Contemporary Art, Ecology, and the Sensing of the Non-Human World

Examination Structure and Student Concerns

  • General Context: The examination is for a new course, necessitating a thorough explanation of its format and expectations to address student concerns.
  • Format: The exam is an oral, closed-book examination. This format was a conscious decision by the teaching commission to allow for professional, personal engagement and dialogue regarding subjective experiences in contemporary art and ecology.
  • Logistics:
    • Teachers: Three teachers are involved (including Professor Verbesselt and Professor Wootz). Students will interact with two out of the three teachers.
    • Duration and Schedule: The exams are conducted over five days in June. Students are divided into half-day time slots (e.g., a 10:0010:00 start) organized by the administration office (formerly known as the Onrest secretariat or Stouffault).
    • The Procedure: Upon entering the room, students select two exam questions. They take the exam with the two professors relevant to those questions. Marks are given by each professor and then averaged, eventually recalculated with presentations and other evaluation materials.
  • Study Materials:
    • The study material consists of class recordings, PowerPoints, and mandatory readings.
    • Names and Details: Students are expected to know the names of authors from mandatory readings and artists discussed in class to provide relevant examples. However, there is no "blind identification" of images as in survey courses. If a visual is provided, it will be identified by the teacher to facilitate conversation.
  • Preparation Time: Students are permitted preparation time but are discouraged from sitting for more than an hour and a half to avoid fatigue and nervousness. Students can prepare one question, take that part of the exam, and return to their desk to prepare the second.
  • Conversational Nature: The exam is intentionally designed as a dialogue. The teacher may reorient the question or ask for expansions based on the student's initial answer. It is explicitly not a mathematics-style "right or wrong" evaluation but a test of argumentative skill and the ability to make cross-references between different parts of the course.

Reflection on Course Excursions: Radius and Astrid Noble

  • Radius (Delft) Exhibition:
    • Atmosphere: The space is described as "tough," being damp and cold.
    • Curation: The exhibition was noted for a high concentration of video and moving-image work. This raised critical questions about the use of energy-intensive media in an ecological context compared to physical materials.
    • Spectator Experience: The exhibition was described as demanding, requiring either multiple visits or high selectivity due to the length of the works.
  • Astrid Noble Studio Visit:
    • Materiality: Noble investigates ecological materials, specifically making her own paints and pigments to avoid the toxicity of industrial products.
    • Context: Her work connects to 20th-century abstract art traditions but steps out of them through local engagement and her identity as a female artist.
    • The "Wave" Work: A specific experimental work on the wall that references the history of abstraction while using non-toxic, locally sourced materials like cockle-based pigments.

Animal Representation and Moral Barometers

  • Theory of Display: Jonathan Burt, in Animal in Film, argues that humane behavior is a matter of being seen to behave humanely. The appearance and treatment of animal bodies in art and literature serve as a barometer for the moral health of a nation.
  • Trophy Hunting History:
    • Origins: The word "trophy" comes from European military terms for stripping the defeated of arms. In the 18th and 19th centuries, this logic was applied to animals as symbols of mastery and imperial rule.
    • Sovereignty: Anthropologist Matt Cardinal argues hunting functioned as a performance of sovereign authority over land. The "Great White Hunter" became an archetype of imperial rule.
    • Scientific Extraction: Hunting supported colonial natural history, conflating the act of killing with the act of gaining scientific knowledge.
  • Camera Hunting:
    • Ethical Replacement: Emerged in the late 19th century as an alternative that preserved "masculinist virtues" (bravery, endurance) without the kill.
    • Technological Continuity: Examples include Etienne-Jules Marey's photographic gun and rifle-shaped cameras.
    • Ideology: Figures like Arthur Ratcliffe Dugmore and Theodore Roosevelt praised camera hunting. However, it often displaced indigenous hunters by labeling subsistence hunting as "irrational" while sport hunting was "proper."
    • Cultural Taxidermy: Pauline Wakeham describes colonial photography of indigenous peoples as a form of "cultural taxidermy," embalming cultures as if they were already extinct while erasing the colonial violence that enabled the photos. Edward Curtis is a key example of this "vanishing race" logic.

