English

Not applicable.

The home faculty only

Students will be able to design a thoughtful and sophisticated art project that transcends the realm of art and engages with scientific or practical disciplines related to biology, horticulture, landscape history, and the cultural history of these disciplines.
The goal is to inspire students to create a work of art that we can present in a group exhibition, but the realization of which will not coincide with the course (it will be carried out later and is therefore not tied to the completion of the course credits).

Students are expected to be actively interested in linking natural sciences and visual art.

Not applicable.

The course will be taught partly in the form of lectures - especially in its first half - but will eventually evolve into a seminar form of discussion over texts. The main emphasis and output will be on group consultations and presentations of students' proposed art projects.

Students are obliged to be present at 4 ou of the total 6 theoretical lectures and at one field trip at least. They will present the theoretical outcome of these lectures and field trips in the form of a short essay (600 - 900 words). The second part of the evaluation will consist of a continuous development of the artistic project - introduced, developed, and finally presented during the group workshops held with all the guest teachers. The project does not need to be materialized at the time of the final presentation but must be developed in such extent and detail so that it can be realistically exhibitiable or used in a potential gallery open call.

The course consists of two sections: six theoretical inputs in the form of lectures/seminars, two field trips, and three group tutorials/workshops taught cooperatively by all lecturers (Barbora Lungová, Marta Fišerová, Nina Grúňová, Lucie Králíková).
1. Lecture 1. Appreciating nature and wilderness through the perspective of historical aesthetic values (English philosophy and aesthetics of the 18th century, the theory of the picturesque in perceiving landscape, the conceptions of historical parks and gardens; wilderness, the sublime, and nature through romanticizing (and colonizing) optics; landscape – an artificial human product (can we still perceive wildness though it?); wildness vs. wilderness; landscape as human artifact AND as a complex of functional ecosystems (examples of pre-industrial landscapes in South Moravia). Urban wilderness and vague terrain. Stibral, Cronon, Kolejka, Jongepierová, Hédl, Haluzík.
2. Lecture 2. Botanical explorations in the city, allotment gardening (historical perspectives, contemporary political perspectives), the aesthetics of small private gardens and allotment gardens, the battle of different aesthetic modes in public space, botanical and biodiversity values in urban space. Sádlo, Pokorný, Šturma, Gibas, Kolářová, Jedlička.
3. Lecture 3. Cultivating ornamental plants as an aesthetical phenomenon. Fad? Kitch? Nostalgia? Memory? History of changes. Copyright. Naming cultivars as a reflection of cultural stereotypes. Georg Gessert, Noel Kingsbury, Ondřej Fous.
4. Lecture 4. Posthumanist philosophy focusing on plants. What we know about plant life, plant consciousness, and how this knowledge can form our perception both of plants and the world around us. Examples of artistic practices. Giovanni Aloi, Stefano Mancuso.
5. First practical workshop. Students will introduce their first ideas about their artistic projects.
6. Effects Seminar. Prudence Gibson: The Plant Contract. Discussion and analysis of selected chapters: Eco-Feminism: Plants as Becoming-Woman, Ungrounding Plant Life: The After-Effects
7. Seminar. Giovanni Aloi – Antennae 10 – discussion of a selected chapter.
8. Field trip: The Podyjí Wildlife Nature Park (coppiced forest, heaths) – or – Gardening Nursery in Ctěnice and Botanical Garden in Průhonice.
9. Second workshop. Discussion of artworks in process (with possible external tutors). Students will be expected to reflect in the discussion the theoretical knowledge gained in the lectures and seminars.
10. Field trip 2.
11. Third workshop. Final presentations of the project, including a written statement (900 words), discussion of a possible exhibition format (where? What kind of strategy? Financing?)

Not applicable.

The aim of the course is to strengthen awareness of the current trend in contemporary art and its theoretical and philosophical reflection (concerning individual organisms, communities, their ecological but also cultural contexts, such as breeding, use in colonial botany, garden design and aesthetics, use and shaping of different types of forests, meadows, pastures, parks and landscapes in general). Another goal of the course is looking for possible shifts or links between theoretical reflections of the above-mentioned perspectives and consequent artistic practice in art projects that will be the outcome of the course.

Compulsory attendance (80%).

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Aloi, Giovanni. Antennae 10: A Decade of Art and the Non-Human. (EN)
Aloi, Giovanni. Botanical Speculations: Plants in Contemporary Art. (EN)
Aloi, Giovanni. Why Look at Plants? The Botanical Emergence in Contemporary Art. (EN)
Cronon, William. The Trouble With Wilderness. (EN)
Gessert, Georg. Green Light: Toward an Art of Evolution. (EN)
Gibson, Prudence: The Plant Contract . Art’s Return to Vegetal Life. (EN)
Kingsbury, Noel. Garden Flora: The Natural and Cultural History of the Plants In Your Garden (EN)
Kingsbury, Noel. Hybrid. The History and Science of Plant Breeding. (EN)