Autobiography as a Source of Ecological Sustainability With Reference to Literature

Review Of Literature

The combination and triangulation of participant observation, key informant interviews, case study analyses, focus group interviews, participant and audience surveys, experiments undertaken as art events and the literature provided qualitative and quantitative evidence that the arts shape attitudes and influence behaviour or, at least, the intention to act. Research into the ecological chorale Plague and the Moonflower combined these types of data and showed that the event had a marked effect on attitudes and the intention to act (Curtis, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2010). Furthermore, most artists, people working in natural resources management and environmental exemplars were able to describe art that had a profound effect on them (Curtis, 2009, 2011a). Balancing the rich impressions gained from interviews with quantitative data from experiments and surveys enabled the communication of this work to policy makers (Reeves et al., 2005). Whilst it may be difficult to measure specific changes that occur due to a particular art work or project, the fact that the arts are integral to propaganda (Clark, 1997), advertising and, historically, in affirming religions or enhancing the power of patrons (de Botton & Armstrong, 2013), points to their considerable efficacy in influencing people’s beliefs and behaviour. This power is further suggested by the suppression of oppositional art by authoritarian governments.