Course detail

Plant, animal, mineral: plants and other natural entities in contemporary art

FaVU-4PAMAcad. year: 2026/2027

Students will reflect working with biological material in visual art in theoretical texts and their own artistic practice. The course will provide lectures on aesthetic, etic, and philosophical perception of nature, ecosystems, and landscape and its formation by human activities; we will look at different concepts of wildness and wilderness, at different approaches understanding urban wilderness, community allotment gardening, and to appreciating plants and other non-human entities through the prism of contemporary posthumanist philosophy as it is reflected in contemporary art. Students will be able to consult their work with specialists from The Silva Tarouca Research Institute for Landscape and Ornamental Gardening (vegetation ecology, landscape infrastructure), or with practicing professionals (ornamental gardening). Students’ practical outcome of this course - a materialized or carefully planned artwork – will be the result of these theoretical and practical intersections.

Short thematic walks around Brno are also part of the curriculum (they will take place within the scheduled classes) + one day-long field trip (on a weekend day) will be organized.

Language of instruction

English

Number of ECTS credits

Assignment to study programme types

Bachelor's, Master's

Mode of study

Not applicable.

Guarantor

Mgr. et MgA. Barbora Lungová

Department

Department of Art History and Theory (KTDU)

Entry knowledge

Students are expected to have foundational knowledge in linking cultural and social imaginary associated with plants, gardens, "wilderness" from the perspective of the interlocking of posthumanism and visual art.

Rules for evaluation and completion of the course

1.Mandatory attendance. The second part of the evaluation will consist of a continuous development of the artistic project - introduced, developed, and finally presented during the group workshops. The project does not need to be materialized at the time of the final presentation but must be developed in such extent and detail so that it can be realistically exhibitiable or used in a potential gallery open call.

Aims

The aim of the course is to strengthen awareness of the current trend in contemporary art and its theoretical and philosophical reflection (concerning individual organisms, communities, their ecological but also cultural contexts, such as breeding, use in colonial botany, garden design and aesthetics, use and shaping of different types of forests, meadows, pastures, parks and landscapes in general). Another goal of the course is looking for possible shifts or links between theoretical reflections of the above-mentioned perspectives and consequent artistic practice in art projects that will be the outcome of the course.
Students will be able to design a thoughtful and sophisticated art project that transcends the realm of art and engages with scientific or practical disciplines related to biology, horticulture, landscape history, and the cultural history of these disciplines.
The goal is to inspire students to create a work of art that we can present in a group exhibition, but the realization of which will not coincide with the course (it will be carried out later and is therefore not tied to the completion of the course credits).

Study aids

BROWN, Kate a KATHRYN L. BROWN. Tiny Gardens Everywhere: The Past, Present and Future of the Self-Provisioning City. W. W. Norton, 2026. ISBN 1324105836.

ALOI, Giovanni (ed.). Antennae: the journal of nature and visual culture : a decade of art and the non-human 07-17. Billdal: Förlaget 284, [2017]. ISBN 978-91-983856-0-1.

TONDEUR, Anaïs a MARDER, Michael. The Chernobyl Herbarium: Fragments of an Exploded Consciousness. Saint Philip Street Press, 2020. ISBN 1013286111.

ALOI, Giovanni. Botanical revolutions: how plants changed the course of art. Los Angeles: Getty Publications, [2025]. ISBN 978-1-60606-947-9.

CARDINA, John. Lives of weeds: opportunism, resistance, folly. Ithaca: Comstock Publishing Associates, an imprint of Cornell University Press, 2021. ISBN 978-1-5017-5898-0.

COCCIA, Emanuele. Metamorphoses. Přeložil Robin MACKAY. Cambridge: Polity Press, [2021]. ISBN 978-1-5095-4567-4.

Prerequisites and corequisites

Not applicable.

Basic literature

Gagliano, Monica, and Simmard, Suzanne. Thus Spoke The Plant: A remarkable journey of groundbreakin scientific discoveries and personal journeys with plants. (EN)
Marder, Michael. Plant Thinking: A Philosophy of Vegetal Life. (EN)
Suzanne Simmard: Finding the Mother Tree. (EN)

Type of course unit

Lecture

12 hours, compulsory

Teacher / Lecturer

Mgr. et MgA. Barbora Lungová

Syllabus

The course consists of two sections: six theoretical inputs in the form of lectures/seminars, two field trips, and three group tutorials/workshops taught cooperatively by all lecturers (Barbora Lungová, Marta Fišerová, Nina Grúňová, Lucie Králíková).
1. Lecture 1. Appreciating nature and wilderness through the perspective of historical aesthetic values (English philosophy and aesthetics of the 18th century, the theory of the picturesque in perceiving landscape, the conceptions of historical parks and gardens; wilderness, the sublime, and nature through romanticizing (and colonizing) optics; landscape – an artificial human product (can we still perceive wildness though it?); wildness vs. wilderness; landscape as human artifact AND as a complex of functional ecosystems (examples of pre-industrial landscapes in South Moravia). Urban wilderness and vague terrain. Stibral, Cronon, Kolejka, Jongepierová, Hédl, Haluzík.
2. Lecture 2. Botanical explorations in the city, allotment gardening (historical perspectives, contemporary political perspectives), the aesthetics of small private gardens and allotment gardens, the battle of different aesthetic modes in public space, botanical and biodiversity values in urban space. Sádlo, Pokorný, Šturma, Gibas, Kolářová, Jedlička.
3. Lecture 3. Cultivating ornamental plants as an aesthetical phenomenon. Fad? Kitch? Nostalgia? Memory? History of changes. Copyright. Naming cultivars as a reflection of cultural stereotypes. George Gessert, Noel Kingsbury, Ondřej Fous.
4. Lecture 4. A lecture by an invited botanist on a specific topic (i.e. novel ecosystems, urban biodiversity, strategies of invasive plants, etc).
5. First practical workshop. Students will introduce their first ideas about their artistic projects.
6. Seminar. Michael Marder: Plant Thinking - A Philosophy of Vegetal Life/Thus Spoke The Plant: Monica Gagliano and Suzanne Simmard.
7. Seminar. Giovanni Aloi – Antennae – discussing selected articles from the journal.
8. Field trip 1 - Kunsthalle Bratislava, 12. - 13.10. 2023 - auditing at the art and plants intenrational symposium.
9. Second workshop. Discussion of artworks in process (with possible external tutors). Students will be expected to reflect in the discussion the theoretical knowledge gained in the lectures and seminars.
10. Field trip 2. Ždánický Forest - a guided tour with biologist Zuzana Veverková. Second half of October, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. (15th October???)
11. Third workshop. Final presentations of the project, including a written statement (300 words), discussion of a possible exhibition format (where? What kind of strategy? Financing?)

Creative seminar

9 hours, optionally

Teacher / Lecturer

Mgr. et MgA. Barbora Lungová

Field trip

8 hours, compulsory

Teacher / Lecturer

Mgr. et MgA. Barbora Lungová

VUT

Faculties and university institutes

Parts

Plant, animal, mineral: plants and other natural entities in contemporary art

Type of course unit