COURSE SCHEDULE:
Week 1:
Class 1. Course presentation, scope and requirements
Class 2. The Anthropocene and Ecology
We will define and understand the new geological age, examine the term ecology, and explore how ecological conversations relate to artistic practices.
Week 2:
Class 1. Nature and Industry
Case study: from Thomas Cole’s The Course of Empire to Ed Ruscha to David Brooks
Class 2. Materials of the everyday: the ordinary, the recycled, the reclaimed
Artists in focus: David Hammons, Robert Rauschenberg, Nancy Rubins
Week 3:
Class 1. The natural landscape as an artistic field of operation
The emergence of the Land art movement and subsequent issues of conservation I
Artists in focus: Beverly Buchanan, Walter de Maria, Michael Heizer, Nancy Holt, Richard Long, Robert Smithson, Alan Sonfist
Class 2. Radical Ecology: The interconnectedness of culture, nature and ecological systems
Artist in focus: Joseph Beuys
Week 4:
Class 1. Environmental Art I
We will explore radical shifts in thinking as artists begin to work with the natural environment through cohesiveness, rather than disruption.
Artists in focus: Betty Beaumont, Agnes Denes, Andy Goldsworthy, Pierre Huyghe, Meg Webster
Class 2. Environmental Art II
We will explore radical shifts in thinking as artists begin to work with the natural environment through cohesiveness, rather than disruption.
Artists in focus: Betty Beaumont, Agnes Denes, Andy Goldsworthy, Pierre Huyghe, Meg Webster
Class 3. Architecture, Experimentation and Ecology: Blueprints for a Future?
Architects in focus: Buckminster Fuller and Paolo Soleri
Week 5:
Class 1. Land and Labour
Case study: from Jean-Francois Millet’s The Gleaners to Agnes Varda to Will Benedict
Class 2. Class 2. Screening and discussion of Agnes Varda’s film, The Gleaners and I
Week 6:
Class 1. Midterm review
Class 2. Midterm exam
Week 7:
no classes, Spring Break
Week 8:
Class 1. Gender and Ecofeminism I
Artists in focus: Andrea Bowers, Ana Mendieta, Aviva Rahmani, Hanae Utamura, Cecilia Vicuna, Faith Wilding
Class 2. Gender and Ecofeminism II
Artists in focus: Andrea Bowers, Ana Mendieta, Aviva Rahmani, Hanae Utamura, Cecilia Vicuna, Faith Wilding
Week 9:
Class 1. Ecologies, Land, and Belonging: how First Nations and Indigenous artists use ecological knowledge in their practices
Class 2. From Protest to Proposals: Ecological Restoration
Week 10:
Class 1. Cultural Restoration: Institutions and Care
Case study: from Mierle Laderman Ukeles to an institution of the 21st Century
Class 2. Guest lecture: Andrea Viliani, Director of the Museum of Civilizations
Week 11:
Class 1. Artists and Community Practices
Artists in focus: Theaster Gates, Ibrahim Mahama
Class 2. Monuments to Sharing: Permaculture and Artists’ Collaborative Projects
We will explore several examples of artists engaging in ecological consciousness and the sustaining of creative, land-based ways of life specific to the region of Puglia.
Week 12:
Class 1. holiday - no class
Class 2. Farming as Political Activism and a Work of Art
FRIDAY possible site-visit to Agricola Cornelia S.p.A., a farm founded by artist Gianfranco Baruchello (exact date to be confirmed)
Week 13:
Class 1. In-class presentations
Class 2. In-class presentations
Week 14:
Class 1.Man and Technology
Case study: from Umberto Boccioni’s Unique Forms of Continuity in Space to Donna Haraway to the posthuman condition
Class 2. no class (re: Friday field trip, week 12)
Week 15:
Class 1. Posthumanism
Contemporary artistic responses to technological advancements, globalization, and mass extinction in the Anthropocene
Class 2. Final exam review + Research paper due
Week 16:
Final Exam week