CONTEMPORARY ART (ADVANCED)II

This course is part of the characterizing courses of the Masters’ Degree Programme in History of Arts and Conservation of Artistic Heritage (contemporary curriculum). It intends to offer students the tools to understand the periodization of contemporary art and with it the new languages and issues that have become increasingly significant and urgent with the expansion of art to the global context (post 1989). In particular, the course will address the relationship between contemporary artistic practices and climate change, also focussing on the historical and ecocritical perspectives.

1. Knowledge and understanding:
Students will acquire an in-depth knowledge of a series of questions related to the history and theory of (global) contemporary art, post 1989, with a special focus on the relationship between art and climate change.
2. Capacity of applying knowledge and understanding:
Students will learn how to relate the history and theory of contemporary art with issues related to environmentalism/ecology, from an historical-critical perspective. Each student will be asked to critically present and discuss one of the topics and/or artworks (of their choice) of the course in front of the classroom and of the professor.
3. Capacity of formulating judgments:
Students will learn how to develop original or partly original ideas and how to elaborate a critical judgment concerning certain aspects of the history and theory of contemporary art, with a special focus on the topics discussed during the course.
4. Communicational skills:
Within the framework of seminar-like discussions, students will learn how to articulate ideas with the appropriate language and share them with the professor and fellow students.
5. Learning skills:
Students will acquire the appropriate conceptual and analytical skills that will allow them to analyse the issues discussed in class. They will learn how to study and discuss written texts, and how to express their own critical judgment by presenting one of the topics/artworks (of their choice) of the course in front of their classmates and professor.

Good knowledge of the major historical events and the main movements of thought between the 19th and the 21st centuries, as a general framework in which the history of contemporary art and visual cultures is included.

The irreversible climate changes generated by man’s exploitation of the environment and of the natural resources (to such an extent that the current era has been defined as the Anthropocene) are putting ecosystems and forms of life at risk. Alongside science, the human sciences are called to seek possible solutions and to think of alternative and sustainable forms of (biological, social, cultural…) existence for the immediate future. Even art can play an important role by showing, predicting, imagining possible scenarios for the survival of the planet and to encourage interspecies relationships and care, in order to raise awareness, move consciences (of individuals, communities, ruling classes) and lead to action (it is no coincidence that the term “artivism” has come into use). The course aims to provide knowledge of the practices and theories of contemporary art in relation to ecological issues, starting from a historical and (eco)critical perspective. For this reason, the theme of the periodization of contemporary art will also be addressed, as well as its globalization (post 1989).

For attending and non-attending students:

1. Gaia Bindi, Arte, ambiente, ecologia, postmedia books, Milan, 2019.
2. Maja e Ruben Fowkes, Art and Climate Change (World of Art), Thames & Hudson, London, 2022.
3. The following essays collected in the folder "dispensa" on Moodle, which will be discussed during lessons:

• Alexander Alberro, [‘Questionnaire on “The Contemporary”’], in October, vol. 130 (autunno 2009), pp. 55-60.
• T.J. Demos, ‘Decolonizzare la natura’, in Kabul Magazine (special issue: Earthbound. Superare l’Antropocene), 2021, pp. 51-58 (1st ed. 2018) [cf. T. J. Demos, Decolonizing Nature: Contemporary Art and the Politics of Ecology, Sternberg Press, Berlin, 2016].
• Donna Haraway, ‘Antropocene, Capitalocene, Piantagionocene, Chthulucene: creare kin’, in Kabul Magazine (special issue: Earthbound. Superare l’Antropocene), 2021, pp. 34-42 (1st ed. 2018) [cf. Donna Haraway, Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene, Duke University Press, Durham, 2016].
• Bruno Latour, ‘L’agency ai tempi dell’Antropocene’, in Kabul Magazine (special issue: Earthbound. Superare l’Antropocene), 2021, pp. 19-25 (1st ed. 2018) [cf. Bruno, Latour, 'Agency at the Time of the Anthropocene', in New Literary History, vol. 45, no. 1 (Winter 2014), pp. 1-18.
• Timothy Morton, ‘Ecologia Queer’, in Kabul Magazine (numero speciale: Earthbound. Superare l’Antropocene), 202, pp. 87-104 (1st ed. 2018) [cf. Timothy Morton, 'Guest Column: Queer Ecology', in PMLA, vol. 125, no. 2 (March 2010), pp. 273-282.
• Terry Smith, ‘Contemporary Art and Contemporaneity’, in Critical Inquiry, vol. 32, n. 4 (Summer 2006), pp. 681-707.

Non-attending students and those who skip more than 30% of the lessons will prepare, in addition to the programme indicated above, one of the following books of their choice:

• Cristina Baldacci, Shaul Bassi, Lucio De Capitani, Pietro D. Omodeo (eds.), Venice and the Anthropocene: An Ecocritical Guide, wetlands, Venice, 2022.
• Nicolas Bourriaud, Inclusions: Aesthetics of the Capitalocene, Sternberg Press, Berlin, 2023.
• Bruno Latour, Facing Gaia: Eight Lectures on the New Climatic Regime, Polity Press, Cambridge, 2020.
• Nicholas Mirzoeff, How to See the World, Pelican Books, London, 2015.

NB: It is advisable to contact the professor for specific requests or particular language needs.

Students will be evaluated through a written exam – which will consist in questions about the topics studied on the books and essays of the bibliography, and (for attending students) about the issues discussed during classes. In addition, each student will be asked to critically present one of the issues or artworks (of their choice) discussed during the course in front of the classroom.

During lessons, students are expected to actively participate in the discussion, commenting the texts, images and topics presented in class. The interpretative reading of theoretical texts and of images will be carried out in class as methodological exercise to facilitate learning. Many of the theoretical texts discussed by the professor, as well as the images that will be projected in class as slides, will be made available to students on the online platform Moodle during the course (for copyright reasons images and texts cannot be made available in any other way). Any possible visits to exhibitions and lectures by other professors or experts in the field will be an integral part of the course – further information will be provided during classes.

Italian

Class attendance is recommended to all students. Those who skip more than 30% of the lessons will be considered non-attending students and will have to add one of the books of the suggested bibliography in preparation of the exam.

Ca’ Foscari follows the Italian law (Law 17/1999; Law 170/2010) for the support and accommodation services available to students with disabilities or specific learning disabilities. If you have either a motor, visual, hearing or another disability (Law 17/1999), or a specific learning disorder (Law 170/2010) and you require support (classroom assistance, technological aids for carrying out exams or personalized exams, accessible format material, note retrieval, specialist tutoring as study support, interpreters or other), please contact the Disability and DSA office disita@unive.it.

written

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Climate change and energy" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development