ARTH 298 - Special Topics in Genre Studies - The Art of Natural History and the Politics of the Collection

• M&W 18:00 - 20:15
• EV-1.605
• INSTRUCTOR: Martha Robinson

This course investigates the rich and varied visual and material culture that historically both supported and fueled the discipline of natural history. The paradigms of representation and display to be discussed include taxidermy, botanical and zoological illustration, blown glass botanical replicas, paleoart, cabinets of curiosities and the diorama. Aside from historic examples this course will also look at the deployment of these representational strategies in current museal practice. The politics of collection and display embedded in natural history will be examined through contemporary art practices which analyse, celebrate, imitate and in some cases, deconstruct paradigms of natural history, realized through examining the work of Mark Dion, Walton Ford, Étienne Turpin and Anne-Sophie Springer, snæbjörnsdóttir/wilson and Brandon Ballangée.