Course detail

Plant, animal, mineral: plants and other natural entities in contemporary art

FaVU-1PAMAcad. year: 2023/2024

Students will reflect working with biological material in visual art in theoretical texts and their own artistic practice. The course will provide lectures on aesthetic, etic, and philosophical perception of nature, ecosystems, and landscape and its formation by human activities; we will look at different concepts of wildness and wilderness, at different approaches understanding urban wilderness, community allotment gardening, and to appreciating plants and other non-human entities through the prism of contemporary posthumanist philosophy as it is reflected in contemporary art. Students will be able to consult their work with specialists from The Silva Tarouca Research Institute for Landscape and Ornamental Gardening (vegetation ecology, landscape infrastructure), or with practicing professionals (ornamental gardening). Students’ practical outcome of this course - a materialized or carefully planned artwork – will be the result of these theoretical and practical intersections.

Language of instruction

Czech

Number of ECTS credits

Mode of study

Not applicable.

Guarantor

Mgr. et MgA. Barbora Lungová

Department

Department of Art History and Theory (KTDU)

Entry knowledge

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

Rules for evaluation and completion of the course

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.
Compulsory attendance (80%).

Aims

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.
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).

Study aids

Not applicable.

Prerequisites and corequisites

Not applicable.

Basic literature

Aloi, Giovanni. Antennae 10: A Decade of Art and the Non-Human
Aloi, Giovanni. Botanical Speculations: Plants in Contemporary Art.
Aloi, Giovanni. Why Look at Plants? The Botanical Emergence in Contemporary Art. Series:Critical Plant Studies, Volume: 5
Cronon, William. The Trouble With Wilderness.
Fanta Josef, Macková Jana, Petřík Petr (eds): Krajina a lidé, Academia 2017.
Gessert, Georg. Green Light: Toward an Art of Evolution.
Gibas, Petr. 2018. „Zahrádkové osady jako prostor soukromý, veřejný, nebo jiný? O neoliberalizaci správy městského prostoru.“ Pp. 123-135, Petr Kratochvíl (ed.). Veřejný prostor v ohrožení? Aktuální problémy městského veřejného prostoru z pohledu společenskovědních disciplín. Praha: Artefactum. Artefactum. ISBN 978-80-88283-18-8.
Gibas, Petr. 2019. „Rytmy budování a péče / Geografie ‚zahrádkářů a zahrádkářek.“ Pp. 251-274, Lucie Pospíšilová, Robert Osman (Eds.). Geografie „okrajem“: každodenní časoprostorové zkušenosti. Praha: Karolinum. ISBN 978-80-2464-255-0.
Gibson, Prudence: The Plant Contract . Art’s Return to Vegetal Life
Hédl, Radim. Les je to, co roste samo (Vesmír).
Kingsbury, Noel. Garden Flora: The Natural and Cultural History of the Plants In Your Garden
Kingsbury, Noel. Hybrid. The History and Science of Plant Breeding.
Kolejka, Jaromír a kol. Předindustriální krajina Moravy. Brno: Soliton, 2020.
Pokorný Petr a Štorch, David, eds. Antropocén. Praha: Academia, 2020.
Stibral, Karel a kol. Zahrada. Přirozenost a umělost (Krása, krajina, příroda IV). Praha: Dokořán, 2012.
Stibral, Karel. Bio art. Živé organismy a biologie v umění. Sešity pro umění, teorii a příbuzné zóny. 10/2011.
Stibral, Karel. Estetika přírody: k historii estetického ocenění krajiny.
Stibral, Karel. Krajina, maska přírody.
Stibral, Karel. O malebnu. Estetika přírody mezi zahradou a divočinou. Praha: Dokořán; Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2011.

Type of course unit

Lecture

12 hod., compulsory

Teacher / Lecturer

Mgr. et MgA. Barbora Lungová

Syllabus

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, Jack Goody.
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, Michael Marder, Monica Gagliano.
5. First practical workshop. Students will introduce their first ideas about their artistic projects.
6. Effects Seminar. Prudence Gibson: The Plant Contract/Monica Gagliano, ed. Thus Spoke The Plant. Discussion and analysis of selected chapters.
7. Seminar. Giovanni Aloi – The Antennae Journal – discussion of a selected text.
8. Field trip 1
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?)
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

Creative seminar

9 hod., compulsory

Teacher / Lecturer

Mgr. et MgA. Barbora Lungová

Field trip

8 hod., compulsory

Teacher / Lecturer

Mgr. et MgA. Barbora Lungová