Art Education Beyond Anthropocentricism: The Question of Nonhuman Animals in Contemporary Art and Its Education

Abstract

In this article, I explore human relationships to nonhuman animals through posthumanism, contemporary art, and critical animal studies (CAS), offering perspectives for contemporary art education beyond anthropocentricism. I investigate the question of human–nonhuman animal relationships by discussing the ideas of posthumanism and speciesism as forms of discrimination, similar to other forms of oppression. Challenging the grounds of discrimination leads to a better understanding of human relationships with nonhuman lives. Given the environmental, ecological, ethical, and social justice concerns of our current times, I argue that posthumanism and CAS offer a specific entry point for contemporary art education theory and practice. Humanist understanding and superiority over nonhuman animals are problematized through discussing artwork by four artists. The discussion concentrates on how art education might become an important site through which to challenge the issues of animal subjection and human relationships with the other inhabitants of this planet.