Course Description
This course grapples with the vexed concept of postmodernism and its debatable relevance to visual art and culture between 1945 and the present. Special attention will be paid to questions of authorship, meaning, and identity as engaged by postwar artists and their theoretical counterparts.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
The course is taught by different faculty; therefore, the
specific criteria should be flexible. Students will be fully
engaged with primary sources and asked to read and apply more
critical studies in the field as they develop an original
research project. These research topics are developed after a
series of meetings with the instructor and after extensive
reading beyond the general literature assigned. The final
research paper will address the stated themes of the course, as
well as a more synthetic consideration of larger issues.
Students receive extra reading assignments; these consider
issues of methodology, context, and content. In some cases,
students are asked to present their research to the class.
Others are asked to write more extensive exam questions
reflecting extra reading and research completed for the class.
Athena Title
POSTMOD VISUAL CULT
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in ARHI 4560/6560
Prerequisite
Two ARHI 3000-level courses and permission of major
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
This course is designed to deepen the students' understanding of postwar culture, while also introducing them to the ideas and theories associated with the term postmodernism.
Topical Outline
Part I Introducing Postmodernism and Postmodernity. Part II The Origins of Postmodernism: Johns, Rauschenberg and Pop. Part III Painting Demystified and Abandoned: The Rise of Conceptual Art, Performance, Video & Minimalism Part IV Earthworks, Institutions & The Problem of Site Specificity Part V The Codification of Postmodernism: Art and Architecture in the Late 70's and 80's Part VI The Return of History, Specificity and the "Real" -- The 1990's Part VII The Millennium and After