Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities: Non/Human: Ecology, Morphology, and Design in Animals and Plants

While the structures of animal and vegetal organisms have been used as sources of metaphor/analogy with human design and architecture, this course investigates the tectonic capacities of non-human specimens beyond a merely metaphoric usage. Animals and plants also make things, yet they may make things differently than humans, evoking alternative possibilities. The course assesses debates from evolutionary biology, morphology, aesthetics, architecture, color theory, philosophy, contemporary art practice, and film. Topics include milieu, tectonics, aesthetics, form, surface (camouflage and mimicry), agency, analogy, and fabrication.