AHST 3318.501: Contemporary Art and Architecture
Dr. Charissa N. Terranova
Spring 2009
Wednesday 7:00 – 9:45 pm
Location: JO 4.614

John Baldessari, “I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art,” 1971         Jessica Stockholder, #291, 1997

Description

This class focuses on the history of art and architecture in Europe, the United States and Japan, 1950 to the present.  Topics include: the Duchamp effect, Pop art in the world, the transformation of art as a result of Roland Barthes’ “Death of the Author,” theory and Conceptualism in art and architecture, the politics of the body and spatiality, gender and sexuality in the 1970s and 1980s, postmodernism in art and architecture, the philosophy of Deconstruction and its effects on art and architecture, video, installation art, British art in the 1990s, the death drive of painting, painting in the new millennium, the new flatness and scatter art.  Together we will investigate the greater political economy of individual objects, buildings and events of the recent past, our goal being an understanding of how they are constitutive of the greater political, social and economic network of forces in which we live today.  The course is made up of weekly lectures and readings, a film, museum and gallery visits, two written assignments, and a midterm and final examination.                  

Goals of Course

• Learn and engage the history of art and architecture, its cultural and political ramifications, from Pop Art to the present, roughly 1955 to 2009
• Learn how to think critically about contemporary art and architecture, and its cultural and political ramifications.
• Learn how to identify the salient and successfully formal components of a work of art, whether a painting or a performance.
• Habituate daily reading of the newspaper through assigned reading of the arts section in the New York Times.
• Habituate close and analytical reading of texts.
• Hone critical writing skills through two short written assignments.
• Habituate engagement with the arts community of DFW through assigned visits to a museum and gallery.

Readings

You are required to attend every lecture that is scheduled on the syllabus and complete the assigned reading prior to class.  The reading assignments come from you textbook and online locations.  The textbook, David Hopkins’ After Modern Art, 1945-2000, is available for purchase at the bookstore.  The digital essays are available at one of three locations: specifically designated URLs, Docutek, or JSTOR.

Museum and Gallery Visits and Written Assignments

There are two short written assignments that are organized in conjunction with exhibitions at the Dallas Museum of Art and Centraltrak: The UT Dallas Artists Residency at 800 Exposition Ave in Fair Park.  For each, you must write a 750- to 1000-word review.

The essays are due on the following dates:

• Assignment #1 Due February 11, 2009 Take your time: Olafur Eliasson at the Dallas Museum of art
• Assignment #2 Due April 15, 2009 on Ted Setina: Dark Energy/Dark Matter at Centraltrak: The UT Dallas Artists Residency

While describing is essential to these assignments, your end product in each instance should be synthetic.  That is to say, you should make a statement about the exhibition – take a position – and write about the elements of the works of art as they relate to your argument.  Your description should be part of your main idea.  By “taking a position” your argument might take up some of the following points:

• what the art means
• how the art makes meaning
• how the art relates to the artist’s life
• how the art relates to our contemporary world
• how the materials carry or don’t carry the intent of the artwork
• how the artwork is or is not political
• how the artwork functions as “form”
• the installation and organization of the exhibition

You should model your voice after the arts journalists of the New York Times.  In preparation for these assignments you must begin reading the reviews – art, architecture, theater, music, and film – in the newspaper.  As proof that you have been doing this, you must submit a review from the New York Times with your essay.

Each essay must comply with the following requirements:

• 750 to 1000 words
• double spaced, 10 or 12 pt. font
• 1.5” margins
• an attached review article from the New York Times

Tips:  In terms of writing style, please avoid the passive voice, hyperbole and cliché.  Simplistic and unfounded descriptions of art, such as “it is beautiful,” “he is a genius,” or “this is an amazing masterpiece,” are banned from this writing assignment.  Your textbooks will be helpful to you.  Though it is not mandatory, you are welcome to do extra research on the artists.  In preparation for these written assignments you should familiarize yourself with the art criticism of the New York Times.  It is the voice and stance of the critic (art, architecture, film and book) that you will assume for this writing.  Remember that plagiarism is grounds for expulsion from the university.  The written assignments must be submitted in paper: I will not accept electronic documents.

Exams

There are two exams in the course:  a mid-term on Wednesday March 11 and a final on Monday May 11.  The exams will consist of slide identification, multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank and matching.  The exam material will be culled from the lectures, reading assignments and class discussions.  The final exam will be cumulative. 

NOTE ON DATES
There are absolutely no make-up exams for people who mis-schedule the exam. 
I do not accept late papers.

Grading

Your grade in the course will be calculated from the following percentages:

Written Assignments = 40%; 20% each
Midterm Exam = 30%
Final Exam = 30%

View the Schedule of Classes here