The Myth of the Art Ecosystem
- Sofia Pantsjoha
- 12 hours ago
- 4 min read
At the Reading International Symposium last month, speakers addressed a familiar question: What can we learn from artists? The conference aimed to explore the contribution artists and art institutions make to reimagining public life through the lens of ‘ecological thinking’ - or to put it simply, “how we work together, learn from each other, and imagine more sustainable and inclusive futures.” [1] But the most striking moment came from an audience member, asking simply “When we refer to wanting the art world to be an ‘ecosystem,’ are we also considering the relationships that are competitive and parasitic that are taught in the study of ecology?” *
Installation detail: About Wall at the entrance to A4, February 2022. Designed by Bella Knemeyer with support from Ben Johnson. Image courtesy of A4 Arts Foundation.
Viewing the art world as an ecosystem has been a popular metaphor in recent years, highlighting the shifting and complex relationships between artists, curators, galleries, art dealers, the general public™, funders, etc. [2] As a metaphor it sounds organic and collaborative, but the question exposes something about how ecosystems are viewed. We either a) romanticise them; imagining a harmonious web of budding plants and nurtured little animals where artists and galleries support one another, or b) we use it to excuse the ‘bad’ - claiming that competition, and ‘the survival of the fittest’ mentality are simply a part of nature that cannot be avoided in the art world. Both views are flawed, however, because they rely on an ‘Ecology’ that is as colonised as the art world itself.
The ‘art world’ is often considered a discrete entity, centered around major institutions and the elite market. The trajectory of success we are taught to seek is now not only unsustainable, it was intentionally never accessible to begin with. From graduate (to representation by a small gallery, to interest from curators, to nomination for an art prize to a solo show, to an international show) to, finally, success via consistent institutional exhibitions - the fallacy fails to consider the diverse landscape of the art-world. Culture is more than a linear timeline, it exists as part of the real world; artist-led collectives working out of living rooms, community centers and libraries, DIY projects funded by shift work, struggles that form much of culture that people regularly interact with. And that’s not to mention the natural resources - pigment, wood, energy - required to make anything in the first place. It is clear why it is so tempting to refer to it as an eco-system, in an attempt to consider all of these moving parts.
The Artist Trajectory Path, sourced from: https://www.artrepresent.com/blog/the-art-ecosystem
Considering etymology - my favorite - the prefix ‘eco’ in ecosystem or ecology (or even economy) comes from the Greek ‘oikos’ which roughly equates to ‘house’. The suffix ‘-logy' roughly translates to ‘knowledge’ so when we think about the literal meaning of ‘ecology’, it is the knowledge we gain from our house, from the world around us. In the West, this is rooted in a colonial framework, beginning with European ecologists that mapped the land they ‘studied’ for extraction via rubber, sugar, forestry industries that went on to form the foundations of our current extractive global economy. [3] The suffix ‘-nomy’ is defined as a system of knowledge, so ‘eco’ ‘-nomy’ becomes the system of knowledge we adhere to about our house. Somehow the study of our house morphed into a system of knowledge that justifies social and environmental control, dispossesses Indigenous people and discounts their forms of knowledge. This Ecology justifies competition and parasitism as a natural order, a right; failing to consider the importance of all of the life within it, and certainly discarding symbiotic forms of being.
So when we apply the metaphor of ‘ecosystem’ to the art world, we should not be using this Ecology to define our ecosystems, our spaces, the relationships within them and the practices we develop. Returning to a decolonial ecology, we can instead rewild the art world to steer it away from being an extractive Economy; where institutions rely on unpaid volunteer labour, and where even gallery-represented artists are undervalued and underpaid. [4] Seeking the ‘knowledge from our house’ rather than shifting to rigid systems of knowledge, we can avoid upholding colonial systems of cultural prestige and capital over the actual real relationships between artists and the world.
Where in an ecosystem is capital accumulated? Are resources hoarded and gate-kept for others’ demise?
‘Knave of Chalices, Rewilding’ by Suzanne Treister from her series ‘HEXEN 5.0/TAROT’,
2023-24, 42 x 29.7 cm, watercolour on paper. © Suzanne Treister [5]
“There is a language older by far and deeper than words, it is the language of… wind on snow, rain on trees, waves on stone, it is the language of dream, gesture, symbol, memory.” - Derrick Jensen, from Knave of Chalices by Suzanne Treister
If we want a real art ecosystem, we have to look beyond Western scientific definitions of Ecology and Ecosystems: indigenous people have long understood that nature isn't a separate thing to be managed. Consider the isiXhosa word for environment, for example - ‘Indalo’ means both ‘creation’ and ‘nature’ acknowledging that people are inherently a part of the environment, and create (art) as a part of it. [6]
We talk about how ecology needs art, but maybe art needs ecology (with a lower-case e), a rewilding that begins in our ‘house’.
[1] Reading International Symposium, What Can We Learn From Artists?, Reading School of Art, https://artreading.org/2025/12/01/reading-international-symposium-what-can-we-learn-from-artists/.
* The question has been paraphrased.
[2] Reyburn, Scott. “The Art Market Is More Neoliberal Factory Farm Than Finely Balanced Ecosystem: Now Is the Time to ‘rewild’ It.” The Art Newspaper - International Art News and Events, September 8, 2020. https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2020/09/08/the-art-market-is-more-neoliberal-factory-farm-than-finely-balanced-ecosystem-now-is-the-time-to-rewild-it.
[3] Trisos, Christopher H., Jess Auerbach, and Madhusudan Katti. “Decoloniality and Anti-oppressive Practices for a More Ethical Ecology.” Nature Ecology & Evolution 5, no. 9 (May 24, 2021): 1205–12. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01460-w.
[4] Industria et al., STRUCTURALLY F—CKED: An Inquiry Into Artists’ Pay and Conditions in the Public Sector in Response to the Artist Leaks Data, ed. Charlotte Warne Thomas, a-n The Artists Information Company, 2023, https://static.a-n.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Structurally-F%E2%80%93cked.pdf.
[5] Treister, Suzanne, “Knave of Chalices, Rewilding” from “HEXEN 5,” 2023-24, https://www.suzannetreister.net/HEXEN_5/Tarot.html.
[6] Trisos, Christopher H., Jess Auerbach, and Madhusudan Katti. “Decoloniality and Anti-oppressive Practices for a More Ethical Ecology.” Nature Ecology & Evolution 5, no. 9 (May 24, 2021): 1205–12. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01460-w.
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