@mastersthesis {13382,
	title = {Images, Theater, Embodied Experiences: How Ecoartists are Shifting Consciousness around the Climate Crisis},
	year = {2022},
	school = {University of the Arts},
	abstract = {This thesis is a critical study of how the artists Edward Burtynsky, Michael Pinsky, Justin Brice, and the collaborative artistic team of Rugile Barzd{\v z}iukaite, Vaiva Grainyte, and Lina Lapelyte, use diverse mediums and methods to provoke strong emotional, visceral, or cognitive responses to the climate crisis. I examine the possibilities and limitations of each approach in delivering a momentary rupture, or a broader cultural disruption, which can trigger a re-examination of aspects of the climate crisis including energy consumption, waste, relationship with nonhumans, and/or global dependence on extractive industries. Timothy Morton{\textquoteright}s concept of the hyperobject, Semir Zeki{\textquoteright}s theories of art and ambiguity in the brain, and Baz Kershaw{\textquoteright}s concept of "theater ecologies" are salient influences on my interpretation. Neuroscientific theories on "somatic markers" and embodied cognition help clarify the mechanisms by which simulating toxic or ecologically impaired environments can evoke a sensual response in the viewer, which in turn stimulates care and attention, perhaps even action.},
	keywords = {Twenty-first Century},
	author = {Cynthia Haveson Veloric}
}
