What are the intersections of the ‘mentality-construcs’ (cf. Gilman, Conroy, “consciousness”, “mind”, “emotion”) and “nature”…broadly defined? In this two-week unit (which we will extend into final projects meetings if necessary), let’s consider three eloquent, but differently-informed, approaches to that question, and imagine ways that these perspectives would inform creative method, improvisation, and critical thinking about culture-making and art process.
Bateson, Gregory. pp 14-20 “About Games and Being Serious”, pp 33-38 “Why a Swan” (dialogues), and 61-72 “Culture Contact and Schismogenesis”—excerpts from Steps to an Ecology of Mind. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1972. [In course reader.]
Lingis, Alphonso. Chapters 2 (pp 25-39 “Bestiality”) & 4 (pp 33-65 “The Religion of Animals”) of Dangerous Emotions. Berkeley/Los Angeles: University of California, 2000.
Gros, Elizabeth. Chapter 4 (pp 63-103 “Sensastion. The Earth, a People, Art” in Chaos, Territory, Art: Deleuze and the Framing of the Earth. New York: Columbia, 2008.