ARTH 1500 - Contemporary Art History

Goals: To explore artworks and artists of the late-20th and 21st centuries, and to study and analyze individual artists and artworks in light of their respective artistic influences and social, cultural, and political contexts.

Content: This course will cover a wide variety of artistic practices and media: sculpture, painting, printmaking, photography, film/video, installation, performance, new media, and others. Course materials will focus on artists and artworks from the mid-20th century through the present. The course will center the voices, viewpoints, and lived experiences of artists in their multiple and intersecting personal identities; scrutinize relationships of power and privilege and how art and artists navigate those relationships; and explore the continuing impacts of colonialism and gatekeeping in the art market and the museums world. The course may explore contemporary art and artists through a thematic lens.

Credits: 4