to the each of the exhibits goes into enough depth for the reader to provide a brief summary about inspiration, pattern and design used in manufacturing production of the exhibited objects. The second part of the exhibition continues on the first floor and it is more devoted to sources of materials and new fabrics alongside dyeing processes nowadays. The relationship between my current project and the Fashioned from Nature exhibition is very close. Both exhibition floors made me think about environmental issues and the danger of excessive human activity in the consumption of natural resources. As the theme of my essay is Cognitive dissonance and the subsequent environmental changes, current exhibition is absolutely relevant as it provided me with inspiration and thoughts that, in fact, brought me to this topic. I found it very thought-provoking and it made me feel so focused on the climate change and global warming problems. Especially I was impressed by the background sound of birds and animals in their natural habitat intercepted by the sounds of heavy machinery and manufacture. To sum up, a few artworks of some artists and designers from this exhibition can be used by myself as a reference or even the further research.
7. Reissman, H. (2017) Gallery: The art and science of museum dioramas [Online], ideas. ted. com. This is an online American article, written by Hailey Reismann on the theme of the art and science of museum dioramas. The article is devoted to the description of a few artworks made by artist Aaron Delehanty, his museum dioramas’ history as well as his interview excerpts. The dioramas at Field Museum in Chicago are under consideration in the current article. Displaying taxidermied animals and natural specimens in aseptic glass cabinets was a common procedure until the 19th century. Finally, in 1890 a taxidermist Carl Akeley began involving a custom artificial environment (rocks, sky etc) in order to display realistic surroundings. In a word, he believed that immersing museumgoers in the natural world would encourage them to protect it. On the one hand, the article states that the initial intention of creating dioramas is the desire to protect the flora and fauna of the world. On the contrary, it also states that diorama’s existence depended in the use of hunted animal species. An important point is that the writer describes some interesting facts about Delehanty’s research process, which includes the preparatory steps, such as: looking at satellite imagery and videos, reading books and talking to scientist. In overall, current article becomes very relevant since my subject of interest is diorama creation for this particular project. Furthermore, it contains some in-text tips, advising to achieve verisimilar diorama look, which can become very helpful soon. This text does not contain necessary information for my essay part, however it was good to read it to get knowledge regarding dioramas’ history and its creation as a whole process on the particular example of Aaron Delehanty’s museum dioramas.
8. You Don’t Need Great Skills to be a Great Artist: The Debate (2010) YouTube video, added by Hong Kong Tatler [Online]. This is a short-lasted video interview of four internationally renowned art experts attended the Intelligence Squared Asia’s debate in 2010. The main statement for arguing introduced to the experts was You don’t need great skills to be a great artist. It was interesting that many of the experts agreed the statement and provided unique explanations. For instance, Tim Marlow’s (Director of Exhibitions, White Cube Gallery, UK) argument in support of the statement above is that skill is a component of much great art in the past, however, it is not the essential component of it. The more essential components are things, like: vision, imagination, intelligence and exploration. I am partly agreeing with Antony Gormley (Turner Prize-winner), regarding the basis of art education in Russia and China, stating that most of the academic years there are spent in understanding basics of the 19th century’s French Bazar tradition (drawing from the plaster cast or bust etc). However, I disagree with his comparison of all these necessary skills with the notion of craft. Having skills of traditional drawing can be interesting, complicated and unique art. Sarah Thornton’s viewpoint (best-selling author) is that the words skillful and artful are synonyms. The ready-made is an example of, perhaps, unskilled art but Sarah Thornton is going to argue that in her ongoing research of Marcel Duchamp’s urinal. All the experts use affordable English in order to give best explanations of their point of view. This made the whole video interview holding my attention. The relevance and importance of the topic discussed I believe directly refers to the title of Current debates in Art and Design.