Date on Master's Thesis/Doctoral Dissertation

5-2017

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Department

Fine Arts

Degree Program

Art (Creative) and Art History

Committee Chair

Reitz, Chris

Committee Co-Chair (if applicable)

Fulton, Christopher

Committee Member

Fulton, Christopher

Committee Member

Kantardzic, Mehmed

Author's Keywords

contemporary art; ecology; sculpture; earth art

Abstract

This work explores systematic ecology as it relates to sculpture and language. This project exists in two parts: a written thesis and a thesis exhibition. Although both works explore ecological systems, Unseen: Visualizing Ecological Systems investigates visualizations and concepts of the ecological, whereas this thesis continues the exploration into the ramifications of disruptions in systems. Ecological systems such as the environmental, social/mental, economic, and political define the foundations of our known world and encapsulate all regions of society. No single system can function independently of the rest and all systems contain some aspect of human-system involvement. By using the work of environmental and conceptual artists, this thesis studies the limits of systems and examines artwork that seeks to reveal and conceal unrecognized human interaction. In the following chapters, I will examine the work of these artists through an ecological mindset as laid out by philosophers and theorists to showcase the varying degrees of ecological efficacy.

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