Contemporary Art Since 1980
ARHA 252
Spring 2027
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01
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This historically rooted introduction to contemporary art sets an anchor around 1980 and moves through the major debates of the last 35 years. This period gave rise to a bracing range of historical transformations: a post-communist Europe; an economically prominent China; queer and antiracist activism; increasingly molecular degrees of technological mediation in everyday life; assymetrical consolidations of a globalized network of travel, communication, and capital; climate and refugee crises; and a state of seemingly perpetual war, to name only a few. This course attends to the changing vocabulary of approaches by which artists intervened in these conditions and positioned their work in relation to a longer view of the history of art. Far from a comprehensive survey, the course acknowledges the inherently recursive and unstable condition of contemporary art history, a field of research and inquiry defined as a work in progress. The course is nonetheless structured in a loosely chronological fashion, sequenced according to formal techniques that emerged as timely responses to specific historical moments (photographic appropriation, moving image projection, social practice, painting, institutional critique, web-based art, etc.). Our work throughout will attend to theoretical frameworks that have remained influential in recent practice (postcolonial, feminist, poststructural, etc.). |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA ART |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (Art History Minor)(Art History)(Art Studio)(Integrated Design, Engineering, Arts & Society Minor) |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Primary sources, criticism, and recent scholarship posted on e-reserves.
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Examinations and Assignments:
Four in-class essay-based tests (reference sheet provided), two papers (2-3 pages and 4-6 pages respectively) |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
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| Instructor(s): Grace,Claire Times: ..T.R.. 08:50AM-10:10AM; Location: TBA |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 35 | | SR major: 9 | JR major: 8 | | |
| | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 3 | JR non-major: 4 | SO: 6 | FR: 5 |
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