How has artistic practice shaped the way we perceive the environment and its phenomena? How has the project of picturing the earth impacted the development of modern aesthetics across media? And how has the environment itself shaped artistic practice on conceptual, aesthetic, and material levels? In this seminar, we will explore the multifaceted intersections of art and the environment from the early modern period to the present, anchoring our discussion in objects drawn from the Smart Museum of Art, the Joel Snyder Materials Collection, and Special Collections at the Regenstein Library. In the process, we will consider how artists variously contributed to, drew inspiration from, and critiqued changing conceptions of the earth over the modern era, paying particular attention to exchanges between the arts and sciences; the new perspectives opened up by media technologies such as photography, film, and digital imaging; the legacies of colonial exploration and resource extraction; and the challenges posed by environmental problems on local and global scales. This course will also include practical training in curatorial work in collaboration with the Feitler Center for Academic Inquiry. As part of their final projects, students will be asked to research objects from the Smart Museum of Art and contribute to a class exhibition, to be held in the Smart in Spring 2022.
Tue Thu : 11:00 AM-12:20 PM
Location: TBA
Undergraduate