Eco-futures and how we perceive their images
Ongoing project – funding secured
Funding for this project has been secured. The two-year project, based at the Chair of Art History at KIT, was supported by the Schleicher Foundation in cooperation with the KIT Foundation. If you are interested in supporting a similar project, please contact our staff. Click the "How you can support us" button to learn more about our funding opportunities.
This is what it's all about
The project, "Grasping the Pictures of Eco-Futures: Global Ecocritical Art History as Environmental Communication," brings together art historians and science communicators to contribute to the discourse on the Anthropocene, both within and outside their respective fields. The project focuses on the visual cultures of ecological management from the past and the future ("ecotopias" and "eco-futures"). To this end, a network of scientists will carry out the following activities: a lecture series on art and ecology during the winter and summer semesters of 2022–2023, a one-day authors' workshop to plan a subsequent book publication, and targeted activities in the field of public science, such as lectures, videos, and online articles. The project began on November 1, 2022, and will run for 24 months.
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The project, "Eco-Futures and How We Perceive Their Images," brings together international researchers in art history and science communication at KIT. The project aims to make a sustainable and visible contribution to the discourse on the Anthropocene within and outside of their professional circles.
The project focuses on the visual cultures of ecological management, both past and future ("ecotopias" and "eco-futures"). During the 2022/2023 winter and summer semesters, the scientists organized a series of lectures on art and ecology, as well as a one-day authors' workshop to plan a subsequent book publication. Additionally, targeted public science activities (lectures, videos, and online articles) were carried out.
As part of the research project's activities, the lecture series “Global Perspectives on Art & Ecology,” organized under the direction of PD Dr. Dr. Jesús Muñoz Morcillo and Prof. Dr. Oliver Jehle, examined the causes of the climate crisis as a consequence of latent aesthetic influences and cultural habits. Art and science historians from Mexico, Ukraine, the United States, Spain, and Germany discussed how to identify corresponding visual and cultural practices and how art can be an ecological force of transformation. Renowned researchers such as Halyna Kohut, Omar Olivares Sandoval, Oliver Hochadel, Nazar Kozak, Mónica Domínguez Torres, Peter Krieger, and Sophia Farmer addressed ecocritical perspectives and artistic responses to ecological disasters.
Further information on the project and the individual lectures in the series can be found at https://kg.ikb.kit.edu/jehle/2881.php.
What we already achieved
Specifically, the following tasks were implemented:
- International networking among experts on the topic
- Organization and implementation of a lecture series entitled "Global Perspectives on Art & Ecology I & II" at KIT in the winter 2022-2023 and summer 2023 semesters, featuring internationally renowned art and science historians from Mexico, Ukraine, the USA, Spain, and Germany
- A one-day authors' workshop was implemented to plan a subsequent book publication
- The associated publication is currently in progress and expected to be released in mid-2025
Further Information
Research activities
The lecture series, "Global Perspectives on Art & Ecology I & II," was organized for the winter 2022-2023 and summer 2023 semesters. During the series, art and science historians from Mexico, Ukraine, the United States, Spain, and Germany discussed the role of aesthetic and cultural habits in the emergence of the climate crisis. They also explored how art can be a force for ecological transformation. Halyna Kohut, Omar Olivares Sandoval, Oliver Hochadel, Jesús Muñoz Morcillo, and Sophia Farmer presented introductory lectures and case studies that addressed key questions of ecological discourse, focusing on potentials and contradictions. During the summer 2023 semester, Peter Krieger, Nazar Kozak, and Mónica Domínguez Torres discussed the challenges of ecocritical perspectives in contemporary and historical contexts, ranging from early modern perceptions of nature to the current intersection of art and activism.
