Symposium | Picture Ecology: Art and Ecocriticism in Planetary Perspective

Growing awareness and concern about the pervasive and advancing scope of global environmental crises have in recent years prompted a new area of interdisciplinary research: the environmental humanities. Efforts have coalesced around the fields of anthropology, philosophy, history, literature, and now art history, as scholars seek to enlarge upon the traditional anthropocentrism of the humanities and embrace a more expansive consideration of nature, ecology, and changing understandings of them. “Picture Ecology: Art and Ecocriticism in Planetary Perspective” engages this vital new trajectory, bringing together seventeen speakers from a variety of perspectives to explore environmental dimensions of artistic expression across a range of periods and cultures. The two-day symposium is convened December 7–8, 2018, in connection with the exhibition Nature’s Nation: American Art and Environment, which reinterprets American art over three centuries in relation to environmental history and evolving ecological perception. “Picture Ecology” extends the exhibition’s focus and approach to the visual cultures of diverse times and places, offering compelling ecocritical analysis of a broad spectrum of artists and objects.

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No registration is required. For information about travel and accommodations, please consult the Visit pages of this website.

“Picture Ecology: Art and Ecocriticism in Planetary Perspective” is made possible, in part, with generous support from the Department of Art & Archaeology, Princeton University.