Insegnamento a.a. 2023-2024

30470 - CRITICAL APPROACHES TO THE ARTS II - MODULE I (CONTEMPORARY ART)

Department of Social and Political Sciences

Course taught in English
Go to class group/s: 31
CLEACC (6 credits - I sem. - OBS  |  L-ART/03)
Course Director:
PAOLA NICOLIN

Classes: 31 (I sem.)
Instructors:
Class 31: PAOLA NICOLIN


Suggested background knowledge

Good oral and written command of English. Strong interest in the subject taught. Basic knowledge of keys artistic movements and practices that followed the World War II till the formation of the global artistic networks of the late 60s.

Mission & Content Summary

MISSION

The course aims to introduce students to the complex historical intersection between art and educational practices in contemporary art. This relationship is thus considered as peculiar framework through which understanding languages and forms of visual art today, its contexts to the questions and knowledge they generate. How and why did – and still do – artists look at pedagogical tools and contexts (presentation, lecture, paper, classroom, blackboard, slideshow etc., etc.) borrowing forms and contents in their artistic practice? How far the interest of contemporary artists in educational and participatory projects did contribute to redefining the status of artwork and the role of the artist in society? How did and still does the institution respond to these changes?

CONTENT SUMMARY

This course takes thus into consideration an historical framework moving from the Second Post-War to the present times considering the relation between artists, works and institutions in a thematic perspective. Topics addressed would consider question of materiality and immateriality of the artistic labour, authority and delegation, the clash between social aspects and institutional breakdown, always merging the historical discourse with the development of artistic practices. The course will be based on a series of thematic readings (collected in the course Reader) and discussed in class plus the mandatory reading of Jacques Rancière, Le Maitre Ignorant (The Ignorant Schoolmaster).

 

Course presentation: art and education or how to re-stage an institution

Jacques Rancière, Le Maitre Ignorant (The Ignorant Schoolmaster).

From Academia to artist studio

Gustave Courbet, The Artist studio, 1855

Brian O’ Doherty, Inside the white cube, 1986

Artistic practices and the social turn: Joseph Beuys, Tania Bruguera, Tim Rollins and K.O.S, Olafur Eliasson, Jonathas De Andrade

School as an art form – from Black Mountain College to SOMA Mexico

+

Class presentation

Off campus visits (tbc)

 


Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO)

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

At the end of the course student will be able to...
  • Appreciate and articulate the ability of artworks of any form to interrogate the way we teach and we learn.
  • Grasp the potential of artworks to convey the distinction between art, research and entertainment.
  • Understand the complex historicity of artwork –  and their changing meanings over time – as well as the role of the artist as active agent of social transformations.

APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

At the end of the course student will be able to...
  • Approach artifacts beyond their aesthetic appeal, and examine them in relation to their cultural, social and political milieu.
  • Formulate critical arguments about the interconnection – and distinction –  between convey art, research and entertainment.
  • Problematize the changing forms of arts, its notion and the role of art institution as learning center.

Teaching methods

  • Face-to-face lectures
  • Company visits
  • Individual assignments
  • Group assignments

DETAILS

This course combines traditional frontal teaching (lectures) with seminar-based activities and off-campus visits to relevant collections, art galleries, institutions and/or exhibitions. Guest lecturers are invited to join the class presenting their research and methods in talks, dialogues or film screenings. The course is thus shaped paying attention to the individual experience, evaluation and re-elaboration of the contents proposed in the classroom. Image-based exercises and oral presentations (both individual and in group) are assigned through the course for attending students. Students are expected to participate in class discussions.


Assessment methods

  Continuous assessment Partial exams General exam
  • Oral individual exam
    x
  • Individual assignment (report, exercise, presentation, project work etc.)
    x
  • Active class participation (virtual, attendance)
    x

ATTENDING STUDENTS

Students are required to take final exam (50% of the grade). The exam is oral, and students are asked to answer a mix of open-ended and image-based questions. 50% of the grade is represented by an oral presentation (prepared individually or in group) on a topic of free choice (related to the course) and presented in class at the end of the course.

The exam is based on course readings, as well as on seminar materials and discussions held in class. The exam aims to assess student’s engagement with the understanding of textual and visual evidence and their ability to interpret such evidence critically, showing and understanding new forms of arts and their effect in the politics of spectatorship as well as in the development of art institutions.


NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS

Students are required to take final exam (100% of the grade). The exam is oral, and students are asked to answer a mix of open-ended questions. The exam paper is based on reading list that students receive when they enter the course. The exam aims to assess student’s familiarity with the main issues addressed by the assigned readings; their ability to summarize and critically interpret the narratives and arguments advanced by those readings.


Teaching materials


ATTENDING STUDENTS

Attending students:

 

·      Reader – assigned readings (available at EGEA bookshop)

·      Lessons

·      Jacques Rancière, Le Maitre Ignorant (The Ignorant Schoolmaster), any edition


NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS

NON-attending students

 

·      Claire Bishop, Artificial Hells. Participatory art and the politics of spectatorships, Verso, London, New York, 2012 (any editions)

·      Jacques Rancière, Le Maitre Ignorant (The Ignorant Schoolmaster), any edition

Last change 15/06/2023 14:37