ECOLOGY FOR PREDATORS
«The earth in its devotion carries all things, good and evil, without exception»
I Ching
According to Ponerology or the Science of Evil, a pathocracy is the phenomenon of societies corrupted in its customs by the pathogenic influence of antisocials, psychopaths or sociopaths holding positions of political and economic power. The possibility such actors are infecting, like a disease, the mind of the population, infusing ecocide habits congruent with the anti-values of their personalities which lack conscience, empathy or any ethical standard – although concealed with masks of sanity-, must be seriously considered, when trying to understand why the awareness campaigns of so many ecologists and environmentalists, have not succeeded to prevent us from continuing to turn our paradises into hells. In Venezuela, just to mention one of many countries, when it comes to infrastructure and culture, we are adapting poorly to the imminent climate change; we are failing to satisfy our needs without jeopardizing the sources of resources needed by future generations to satisfy their own needs (sustainability); and we are giving little value to Nature itself beyond our anthropocentric utilitarian interests. Alienated from the Cosmos and clueless to handle our existential emptiness, we chose to be then the voracious predators of this Mother Earth, in spite of raising red flags. And as good disciples of psychopaths, we deceived others and ourselves by masking with ecological drills and green-washings, our daily contribution to this slow collective suicide of the human species.
Nevertheless, 13 plastic artists are making a new attempt to create environmental awareness inside these pathocracies, although it seems to us that not a single citizen of Troy gives credit to Cassandra’s prediction. With their works of ecological art, they are the antiheroes of our uncontrolled progress dreams, and the party-poopers of our Christmas consumption orgies, when through the poetics of waste, and by transforming materials with little value into something valuable, they invite to us to culturally value the reduction, reuse and recycling of matter and energy in production processes and consumption of goods and services. Thus, in the name of certain austerity or simplicity, ecology does not have to promote an ascetic renounce to aesthetic pleasure, but perhaps a life style more epicurean than hedonist. Astonished by Nature’s animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms, these 13 creators, better magicians of illusions and appearances than the psychopaths, because they know how to face their shadows, excite us with a intertwined will with the Cosmos, when they remind us that, as long as a balance is kept with the Whole, predation will play a biological role controlling disproportionate growth of the species within a balanced ecosystem. On the contrary, there is no medical cure for the psychopath, because for genetic or learning reasons he/she is not and will not be aware of his/her interrelation with the Whole. The psychopath acts as a carcinogenic cell, exterminating the guest which provides his/her own nutrition. Hence, these are the main life or death issues of “Ecology for Predators». From the artistic perspective it can propel committed actions or be just a mere Sunday entertainment. It is up to each one to decide to wake up or to keep sleeping.