Art and Activism

3 units

This course will examine political and social activism in art and visual culture, focusing on the role that visual representation has played in social movements and how artists/activists have employed visual media to challenge and resist dominant visual representations and political formations. We explore key theoretical developments in activist discourse as well as the role of art practices and aesthetic commitments in these developments. This course seeks to represent the development of the relation of art and activism in its broadest intellectual and cultural context within the 20th century and to encourage an appreciation of the complex array of disciplinary perspectives that are implicated in this development. Prerequisite: L01 113, L01 215, or permission of instructor.