Fall 2023  |  ARTH 3434 Section 004: Art and the Environment (34225)

Instructor(s)
Class Component:
Lecture
Credits:
3 Credits
Grading Basis:
Student Option
Instructor Consent:
No Special Consent Required
Instruction Mode:
In Person
Class Attributes:
UMNTC Liberal Education Requirement
Times and Locations:
Regular Academic Session
 
09/05/2023 - 12/13/2023
Mon, Wed 09:45AM - 11:00AM
UMTC, East Bank
Hubert H Humphrey Center 50B
Enrollment Status:
Open (22 of 54 seats filled)
Also Offered:
Course Catalog Description:
Western art has a long tradition of depicting and directly engaging with the environment - from ancient earthworks such as Stonehenge and Avebury Stone Circle, to 18th and 19th century landscape paintings and 20th century photographs, to land and earth art of the 1960s and '70s, and what is now called environmental or eco art. Such art has had a prominent place in art's history, but do we really need art to save the environment? Studies repeatedly show that the arts are crucial to understanding and forestalling environmental disaster because, it turns out, human attitudes are shaped by the stories we tell, by our ability to imagine the unimaginable, to accept the inanimate as potentially coming to life, to picture things on a vast scale. In this course students learn the historical development of artistic movements from 1968, when the first exhibition of such art, called "Earthworks," took place at the Dwan Gallery in New York, up to the present day. The course tracks the changing aesthetic, political, and climatic forces that influenced such art, from the anti-institutionalism and participatory approaches of the 1960s to the more activist artistic engagement with environmentalism today. The class takes up two primary concerns: understanding the historical and scientific conditions that have given rise to such art and learning the ways in which artists have sought to intervene in and affect a changing environment. Students put historical knowledge, environmental research, and visual analysis skills to work in a culminating group project creating art that responds to a contemporary environmental problem.
Class Description:
In this course we will examine the international movements loosely grouped under the names Land Art, Earth Art, and (more commonly today) Environmental Art. We will trace the historical development of these movements from 1968, when the first exhibition of such art, called "Earthworks," took place at the Dwan Gallery in New York, up to the present day. The course tracks the changing aesthetic, political, biological, economic, agricultural, technological, and climatic forces that influenced such art, from the anti-institutionalism and participatory approaches of the 1960s to the more activist artistic engagement with environmentalism and globalization today. The class takes up two primary concerns: understanding the historical and scientific conditions that have given rise to such art, and understanding the ways in which artists have sought to intervene in and affect a changing environment. Classes are structured around course readings, lectures, and discussions.
Grading:
25% Midterm Exam
25% Reports/Papers
40% Special Projects
10% Class Participation
Exam Format:
slide identification, short answer, essay
Class Format:
40% Lecture
40% Discussion
10% Small Group Activities
10% Student Presentations
Workload:
40 Pages Reading Per Week
7-8 Pages Writing Per Term
1 Exam(s)
1 Paper(s)
1 Presentation(s)
1 Special Project(s)
Textbooks:
https://bookstores.umn.edu/course-lookup/34225/1239
Past Syllabi:
http://classinfo.umn.edu/syllabi/block023_ARTH3434_Spring2017.pdf (Spring 2017)
Instructor Supplied Information Last Updated:
13 October 2016

ClassInfo Links - Fall 2023 Art History Classes

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