List of lectures given:
- 3.11.2022 The Power of Flowers: Сarpets, Nature and Genealogical Myths in the Eighteenth-Century Cossack Hetmanate
Halyna Kohut, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv Ukraine - 17.11.2022 Geoasthetics of the Wasteocene: Contemporary Artistic Research of Mexico City’s Lakes
Omar Olivares Sandoval, Universidad Autónoma de México - 01.12.2022 Animals on the Move. The Global Zoo in the Long Nineteenth Century
Oliver Hochadel, CSIC – Institución Milá y Fontanals (IMF), Barcelona - 08.12.2022 Kenji Yanobe's Atom Suit Project in Chornobyl: An Ecocritical and New Materialist Interpretation
Nazar Kozak, Ethnology Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine - 09.02.2023 Greek Mythology and the Aesthetics of Earthly Entanglements. On the Book Anthropozän? Die Ökologische Frage und der Mensch, der sie stellt (2022)
Jesús Muñoz Morcillo, Karlsruher Institut für Technology - 16.02.2023 The Role of Waste Management and Ecocritical Discourse in the Conservation of Italian Fascist Monuments
Sophia Farmer, University of Arkansas – Fort Smith - 27.4.2023 STRATUM – Gegenwartskunst als geo-ästhetische Kritik nicht-nachhaltiger Megastadtentwicklung im Globalen Süden
Peter Krieger, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) - 25.05.2023 (Post-)Byzantine Akathistos Cycles and the Natural World: An Ecocritical (Re)Interpretation
Nazar Kozak, Ethnology Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine - 15.6.2023 Precious Mutations: Pearls, Critters, and the Order of Nature
Mónica Domínguez Torres, University of Delaware
More information
On November 3, 2022, visiting scholar Prof. Dr. Halyna Kohut from the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv in Ukraine presented the opening lecture, “The Power of Flowers: Carpets, Nature, and Genealogical Myths in the Eighteenth-Century Cossack Hetmanate” as part of the “Global Perspectives on Art & Ecology” lecture series. Ms. Kohut approached the topic of 18th-century Hetmanate carpets from a theoretical perspective, shedding light on overlooked complex overlaps between artistic representations of nature, the self-image of the elite, and social inequality. Dr. Kohut approached the topic of 18^(th)-century Hetmanate carpets from a theoretical perspective, shedding light on the complex, often overlooked overlaps between artistic representations of nature, the self-image of the elite, and social inequality. She argued that these carpets served the Cossack elite's quest for recognition of their noble status. Additionally, she examined the connections between floral carpet patterns and genealogical myths attesting to the Cossacks' origins in the Orient.
The lecture series, "Global Perspectives on Art & Ecology," organized by Jesús Muñoz Morcillo and Oliver Jehle, addressed the causes of the climate crisis resulting from latent aesthetic influences and cultural habits. During the series, art and science historians discussed how to identify such visual and cultural practices and how to negotiate art as an ecological force for transformation. Renowned scholars, including Halyna Kohut, Omar Olivares Sandoval, Oliver Hochadel, Nazar Kozak, and Sophia Farmer, explored ecocritical perspectives and artistic responses to ecological disasters.
A corresponding publication is planned and is currently in progress. For this project, renowned authors from the field have been recruited, including some well-known scientists in the ecological discourse (Alan Braddock, Sugata Ray, Sophia Farmer, Halyna Kohut, Nazar Kozak, and Omar Olivares).
Facts and figures
Project duration:
November 1, 2022 to April 30, 2026
Funding required:
€8.000
Funding sources:
Schleicher Foundation, Frankfurt am Main, in cooperation with KIT Foundation
November 1, 2022 to April 30, 2026
Funding required:
€8.000
Funding sources:
Schleicher Foundation, Frankfurt am Main, in cooperation with KIT Foundation
Project responsibility KIT:
PD Dr. Jesús Muñoz Morcillo and Prof. Dr. Oliver Jehle.
PD Dr. Jesús Muñoz Morcillo is a member of the Institute of Art History at KIT.
Prof. Dr. Oliver Jehle is the Chair of Art History.
"Images and works of art influence how we perceive and interact with nature. Our project analyzes this phenomenon and provides resources for creating an ecologically just future.“
PD Dr. Dr. Jesús Muñoz Morcillo
- Project Manager -
PD Dr. Dr. Jesús Muñoz Morcillo
In cooperation with KIT Foundation
