Outline

Overview

This unit studies contemporary and historical artists in relation to today's environmental crisis. Students engage with how art objects and art making relate to issues pertaining to nature, ecology, and the environment. Through visual and textual analysis, students gain interdisciplinary perspectives on art's place within contemporary posthumanist theories, the significance of ecological thinking to contemporary aesthetics, art's historical response to the impact of science and technology, and art's recognition of the importance of Indigenous knowledges to planetary ethics.

Unit details and rules

Unit code	ARHT2676
Academic unit	Art History
Credit points	6
Prohibitions ?	None
Prerequisites ?	12 credit points at 1000 level in Art History or 12 credit points at 1000 level in Critical Studies
Corequisites ?	None
Assumed knowledge ?	None
Available to study abroad and exchange students	Yes

Teaching staff

Coordinator	Tanya Peterson, tanya.peterson@sydney.edu.au
Lecturer(s)	Aleksandr Wansbrough, aleksandr.wansbrough@sydney.edu.au
Lecturer(s)	Tanya Peterson, tanya.peterson@sydney.edu.au
Tutor(s)	Jasmine Avril Powell, jasmine.powell@sydney.edu.au

Type	Description	Weight	Due	Length
Assignment	Drawing from Nature Written response to set question requiring visual analysis.	20%	Week 04 Due date: 26 Aug 2022 at 23:59	1000 words
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Visual Analysis Written response to set question requiring visual analysis.	30%	Week 08 Due date: 23 Sep 2022 at 23:59	1500 words
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Research Essay Written response based on chosen question requiring research.	50%	Week 13 Due date: 04 Nov 2022 at 23:59	2000 words
Outcomes assessed:

Assessment summary

Detailed information for each assessment can be found on Canvas.

Assessment criteria

The University awards common result grades, set out in the Coursework Policy 2014 (Schedule 1).

As a general guide, a High distinction indicates work of an exceptional standard, a Distinction a very high standard, a credit a good standard, and a pass an acceptable standard.

Result name	Mark range	Description
High distinction	85 - 100	Awarded when you demonstrate the learning outcomes for the unit at an exceptional standard, as defined by grade descriptors or exemplars outlined by your faculty or school.
Distinction	75 - 84	Awarded when you demonstrate the learning outcomes for the unit at a very high standard, as defined by grade descriptors or exemplars outlined by your faculty or school.
Credit	65 - 74	Awarded when you demonstrate the learning outcomes for the unit at a good standard, as defined by grade descriptors or exemplars outlined by your faculty or school.
Pass	50 - 64	Awarded when you demonstrate the learning outcomes for the unit at an acceptable standard, as defined by grade descriptors or exemplars outlined by your faculty or school.
Fail	0 - 49	When you don’t meet the learning outcomes of the unit to a satisfactory standard.

For more information see sydney.edu.au/students/guide-to-grades.

For more information see guide to grades.

Late submission

In accordance with University policy, these penalties apply when written work is submitted after 11:59pm on the due date:

Deduction of 5% of the maximum mark for each calendar day after the due date.
After ten calendar days late, a mark of zero will be awarded.

Academic integrity

The Current Student website provides information on academic integrity and the resources available to all students. The University expects students and staff to act ethically and honestly and will treat all allegations of academic integrity breaches seriously.

We use similarity detection software to detect potential instances of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breach. If such matches indicate evidence of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breaches, your teacher is required to report your work for further investigation.

You may only use artificial intelligence and writing assistance tools in assessment tasks if you are permitted to by your unit coordinator, and if you do use them, you must also acknowledge this in your work, either in a footnote or an acknowledgement section.

Studiosity is permitted for postgraduate units unless otherwise indicated by the unit coordinator. The use of this service must be acknowledged in your submission.

Learning support

Simple extensions

If you encounter a problem submitting your work on time, you may be able to apply for an extension of five calendar days through a simple extension.  The application process will be different depending on the type of assessment and extensions cannot be granted for some assessment types like exams.

Special consideration

If exceptional circumstances mean you can’t complete an assessment, you need consideration for a longer period of time, or if you have essential commitments which impact your performance in an assessment, you may be eligible for special consideration or special arrangements.

Special consideration applications will not be affected by a simple extension application.

Using AI responsibly

Co-created with students, AI in Education includes lots of helpful examples of how students use generative AI tools to support their learning. It explains how generative AI works, the different tools available and how to use them responsibly and productively.

