Environmental Studies 314: Art and the Anthropocene

This course takes as its subject the tangled web of relations--aesthetic, ecologic, and political--at the center of the concept of the Anthropocene. An idea first pronounced by geologists but now embraced more broadly, the Anthropocene articulates the ways in which human activity (economic, material and behavioral), has achieved planetary scale and effect, resulting in changes to the earth and its climate. This course examines the methods, practices and discourses employed by artists to address this broad theme, and within it the following subjects: how climate change takes shape visually; how landscapes are culturally produced and ideologically situated; how representation of the natural world is situated vis-a-vis power relations. This is an advanced, studio art, practice-based seminar; all projects will be realized in various visual media, aligned with faculty areas of specialization and interest. This course is, at its heart, an interdisciplinary inquiry, using scientific understanding and cultural criticism to fuel artistic production.  May be elected as Art 314, but must be elected as Environmental Studies 314 to satisfy the Interdisciplinary course requirement for Environmental Studies majors.