Art, Literature and Technoscience

Full course description

This course explores how art and literature engage with contemporary challenges related to the impact of science and technology. How do different artistic media, from books and films to visual and sound art, engage with societal challenges of a technoscientific nature? What can art do in relation to our society? We will approach such questions through topical case studies on art and literature that explore important challenges of contemporary society, including the role of technology in food production, new surveillance technologies, the rise of robotics, and climate change. While the course focuses on the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, we will trace developments back from our current situation to the early twentieth century. In examining the role of art and literature in contemporary society, we will periodically return to the topics of aesthetic form, context and participation. The case studies will be analyzed with the help of concepts such as forcework, the posthuman, materialism, autonomy, visibility, and scale. The course also includes exhibition visits, presentations, as well as a festival organized by students.