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HAU440017 and HAU44018 Art, Design, and Nature, c. 1930 to present 1 and 2

This course will study the changing culture of nature in art and design since the 1930s, with a focus on developments from the 1960s to present. Through discussions of such as biomimicry, ecological design, living infrastructures, scientific visualisation, appropriate technology, eco-art, and art-science collaborations, students will be introduced to how artists and designers across the globe have abandoned traditional representations of nature to engage with, for example, environments and ecosystems, climate science, sustainable land use, inter-species relations, biodiversity, planetary responsibility, and posthumanism. They will also study how, over the past century, artists and designers have engaged with the natural sciences and will discuss how art and design might now contribute to current responses to the Anthropocene.
  • Module Organisers:
    • Dr Timothy Stott
  • Duration:
    • Semesters 1 and 2
  • Contact Hours:
    • 2-hour seminar per week
  • Weighting:
    • 20 (10 + 10) ECTS
  • Asessment:
    • Continuous assessment (50%) and examinations (50%)

Learning Outcomes:

Upon the successful completion of this module students should be able to:

  • Identify the key concepts of nature in art and design of the twentieth- and twenty-first centuries. 
  • Explain the main trends in eco-art and ecological design/architecture. 
  • Analyse the relationship between art, design/architecture, and the sciences. 
  • Determine how artists, designers, and architects have taken nature as a model, theme, and arena of practice. 
  • Discuss the limitations and possibilities of modern and contemporary art and design/architecture in response to environmental crisis. 
  • Critically analyse diverse modes and locations of contemporary art and design/architectural practice.