When I was a year two student, I took an elective module called DD3007: Nature in Art and Visual Culture that was taught at the school of Art Design and Media. The course was an exposure to key art historical, cultural theoretical, philosophical and ecological problems pertaining to the attempts of humans imagination and representation of nature in Art, and how these attempts relate to our concepts of nature and life. Humans relationship with nature was explored.
Although nature was a central theme of this module, the focus was not an ecological art approach.
The structure of the course included class based discussions on theoretical and philosophical readings. We analyzed films and artworks that actively looked at various perspectives and ways in approaching nature, and the artistic effectiveness of them. We also visited galleries and exhibitions of related works to think about more at work that deals with the topic at hand.
The assessment included submitting a reflective response journal that consisted of our thoughts and opinions throughout the course. The assessment also included the development, planning, creating and execution of a group/individual art project that engages with things we have learned over the semester. The work had to be displayed, curated and presented to our classmates. Finally, we had to submit a final essay after the presentation to discuss further on the artwork we created, accessing the effectiveness as an art enquiry.
This was the project my group did. We did a mixed-media installation, that conveyed issues about landfills, deforestation and overfishing. It was rather morbid and pessimistic as we drew on the natural system of a virus and parallel it with the actions of humans in affecting landscapes. The artwork is done on a battery dish, made up of trash, dirt, gel, ink, soil. Below is the label of our work, and a video that shows our process, presentation, and the end of the project.
(VI. R. US)
1. viral entry
penetration, comes into contact, attachment, assembly, birth
2. viral replication
target, production and survival, infection, industrialization, pollution, consumption, emissions
3. viral shedding
successful reproduction, depletion, degradation, exhaustion, expulsion, extinction, endangered, exit, plunder, destruction
4. viral latency
not fully eradicated, dormant, potential reactivation, bleak
This module helped in forcing a critical thinking approach when dealing with the ideas of nature. It highlighted the complexity of nature, and our relationship with it. It kick-started my incoherent views on nature, forming a careful opinion and approach around it, knowing that nature is a complex idea.
In coming up with an independent artistic project, we had to look into environmental issues to ensure a factual projection of the idea pertaining to our work. It did increase our awareness and sensitivity towards the existing environmental problems. However, the extensiveness of it was a limited. We struggled in terms of materiality.
Did our work have any impact on the environment, or conservation? No. An ecological art approach was not what we had in mind, although now I think that it would probably be more meaningful to do so. The pungent smell of the work, and the sharing and talking about destructive things we do as human, and the mirroring of us with virus that engaged the other students was our aim to evoke a sense of introspective analysis of our possibly mindless actions.
As you could see at the end of the video, we contributed to waste with our artwork and bagged up in plastic bags when we cleared it, a huge contradiction or affirmation of our disposal and destructive habits.
The art sharing part of the course where we listened and experienced other student projects, though not conservation-centered in nature, was informative in provoking deeper thoughts about the topic at hand. Although it is hard to measure a behavioral change based on this course, it definitely did spark an ongoing dialogue within ourselves about nature, and it refined our practices of enquiry towards nature.