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Daphne Plessner

Associate Professor

Availability:

Education:

PhD Art & Politics
Goldsmiths College, University of London
BA (Hons) Philosophy
Birkbeck College, University of London

Bio

Before joining ECU, Dr. Fawn Daphne Plessner was Senior Lecturer and Course Director in Book Arts & Design at the University of the Arts, London. She holds a PhD in Art & Politics and a BA Philosophy from the University of London. She studied painting at the Akademie der Bildenden Kunste, Germany. She has exhibited in the UK and Europe. Her recent focus has been public art interventions and audio-based artworks that experiment with journalistic methods like interviews, newspapers and podcasts.

Websites:

Research Interests

Fawn’s art-research is influenced by Indigenous world views with specific interest in how more-than-human beings are regarded as social and political members of a community within Indigenous laws. Her doctoral research investigated the emergence of 'citizen art' as a new field of practice, showing how artists enact new modes of citizenship. Her book, Doing Politics with Citizen Art examines how artists address the adverse effects of status citizenship. It also discusses how her own public art interventions make visible the intersection of speciesism and colonial land appropriation within Canada. She founded the Tree Museum, an online art-research platform that traces the impact of suburban aesthetics and colonial imaginaries on forests and animal lives. The Tree Museum also supports the advancement of W̱SÁNEĆ law and governance within her island home, the unceded lands of the W̱SÁNEĆ people.

Courses

Course Name Department Course Code Term
Graduate Studies Masters GSMA 505 27/SP

Description

This course provides students with an evolving series of thematic entry points for rigorous engagement of theoretical, philosophical, social, and political concerns through artistic practice and contextualization. Through writing exercises and workshops, students will work to develop a position paper that discusses the state of their practice in relation to other artists, practices, and ideas alongside anticipated trajectories for their thesis.

Pre-requisites

No prerequisites.

Humanities HUMN 317 27/SP

Description

Creativity is a part of the day-to-day flourishing of all beings. Humans and other beings creatively problem-solve, produce knowledge and meaning, communicate with others, and play. Human creativity is generated in relation to other life forms; throughout history, other animals, plant-life and mineral bodies have played a central role in how meaning is made in human cultures. This course examines the relationality between humans and other lifeforms. It looks at the physical involvement of other animals in knowledge creation, and how other animals are represented in text, visual and auditory forms. The course asks students to consider how the involvement of other animals in creative processes and their outcomes have consequences for both humans and other animals. Critical thought from a range of disciplines is examined, such as ethics of care, ecofeminism, biology, philosophy, zoosemiotics, ecopoetics, indigenous thought, fiction. The course includes lectures and readings, and students will participate in discussions, presentations and written assignments.

Pre-requisites

No prerequisites.

Visual Arts Studio VAST 305 27/SP

Description

The purpose of this studio course is to provide a practice-based learning environment with a focus on Art & Text. Students will explore how text operates within contemporary visual culture and their own art practices. The course offers a framework for examining diverse approaches to text in art, including text-as-image, artworks utilizing the book form, and projects that employ alternative methods of distribution, such as libraries, online databases, hypertext experiments, sound, and writing-based art practices. Through independent text-based art projects, students will engage deeply with text in their work while critically considering current discourse and production within the field.

Pre-requisites

No prerequisites.

Humanities HUMN 303 26/FA

Description

This topic-based seminar focuses on contemporary issues relating to the field of Art & Text. This course will develop an understanding of current discourses around text and language within the realm of contemporary art and culture as well as critical awareness of the content and context of this field in relation to a wide range of issues and theories such as semiotics, letterforms, writing systems, calligraphy, graffiti, etc. This course will consider textual production in relation to image making, the book form, archives, sound and spoken word practices as well as alternative structures of distribution including libraries, online database projects etc. Students are required to undertake research, give presentations, and write papers. Seminar topics will change each term, while key concepts, theories and histories will consistently be addressed. Priority is given to students who have officially declared an Art + Text Major. You may register/waitlist for this course as of the Registration Rule Release Day.

Pre-requisites

No prerequisites.

Graduate Studies Masters GSMA 603 26/FA

Description

This course provides a discussion-driven context for students to further develop the language and contexts required to discuss their thesis work within and beyond academic environments. Students will cultivate more nuanced and rigorous understandings of their own practices, research processes, and positions alongside reviewing the work of their peers through written and dialogical engagements.

Pre-requisites

No prerequisites.