Global Modern and Contemporary

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This seminar course offers an introduction to the history of contemporary artistic movements, practices, and experiences in Europe and North America from the post-World War II period to the 2000s, exploring their diverse forms and mediums. Following a chronological perspective and based on a selection of works considered turning points in the history of "contemporary" art, this seminar will examine the period through a set of key questions that reflect the major transformations affecting these movements, practices, and experiences, as well as the developments in art history and theory. In doing so, we will question the function of art in our societies; the stakes of contemporary creation in its diverse manifestations; and the role of artists confronted with the brutality of war, the violence of a fractured world, revolutionary events, rising protests, feminist struggles, civil rights movements, rapid modernization, consumer society, and the culture of spectacle, among others. This seminar course offers an introduction to the history of contemporary artistic movements, practices, and experiences in Europe and North America from the post-World War II period to the 2000s, exploring their diverse forms and mediums. Following a chronological perspective and based on a selection of works considered turning points in the history of "contemporary" art, this seminar will examine the period through a set of key questions that reflect the major transformations affecting these movements, practices, and experiences, as well as the developments in art history and theory. In doing so, we will question the function of art in our societies; the stakes of contemporary creation in its diverse manifestations; and the role of artists confronted with the brutality of war, the violence of a fractured world, revolutionary events, rising protests, feminist struggles, civil rights movements, rapid modernization, consumer society, and the culture of spectacle, among others. This seminar course offers an introduction to the history of contemporary artistic movements, practices, and experiences in Europe and North America from the post-World War II period to the 2000s, exploring their diverse forms and mediums. Following a chronological perspective and based on a selection of works considered turning points in the history of "contemporary" art, this seminar will examine the period through a set of key questions that reflect the major transformations affecting these movements, practices, and experiences, as well as the developments in art history and theory. In doing so, we will question the function of art in our societies; the stakes of contemporary creation in its diverse manifestations; and the role of artists confronted with the brutality of war, the violence of a fractured world, revolutionary events, rising protests, feminist struggles, civil rights movements, rapid modernization, consumer society, and the culture of spectacle, among others.