Erik Erlanson on "Aesthetic Uses of Nature in Sweden 1900-1970"

At this week's IMS seminar, Erik Erlanson will present an idea for a new research project on Aesthetic Uses of Nature in Sweden 1900-1970.

Abstract:

While the 1900s began the systematic exploitation of natural resources, the arts and sciences concurrently displayed an increasing interest in the aesthetic effects of urban and natural surroundings. At the turn of the century, environmental psychology developed as a research field. In politics, the environment was employed in efforts to subliminally cultivate and govern citizens. In the arts, poets and artists sought to refashion rather than merely represent nature. While these experimental practices have been studied separately, their interrelations are still uncharted. Moreover, their place in the history of 20th-century environmental art and thought is yet to be defined.

As the project contends, these historical practices form a tradition that is decidedly anthropocentric yet thoroughly ecological -- defined by the use of nature for the aesthetic improvement of man. The purpose of the project is to determine the significance of this tradition in the history of environmental art and thought by 1) abstracting its ecological rationality and 2) charting its articulations across the arts, politics, and science. The project's immediate focal point is Sweden during the period 1900-1970. The project consists of three case studies that map and analyse aesthetic uses of nature in environmental aesthetic theory, the politics of city parks, and the expanded field of art and writing.

You are welcome to join the seminar on zoom by emailing us at ims@lnu.se

Photo: 'Aurora - Connecting Senses’, Cristina Pop-Tiron & Signe Kjær Jensen