Art Speak

This course outlines a history of the manifold ways artists, critics, sociologists, and others have tried to address the art world's multi-modal uses of language. Students will analyze recent shifts in art-speak at its paradigmatic sites: around commercial art fairs and auction house sales; artist talks, studio visits, and interviews; openings, curator walk throughs, and biennial round tables; press releases, and listservs; on and offline art-activist provocation, art-fashion cross-branding, alongside academic publications and lectures. Through a multi-sited approach, we isolate emergent structural features of language to get a sense of how the art world speaks today. (May be taken at 100 level with consent)