Institution: Istanbul Bilgi University
Instructor: Ali Alper Akyüz
Description: In our contemporary world, the term “society” remains inadequate to describe the systems we live in. This has led to the creation of concepts like “social-ecological systems”, “economy-in-society-in-nature”, “Anthropocene” (or its spin-off “Capitalocene”), and others which try to deconstruct anthropocentricism and the duality of “nature-culture”, like “post-human” or “non-human”. Artists in several disciplines have responded in creative ways to this era through their work, and ecology has become a recurring theme in artworks and happenings, forcing arts and cultural institutions to not only introduce ecology as a theme in their collections and activities, but also to adapt their management practices along with ecological principles, either voluntarily or under pressure from activist groups. This course deals critically with ecological problems, the arts’ various responses to social-ecological crises, and institutional reflections.
Level: Undergraduate
Timing: Every fall
Country: Turkey
Syllabus: Art, Ecology and Society