Over the last fifteen years, numerous curators and critics have tried, through theoretical exhibitions, to redefine the role of art in relation to ecology – to find the right relationship between them.¹ Perspectives that are too narrow or that drive home the principles of a fundamental duality are held in contempt: the ideas about ecology conveyed by artworks (as well as their contexts of production and presentation) are held under a microscope. In fact, ecology – a subject at the crossroads of science, politics, technology, economics, social justice, and biology – is demanding a greater voice, and art that claims to give it voice must incorporate and reflect this complexity. Cultural theories steer discourses on nature toward integrating a form of “self-reflection,” determining at the same time a potentially indispensable approach to art theories and contemporary creativity dealing with ecology. Obviously, a form of aesthetic rectitude is making inroads: ecological art must be ethical and, especially, conceptually valid.

This critical work, being done by theoreticians and artists, is even more necessary because it sheds a bright light on the art world’s contribution to environmental issues. I would like to broaden the focus here to consider the example of Boréal Art/Nature, a Canadian organization that was very involved in this area.² Thus with these debates over ecological art in mind, I will examine the nature of the context this centre set up and how it communicated this context in order to highlight both its pertinence and its

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