Syllabus

LEARNING OUTCOMES

In this course you will be introduced to some of the key problems, provocations and possibilities that emerge from what are increasingly-recognized to be porous and indeterminate boundaries between human and non-human worlds.

We are not going to solve the challenges of climate change and mass extinction in this course. However we will experiment with methods of following Donna Haraway, working with the trouble's that we face in collaborative, artistic projects.. You will also acquire tools with which to critically-analyze theoretical texts, artworks and case studies in what Nils Bubandt and Anna Tsing et al. have called The Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet. And you will be asked to reflect upon these processes in your individual written assignments.

 

Credits: 5

Schedule: 12.01.2022 - 16.02.2022

Teacher in charge (valid for whole curriculum period):

Teacher in charge (applies in this implementation): Lucy Davis

Contact information for the course (applies in this implementation):

CEFR level (valid for whole curriculum period):

Language of instruction and studies (applies in this implementation):

Teaching language: English. Languages of study attainment: English

CONTENT, ASSESSMENT AND WORKLOAD

Content

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Regarded during much of the modern era as cheap nature, industrial food or passive raw materials, there is of late a recognition, (or rather, a recollection) of the vital, dynamic, roles that all sorts of non-humans play in the shaping of our worlds.

  This recognition is paradoxically, making a comeback in theories of modern societies at the very same time that the planet faces capital-led climate and mass extinction crises of unfathomable dimensions.

  Which transdisciplinary tools and inspirations might artists draw from studies of human-non-human interconnections as means and as methods to respond, with some degree of positivity, to the critical challenges of our time? And what might be some of the politics of doing so?

Assessment Methods and Criteria

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Course work and participation.

  Assessment Methods and Criteria:

  In order to pass this course you need to be present for 80% of the class

  Activities InsideCourse Time: Lectures & in-class exercises (20%)

  This includes compulsory participation in experiential exercises as well as attendance at excursions and workshops in class time and the noting of these in your course journal.

  Activities Outside Course Time (20%):Readings independent exercises and project preparation.  Work outside course participation in subsequent in-class reading-group presentations and discussions

  A group creative project proposal/prototype (30%)
  The proposal will take place as presentation of the proposed project, followed by class feedback.
  (Actual proposal to be completed in part 2)

  An individual critical written response to the proposed project (30%). 

Workload

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  42h Contact teaching, 93h independent work.

  Part one of this course will involve a series of readings and practice assignments, leading to a proposal for a group project (to be completed in Part two). 

DETAILS

Study Material

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Provided in syllabus

Substitutes for Courses

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Substitutes for Courses

Prerequisites

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Prerequisites

SDG: Sustainable Development Goals

5 Gender Equality

7 Affordable and Clean Energy

10 Reduced Inequality

11 Sustainable Cities and Communities

12 Responsible Production and Consumption

13 Climate Action

14 Life Below Water

15 Life on Land