This is a newly designed course that aims to be provocative, sometimes controversial, and at all times exploratory and transformative. It is a single semester course and a direct and methodical way to acquire knowledge about contemporary art’s current themes, concepts, critical theories, buzzwords, techniques and processes that engage the imagination of artists, curators, writers and cultural theorists worldwide.
The course asks us how we can create new ways of thinking by engaging with contemporary artworks that spark unexpected ideas and encounters. From this broad knowledge, students are encouraged to dig deeper into particular aspects and themes.
Some of the artists we study:
Wangechi Mutu, Olafur Eliasson, Lisa Reihana, Dane Mitchell, Simon Denny, Luke Willis Thompson, Francis Uprichard, Billy Apple, Hito Steyerl, Bernadette Corporation, Amalia Ulman, Frances Stark, Thomas Hirschhorn, L. N. Tallur, Cindy Sherman, Hans Haacke, Gerhard Richter, Yayoi Kusama, Marina Abramovic, Christian Boltanski, Mona Hatoum, Martin Creed, Tracey Emin, Felix Gonzales-Torres, Damien Hirst and many others.
Topics covered:Installation artThe bodySex and sexualityRethinking race and diasporaTimeDeath and the corpseNew MaterialismEco Art