Weekly schedule

WK	Topic	Learning activity
Week 01	Introduction	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 02	Planetary Memory and the Anthropocene	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 02	Understanding the Anthropocene with discussion of the lecture, reading and related artworks.	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 03	Nature and the Sublime	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 03	Exploring the concept of the sublime as an aesthetic category in relation to historical and contemporary artworks, and ideas raised in the lecture and reading.	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 04	Nature and Beauty	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 04	Discussing traditional aesthetic ideas of beauty contrasted with the sublime in contemporary art, in connection with the lecture and reading.	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 05	Charles Darwin and the Inhuman	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 05	Considering the idea of the 'inhuman' in relation to art and contemporary perspectives on Darwinian theory raised in the lecture and reading.	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 06	Mimicry and Uncanny Animals	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 06	Relating to animals — how they can be viewed in art as uncanny, merging with the human but also resisting the human, as explored in the lecture and reading.	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 07	Earth Memory	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 07	Learning from the earth in relation to contemporary art, with particular focus on deep histories embodied in the cultural knowledge and practices of First Nations people, drawing on the ideas in the lecture and reading.	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 08	Nature, Sound and Resonance	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 08	Listening to the sounds of nature — how the affects of eco-sound art can re-orient our understandings of changing natural environments, drawing on ideas from the lecture and reading.	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 09	Nature, Apocalypse and Science Fiction	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 09	Journeying into sci-fi realities, re-imagined futures and apocalyptic visions of our planetary fate based on the lecture and reading.	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 10	Air	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 10	Encounters with 'elemental' concepts of nature and atmospherics in connection to art and ideas evoked in the lecture and reading.	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 11	Oceans and the Underwater	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 11	Diving into the nature of human-nonhuman encounters in the sea, as linked to the lecture and reading.	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 12	Flowers and Plants	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 12	Delving into the entwining of nature and culture in flowers and plants in art, in relation to issues of power, control and subversion raised in the lecture and readings.	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 13	Conclusion	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 13	Why did Joseph Beuys live with a coyote for a week? We explore this idea and links between ecological struggle and racial struggle in relation to art and the weekly lecture and reading.	Tutorial (1 hr)

Attendance and class requirements

Attendance: According to Faculty Board Resolutions, students in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences are expected to attend 90% of their classes. If you attend less than 50% of classes, regardless of the reasons, you may be referred to the Examiner’s Board. The Examiner’s Board will decide whether you should pass or fail the unit of study if your attendance falls below this threshold.
Lecture recording: Most lectures (in recording-equipped venues) will be recorded and may be made available to students on the LMS. However, you should not rely on lecture recording to substitute your classroom learning experience.
Preparation: Students should commit to spend approximately three hours’ preparation time (reading, studying, homework, essays, etc.) for every hour of scheduled instruction.

Study commitment

Typically, there is a minimum expectation of 1.5-2 hours of student effort per week per credit point for units of study offered over a full semester. For a 6 credit point unit, this equates to roughly 120-150 hours of student effort in total.

Required readings

Ballard, Susan. “In the Holocene” in Art and Nature in the Anthropocene: Planetary Aesthetics, New York, Routledge, 2021, pp. 13-42.

Mattick, Paul. ‘Beautiful and Sublime: Gender totemism in the constitution of art’, Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol. 48, No. 4, 1990.

Wood, R. E. ‘The Aesthetics of Nature’ in Nature, Artforms and the World Around Us: An introduction to the regions of aesthetic experience, Palgrave Macmillan, 2017, pp. 11-34.

Grosz, Elizabeth. “The Inhuman in the Humanities: Darwin and the ends of man” in Becoming Undone: Darwinian reflections on life, politics and art, Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2011, pp. 11-26.

Creed, Barbara. “Darwin, early cinema and the origin of uncanny narrative forms”, Darwin's Screens: Evolutionary Aesthetics, Time and Sexual Display in the Cinema, Melbourne: Melbourne University Publishing, 2009, pp. 17-29.

Neale, Margo. “Knowledge in Country and the Third Archive”, in Neale, Margo, and Lynne Kelly (eds). Songlines: The Power and Promise. Melbourne: Thames & Hudson, 2020.

Gilmurray, Jonathan. “Sounding the Alarm: An Introduction to Ecological Sound Art”, Muzikološki Zbornik (Musical Annual), Vol. 52, No. 2, 2016, pp. 71-84.

