Picturing Paradise: Art and Science in the Americas

Catalog description

The study of nature has developed together with the representation of flora and fauna in Europe and the Americas. After the encounter, visual thinking remained an integral part of how knowledge was negotiated between different communities on both sides of the Atlantic—as several scientific expeditions involving artists confirm. This course, which includes field trips to museums and collections, examines connections between knowing and making, ranging from the tradition of pre-Columbian writer-painters to contemporary Latin American artist collectives. We will investigate the entangled histories of art and science as seen through the artistic productions inspired by the exuberant American land.