Topic outline

  • The course introduces innovative strategies of multidisciplinary contemporary art (artistic thinking, art & science, social and environmental art and social and public pedagogy) to deal with the transdisciplinary theory of circular economy. Circular economy encompasses more than the sustainable production and consumption of material, goods, and services. It includes a discussion of the intertwinement of aesthetical, ecological and ethical processes. The course develops the key elements of change in consumer culture: knowledge on art and design practices and thinking as well as the significance of the production of culture. For this, it is crucial to understand not only the concrete materiality but also the mental images and the social and cultural material that influences consumption habits.

    In the course, the students work on the phenomena of circular economy through the participatory methods of contemporary art and artistic thinking. The course uses different examples of art for grasping the complexity of circular economy in different levels: individual, community, society, and culture. The course works both in lectures and workshops.

    Half of the sessions will be held remotely, and half will require the development of experiments and artistic activities, individually or in groups.

    We will work outdoors and on test sites. Of course, there is a possibility to attend the course fully remotely in exceptional cases, but this means that the students need to be active him/herself, for example to organize team work remotely and to do artistic assignments independently.