Assa, Shirin. "Pumzi; the labyrinth of futureS", Journal of the African Literature Association, Vol. 11, No.1, 2017, pp. 58-69.

Macauley, David. “Interstice: Cloud”, Elemental Philosophy: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water As Environmental Ideas. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2010, pp. 173-178.

Alphonso Lingis. “The rapture of the deep” in Tymieniecka, Anna-Teresa. Poetics of the Elements in the Human Condition: The Sea: From Elemental Stirrings to Symbolic Inspiration, Language, and Life-Significance in Literary Interpretation and Theory, Vol. 19. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands, 1985, pp. 287-297.

Marder, Michael. “Thoreau’s Beans”, in Aloi, Giovanni (ed.), Why Look at Plants? : The Botanical Emergence in Contemporary Art. Boston: BRILL, 2019, pp. 124-125.

Elias, Ann. “Flower Light”, Eyeline, Vol. 78/79, 2014, pp. 35-41.

Peter Yeung, Joseph Beuys: I Like America and America Likes Me, Kids of Dada, https://www.kidsofdada.com/blogs/magazine/35963521-joseph-beuys-i-like-america-and-america-likes-me

All readings for this unit can be accessed through the Library’s reading list system Leganto, available on Canvas.

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes are what students know, understand and are able to do on completion of a unit of study. They are aligned with the University's graduate qualities and are assessed as part of the curriculum.

Outcomes
Graduate qualities

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

LO1. demonstrate confidence with research skills in relation to art that engages with 'ecology' 'environment' 'nature'
LO2. demonstrate facility with critical judgment and independent thinking
LO3. demonstrate ability to plan, structure and complete well-argued writing
LO4. demonstrate skills with the visual analysis of objects and artworks
LO5. develop the analytical tools and conceptual grammar needed to discuss historical and contemporary art.

Graduate qualities

The graduate qualities are the qualities and skills that all University of Sydney graduates must demonstrate on successful completion of an award course. As a future Sydney graduate, the set of qualities have been designed to equip you for the contemporary world.

GQ1	Depth of disciplinary expertise Deep disciplinary expertise is the ability to integrate and rigorously apply knowledge, understanding and skills of a recognised discipline defined by scholarly activity, as well as familiarity with evolving practice of the discipline.
GQ2	Critical thinking and problem solving Critical thinking and problem solving are the questioning of ideas, evidence and assumptions in order to propose and evaluate hypotheses or alternative arguments before formulating a conclusion or a solution to an identified problem.
GQ3	Oral and written communication Effective communication, in both oral and written form, is the clear exchange of meaning in a manner that is appropriate to audience and context.
GQ4	Information and digital literacy Information and digital literacy is the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, manage, adapt, integrate, create and convey information using appropriate resources, tools and strategies.
GQ5	Inventiveness Generating novel ideas and solutions.
GQ6	Cultural competence Cultural Competence is the ability to actively, ethically, respectfully, and successfully engage across and between cultures. In the Australian context, this includes and celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, knowledge systems, and a mature understanding of contemporary issues.
GQ7	Interdisciplinary effectiveness Interdisciplinary effectiveness is the integration and synthesis of multiple viewpoints and practices, working effectively across disciplinary boundaries.
GQ8	Integrated professional, ethical, and personal identity An integrated professional, ethical and personal identity is understanding the interaction between one’s personal and professional selves in an ethical context.
GQ9	Influence Engaging others in a process, idea or vision.

Outcome map

Learning outcomes	Graduate qualities
Learning outcomes

Responding to student feedback

This section outlines changes made to this unit following staff and student reviews.

Based on student feedback in the Unit of Study Survey we have: changed the weightings of assessments to better suit students; created topics such as 'Air', 'Sound' and 'Earth' to offer additional thematic perspectives on the natural environment and artistic practices; and changed Assessment 1 from a paired project to an individual submission, to support and give greater flexbiltiy to both on-campus and remote learning experiences.

Disclaimer

The University reserves the right to amend units of study or no longer offer certain units, including where there are low enrolment numbers.

To help you understand common terms that we use at the University, we offer an online glossary.

Current students

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect

Current students

ARHT2676: Planetary Art: Nature, Ecology, Environment

Semester 2, 2022 [Normal day] - Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect