PLAH
3310
|
201130
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Faculty:
Melissa Burtt
The rise of pop, minimal, conceptual, body, and performance art during the early 1960's coincided with a rethinking of artistic practices. These movements can be linked to the boundary-expanding experimentation found in the work of composer John Cage. Cages interest in the early modernist experiments of Marcel Duchamp, time/temporality, chance and Eastern philosophy were the focus of his renowned courses taught at the New School in the 1950s. These ideas are also found in Cages writings. Visual artists took elements of Cages theories, and offered new approaches, challenging the function and meaning of art. The camera, both still and moving, became an increasingly important medium and artists amassed records, offered testaments, and made statements about time, the body, perspective, identity, and reality. During the 1980's/1990's these concepts and theories continued in installation-based art which employed multi-media technology and recent advancements in digital technology, all of which continue through today. This course examines the roots of critical contemporary art practices through extensive readings into cultural theory and art criticism, looking at art via field trips and in class discussions, and critical written responses to the art. Pathway: Art and Design History
