Contemporary Art and Activism

This seminar will trace the ways that art has been conceived as a form of political activism since 1989. We will analyze strategies such as social practice, relational aesthetics, new genre public art, tactical media, critical geography, useful art, and the interactions among artists and Occupy. Emphasis will be on these recurrent issues: the relationship between aesthetics and politics, conceptions of community and the public, and the practical aims of art, both intended and actual. Close readings, class discussion, and weekly response papers will culminate in a final research paper interrogating the political implications of a single artist or artwork.