Prospectus

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Modern & Contemporary Art & Design: Art, Design, Science and Ethics

Course
2010-2011

Admission requirements

See MA Exam regulations; it is an MA course

Description

In this seminar, we will examine interactions between art, design, the biological sciences and ethics. There is a growing number of international artists and designers that make use of the possibilities of the biological sciences to work with new materials, that is, living materials that traditionally do not belong to the artistic realm. The use of these living materials in artistic and design practice also implies the application of the tools and technologies of the biological sciences in the arts. With the use of biomaterials – tissue, DNA, cells, – in works of art and design, artists and designers have taken on board also the discourses and practices in the scientific lab. In this seminar we will reflect on the esthetical, ethical, cultural and societal implications of art and design that addresses and incorporates biological science practices and issues such as designing animals by way of transgenic research, the blurring borders between animals and humans when both are manipulated, definitions of life, etcetera. This seminar will discuss some of the most critical and cutting edge art and design and connect them to theories on rhetoric and to ethical en cultural questions.

Course objectives

Students learn to: – Analyse contemporary forms of art and design in a critical way and relate them to other contemporary practices – Reflect on art and design from perspectives of ethical, moral, and philosophical frameworks – Present an academic paper about their results before the class – Present their results in a written paper with an analytic academic level

Time Table

MA year 1, february-may 2011.

Teaching Method

Research seminar

Test Method

  • oral presentation (20%)

  • written paper (80%)

Blackboard

For assignments and communication in general.

Required reading

To be assigned

Register

USIS

Contact

r.zwijnenberg@hum.leidenuniv.nl

Remarks