Humor as a Transgressive Strategy in the Contemporary Visual Arts, 1960-Present
ARHA 350
Fall 2008 not offered
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Late 20th-century artists used humor as a strategy to critique society. This course will consider artists from pop art, Fluxus, and early conceptual art to the present, emphasizing the past three decades. We will consider a full range of media, from traditional painting, sculpture, and photography to performance, video, installation, public, and Internet art. The course will also include selected writings on the nature of humor (Bergson, Freud, Koestler, and Hyde) and a consideration of such traditions as carnival, the trickster, and the signifying monkey to provide a foundation for our inquiry. Among the artists to be discussed: Ed Ruscha, Robert Arneson, Vito Acconci, Bruce Nauman, Hans Haacke, Robert Colescott, Komar and Melamid, Sandy Skoglund, William Wegman, Adrian Piper, Louise Lawler, David Hammons, Krzysztof Wodiczko, the Guerrilla Girls, Carrie Mae Weems, Andrea Fraser, Fred Wilson, and RTMark. |
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Essential Capabilities:
None |
| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA ART |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Major Requirement for: None |
Major Readings:
Primarily selected readings from museum exhibition catalogues, monographs and periodicals. Also selected readings from:
Sigmund Freud, Jokes and their relation to the unconscious (1905)
Henri Bergson, LAUGHTER, AN ESSAY ON THE MEANING OF THE COMIC (1911)
Arthur Koestler, THE ACT OF CREATION (1964)
Lucy Lippard, GET THE MESSAGE? THE SPIRIT OF ART AS ACTIVISM (1995)
Nina Felshin, ed. BUT IS IT ART? THE SPIRIT OF ART AS ACTIVISM (1995)
Suzanne Lacy, ed., MAPPING THE TERRAIN, NEW GENRE PUBLIC ART (1995)
Lewis Hyde, TRICKSTER MAKES THIS WORLD, MISCHIEF, MYTH, AND ART (1998)
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Examinations and Assignments:
Journals in response to readings and class discussions: 2-3 pages every week; to be reviewed three times during the semester. One 4-5 page research paper. Final research paper, 15-20 pages |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
Some awareness of the history of 20th-century art is preferred. Would welcome students interested in art history, ethnic and cultural studies, sociology of humor, and/or political activism. |
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