Indigenous Perspectives and Grounded Normativity

  • The Turuku and Tau Peoples (Taiwan):
    • Gaia: For the Turuku, Gaia refers to ancestral law enforced by spirits inhabiting mountain forests. Hunting is central to Gaia: it involves sharing meat, transmitting knowledge, and honoring ancestors.
    • Terah Yudao’s Statement: "Only with hunters do we have wild animals." This claims that hunting practices are vital to the health of the species and the sovereignty of the land.
    • Sovereignty vs. Imperialism: Indigenous sovereignty is based on belonging to the land rather than possessing it. Hunters act as guardians against destructive settler outsiders.
  • Grounded Normativity: A term describing how the relationship between local people and non-human beings serves as the defining norm for understanding the world and creating art.
  • Film Context: "Only with Hunters Do We Have Wild Animals":
    • Visual Strategy: The film follows hunters on their own terms. It includes rituals involving cigarettes, betel nuts, and rice wine to ask ancestors for safe entry into the forest.
    • Censorship and Ethics: A scene of a goat being killed was excluded from the final public film because the goat is a protected species under Taiwanese law, highlighting the conflict between state regulation and indigenous practice.

Interspecies Epistemology and the "Fishy Voice"

  • Communication with Fishes:
    • Writer Simon Rapungan explains that fishes are "ocean teachers." Successful fishing requires intimate knowledge of lunar cycles, tides, and currents.
    • The Origin Story: The Tao people have a covenant with the "Black-winged leader of the flying fishes" (Mavaheng Sopanit), who taught them how to classify and eat fish to avoid illness.
  • The "Fishy Interspecies Voice":
    • A hybrid voice used in the film where fish communication is translated via subtitles.
    • Critical Anthropomorphism: While anthropomorphism is often criticized as human projection, indigenous storytelling views talking animals as expressions of mutual perception.
    • Stakes: The voice is "fishy" because it is morally suspicious and slippery, keeping narrative power in human hands while attempting to inform the dialogue with fish agency.

Technological Developments in Sensing Plant Life

  • Jagadish Chandra Bose (Calcutta): Early 20th-century scientist who used electromagnetic equipment to measure plant impulses, famously stating he made the "dumb plant the most eloquent chronicler of its inner life."
  • New Objectivity (Germany):
    • Cactus Mania: Cacti became fashionable in the interwar period due to their geometric, modernist aesthetic.
    • Albert Renger-Patzsch: Photographed plants (specifically cacti) to emphasize form, rigor, and "living architecture" over organic chaos.
    • Karl Blossfeld: His 19261926 exhibition showcased extreme close-ups of plants that looked like ornamentation or sculpture, catering to the intellectual tastes of the time.
  • Das Blumenwunder (19261926):
    • An hour-long film using time-lapse sequences to make plant movement tangible.
    • Philosophical Impact: It challenged the notion that plants are soulless by showing them breathing, moving, and making "decisions" to avoid obstacles.
  • Pseudo-science vs. Science: In the 19701970s, experiments (like the claim that plants dislike rock music) were dismissed as "hippie" pseudoscience, which inadvertently slowed legitimate research into plant intelligence.

Acoustic Ecology and Performance

  • Simone Forti’s "Onion Walk" (19611961): A choreographic piece where an onion sits on a bottle until its sprouts grow enough to counterbalance the weight, causing it to fall. It highlights non-human temporality and agency in movement.
  • Songs of the Humpback Whale (19701970):
    • A record produced by Roger Payne that became a massive success.
    • Consequences: Hearing the whales' "songs" mobilized the public for conservation and led to an international ban on whale hunting through Greenpeace campaigns.
    • Double-edged Sword: Increased appreciation also fueled the growth of aquatic amusement parks (zoos for whales), showing how ecological sensing can be commercialized.

Questions & Discussion

  • Q: Do we need to know the names of authors and artists for the exam?
    • A: Yes, particularly those in mandatory readings or discussed extensively in class. You should use them as examples in your reasoning, but you won't be asked for specific page numbers or obscure quotes without the text.
  • Q: What is the specific timing for the oral exam?
    • A: It is organized in half-day blocks. Some students arrive at 10:0010:00, others later. A specific timetable will be sent by the assistants/administration.
  • Q: Can we use the excursion material in the exam?
    • A: Yes, students are encouraged to bring their impressions and critical reflections on the visits (Radius, Astrid Noble) into the conversation.
  • Q: Why were there so many video works at Radius?
    • A: This was a point of confusion for the teachers as well, as video carries a heavy energy footprint. This would be an excellent topic for discussion during the exam regarding curators' choices.
  • Q: Is the fish dialogue in the film based on real events?
    • A: It is a "semi-fictional" construction based on a real encounter where fish circled a camera, combined with the writings of Simon Rapungan and the artist's own reflections on colonial presence.
  • Q: What was the purpose of the "sublime" in the Radius exhibition?
    • A: Some works used a "petrochemical sublime"—beautiful, high-production shots of environmental destruction that look like fiction movies (e.g., Dune or Mad Max style). Whether this strategy is effective or problematic is a matter for student argument.