Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
1. Understand the main concerns of the Anthropocene.
2. Identify written and visual or performative imagery that engages with the Anthropocene.
3. Situate artworks in relation to wider social, political and historical context.
4. Analyse and interpret a written text, artwork or performance piece.
5. Argue in detail and at length about an aspect of the topic, supporting the argument with evidence from the text/image/performance and with secondary sources.
6. Engage with critical theory.
Indicative Module Content:
Divided into four sections, the module will explore texts, artworks and films from a range of creators.
Block 1 engages with seminal theoretical approaches to the Anthropocene beginning with Paul J. Crutzen and Eugene F Stoermer initial formulation of the concept alongside Karen Barad's critique to language and New Materialist celebration of Performativity.
Block 2 explores initial explorations of the relationship between (the female) body and land through the work of Cuban-born Ana Mendieta and Catalan artist Fina Miralles.
Block 3 examines affective relations with and social conceptions of territory by looking at the project BxLLt as a reflection of the territory of El Baix Llobregat (Spain), Bárbara Fluxá's work and Lucía Loren Atienza.
Block 4 investigates the accumulation of plastic through the work of Olga Diego and Elisa Insua.
Block 5 travels beyond the earth and in the ways in which humans and the universe are entangled together through the spider installations of Tomás Saraceno.