Art & the History of Art 155 - Contemporary Art

This introductory course explores art produced between 1960 and the present. We will take a transnational approach, from the emergence of Pop art as an  international phenomenon in the 1960s to the mushrooming cloud of biennials in the twenty-first century. The course will sometimes look at art’s intersection with architecture, film, and visual culture more broadly. We will keep in mind the following questions: How have new technologies, civil rights movements, emergent subjectivities, new forms of theoretical inquiry, and processes of globalization shaped the work of art? How have artists critiqued both institutions and the art historical canon? How does contemporary art both participate in and stand apart from the world in which and for which it was made?

The course will include extensive office hours (whether in person or on Zoom), small breakout discussion sections, brief lectures, video content, and both synchronous and asynchronous activities and assignments.

Limited to 40 students. Fall and Spring semester. Professor Vicario.