Water Water Everywhere?

Undergraduate / Graduate

This interdisciplinary course explores aesthetics, environmental racism, and a human rights approach to the Commons to inform our perspective on the politics and aesthetics of water from the local to the global. The course will look at issues of scarcity and abundance through the lenses of art and human rights. The course will incorporate guest speakers, including artist Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle and environmental and water rights experts and advocates. Students will consider works by artists such as Pope L, Mel Chin, Allan Kaprow, LaToya Ruby Frazier, and Fazal Sheikh, to understand how art can confront the 21st century's environmental challenges. A diverse set of texts will include relevant human rights instruments, the documentary film "Whose Water" (Kate Levy 2024); Lewis Hyde, "Common as Air: Revolution, Art, and Ownership"; and Emily Eliza Scott & Kristen Swenson, 'Contemporary Art and the Politics of Land Art' from "Critical Landscapes: Art, Space, and Politics." The course will include site visits to nearby natural areas, such as the Big Marsh wetlands, the "Toxic Donut" near Altgeld Gardens, and Lake Michigan. This course is an extension of a collaborative project at the Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry with human rights lawyer Susan Gzesh, artist Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, and curator Abigail Winograd.