Course detail
Environmental Issues of Today
FaVU-1EPSAcad. year: 2025/2026
The course will introduce selected issues currently being researched and addressed in both the natural sciences and nature conservation practice, with an emphasis on interdisciplinary connections—overlaps with the humanities, cultural production, and artistic theory and practice. The emphasis in the selection of focus areas and topics will be on understanding the functions, crises, and approaches to biodiversity conservation in sub-ecosystems as well as from a global perspective and in the context of climate change – in anthropocenoses and in near-natural ecosystems. The knowledge acquired should help students to develop artistic projects that are informed, critical, and provide a well-founded reflection on the chosen problem against the background of current knowledge in the natural sciences and other related fields. Art can only rarely aspire to directly solve environmental problems, but it has great potential in the field of educational and critical exhibition projects. The proposed course aims to contribute to the acquisition of more systematic knowledge and a foundation for creating projects and works that will bridge the gap for the public and use the language of contemporary art to highlight the acute environmental crisis and mediate ways to solve it. The backbone of the course will be lectures by invited experts, which will be further developed in the form of seminar (discussion) work based on prepared materials (podcasts, interviews, shorter texts). The course also includes a field trip. Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
Language of instruction
Number of ECTS credits
Mode of study
Guarantor
Entry knowledge
Rules for evaluation and completion of the course
ro získání zápočtu je vyžadována docházka (tolerovány jsou 2 neomluvené absence), aktivní, individuální přípravou podložená účast na seminářích a účast na exkurzi. V závěru semestru bude formou skupinové diskuse zhodnocena schopnost studujících reflektovat nabyté informace a následně v krátkém výzkumném projektu (prezentace ve skupině) do rámců probíraných témat zasadit vybrané příklady již vytvořených uměleckých projektů jiných umělců prezentovaných v etablovaných institucích či periodicích.
Attendance is mandatory, a maximm of two absences is allowed. Students must show pro-active, individual approach to the topics assigned in the form of self-study material at home, in the seminar format of the classes themselves, and must attend the field trips. At the end of the semester, students' ability to reflect and used the acquired knowledge will be assessed in group discussion and in a subsequent short project of artistic research (presented in class). The project should be made in the context of the topics presented during the semester and should be also contextualized by the student in practices of contemporary art focusing on environmental crisis.
Aims
Study aids
Prerequisites and corequisites
Basic literature
Daniš, Petr. Klima je příležitost: opravdová řešení pro naši budoucnost na Zemi. Tereza, vzdělávácí centrum, z.ú., 2023. (CS)
Fakta o klimatu, https://faktaoklimatu.cz/. Accessed 30 August 2025. (CS)
Recommended reading
Classification of course in study plans
- Programme VUM_B Bachelor's 2 year of study, winter semester, elective
3 year of study, winter semester, elective
4 year of study, winter semester, elective
2 year of study, winter semester, elective
3 year of study, winter semester, elective
4 year of study, winter semester, elective
2 year of study, winter semester, elective
3 year of study, winter semester, elective
4 year of study, winter semester, elective
2 year of study, winter semester, elective
3 year of study, winter semester, elective
4 year of study, winter semester, elective
2 year of study, winter semester, elective
3 year of study, winter semester, elective
4 year of study, winter semester, elective
2 year of study, winter semester, elective
3 year of study, winter semester, elective
4 year of study, winter semester, elective
2 year of study, winter semester, elective
3 year of study, winter semester, elective
4 year of study, winter semester, elective
2 year of study, winter semester, elective
3 year of study, winter semester, elective
4 year of study, winter semester, elective
2 year of study, winter semester, elective
3 year of study, winter semester, elective
4 year of study, winter semester, elective
2 year of study, winter semester, elective
3 year of study, winter semester, elective
4 year of study, winter semester, elective
2 year of study, winter semester, elective
3 year of study, winter semester, elective
4 year of study, winter semester, elective
2 year of study, winter semester, elective
3 year of study, winter semester, elective
4 year of study, winter semester, elective - Programme DES_M Master's 1 year of study, winter semester, elective
2 year of study, winter semester, elective
1 year of study, winter semester, elective
2 year of study, winter semester, elective
1 year of study, winter semester, elective
2 year of study, winter semester, elective
1 year of study, winter semester, elective
2 year of study, winter semester, elective
Type of course unit
Lecture
Teacher / Lecturer
Syllabus
Individual preparation - study of technical texts
Teacher / Lecturer
Individual preparation for an ending of the course
Teacher / Lecturer