Sr: Sem: Politics of Display

PLAH 4060 | Fall 2011 | Faculty: Melissa Burtt

Exhibition design is increasingly instrumental in how art is seen due to the rise of installation-based art practices. Less critically explored are the relationships between curator and designer, artist and designer, and the way in which objects' meaning is influenced by display. The Politics of Display is divided into two parts. The first part will examine the history of installation design (including Dadaists, Soviet Agitprop, and the Bauhaus) via readings, lectures and discussions. We will also focus upon how design and arts collections are displayed at New York museums. How installation design reflects the curatorial concerns, and how displays are also intellectual arguments will be analyzed. The second part of the course looks at issue-oriented projects. Fall 2008 marks the election season and many arts organizations will feature exhibitions that engage the public via installation strategies that hark back to previous experiments in communication. We will use these examples as a way of broadening our understanding of display technique/design immediacy. The last section of the course is a final project that takes the form of an exhibition proposal. Tasks include developing a thesis, object list, research/development and installation design. Students will be graded on short papers and the final exhibition project proposal. Pathway: Art and Design History, Visual Studies, Design Studies