Introduction to Contemporary Art

(Cross-listed as ILVS 0003) Art since the postwar era with a particular emphasis on the present. Who is making contemporary art, where is it being made, and why? Do these elements constitute an “art world” or multiple and fragmented pockets of production? How do they relate to uneven flows of commerce and capital and what is their connection to emerging political and technological trends? Center/periphery relations; activist art and the counterculture; experimental groups across the Americas, Europe, and Asia; Conceptualism and abstraction; dynamics between offline and online reception; and dilemmas of producing art in a digital economy. Trips to contemporary art exhibitions and events in the Boston area.