This course aims to provide a critical introduction to the study of contemporary art. The module covers the period between the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989— a year singled out by many as signalling the emergence of contemporary art as a global phenomenon— and the ongoing global economic crisis triggered in 2008. Some of the topics that will be addressed in the course include: the problem of historical memory in contemporary art, the rise of international biennales, art and environmentalism, debates concerning art and public space, the key terms informing contemporary identity politics, the post-secular turn in art, artistic responses to the ‘war on terror,’ and recent meditations on ‘recessional aesthetics.’
Moving across a wide range of media and techniques/formats of display this module will introduce students to categories such as: the performative body, the found object, the mixed-media assemblage, the projected image, the docu-fictional essay, the artist’s talk and the archival installation.
By the end of the module students should have acquired the following:
Module code HOA00045I