Kaua aega tagasi ühes kaugeskauges galaktikas? Ökoulmest siin ja praegu, sissejuhatuseks
A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away? On Ecology and Science Fiction Here and Now: an Introduction

Summary/Abstract: The current special issue of Studies on Art and Architecture grew out of a seminar on ecological science fiction that took part in the garden of the Museum Department of the Under and Tuglas Literature Centre in 2022. The seminar was a part of a series of academic meetings that started in 2015 with a conference on literary gardens. Since 2020 the series has been organised jointly with the University of Tartu’s Department of Semiotics. Several recognised specialists in science fiction have suggested that the genre is mainly focussed on literary fiction. Still, there are numerous authors and works representing different artistic realms whose sci-fi-tinged quality can hardly be questioned. Works of science fiction that have materialised via any artistic field generally tend to engage with problems considered highly topical at the time of their creation. This makes environmental issues a major concern in contemporary science fiction, leading to the emergence of a separate literary sub-category, climate fiction or cli-fi. Addressing environmental topics has also become increasingly more common in Estonian visual arts, with numerous exhibitions dedicated to the ecological crisis we are facing. Studying science-fiction-flavoured arts that mutually inspire one another against a framework of ecological issues is an exciting field of scholarly research, and has been recognised by international academia. Both literature and art test various scenarios, utopian as well as dystopian ones, using the means of science fiction, and the opportunities such stories offer to observe environmental topics, process them and experiment with them in more or less playful ways, making it possible for humankind to truly contribute to arts of survival.

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