Course Description:

Developments in critical theory over the past four decades, including post-structuralism, post-modernism, and theories of race and gender have radically altered the perception as well as the practice of art. This course will focus on key debates that have shaped the art world since the 1980’s. Way back in 1962 Robert Morris observed with great foresight, "I think art today is a form of art history." (Stiles & Selz, p. 805) In other words, history, concepts, and language have become increasingly central to the creation, display and reception of art. This trend has been particularly dominant in the art world since the 1980’s. In this course we will have the opportunity to dwell at length on some important writings by philosophers, critics and artists and thereby gain valuable insights upon the theory and praxis of art at the cusp of the twenty-first century.

• Participate fully in discussions of the assigned reading material and the visuals shown in class.
• Write Weekly Summaries of reading assignments, films or field trip observations.
• Work with another student to lead the class discussion once during the semester.
• Graduate students will meet an additional 3 times during the semester. Meeting times will be scheduled later.

Reading Assignments:

• Required Readings: Required readings for this course have been collected together in a photocopied Reader that is available for purchase at the UMBC bookstore. Should you decide against purchasing the reader, the books from which all the readings for this semester have been taken are on reserve in the library.
• Recommended Readings: 3 additional books for this course will be available for purchase at the bookstore. You are strongly advised to reference these additional texts. These texts are also available at the reserve desk in the library.

Harrison, Charles and Paul Wood, edited. Art in Theory, 1900-1990. An Anthology of Changing Ideas. 1900-1990.. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1994 (first published 1992).

John Berger. Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting Corporation and Penguin Books, 1972.

Guerrilla Girls. The Guerrilla Girls’ Beside Companion to the History of Western Art. London and New York: Penguin Books, 1997.

Staniszewski, Mary Anne. Believing is Seeing. Creating the Culture of Art. London and New York: Penguin Books, 1995.

• Each week students are responsible for handing in written summaries of each article, film or field trip they are assigned. These summaries have to be a minimum of 400 words in length, typed, double-spaced and must include a title. In your summary, mention the major points of each article. In addition, try to include one provocative question for each article that will help stimulate class discussion. Please observe the word limits for each summary. Weekly summaries will be graded on a pass/unacceptable basis. Summaries are due at the end of class. Late summaries will be accepted within one week of the due date, however, students will only receive half credit.
• Students who turn in the equivalent of 6 passing Weekly Summaries will receive an A for this section of the grade. This means that you can turn in 6 Weekly Summaries on time, or 5 on time and two late, etc. Students who turn in the equivalent of 5 Weekly Summaries will receive a B; 4 will result in a C, 3 will result in a D. Remember, a late summary is only worth half the credit.

• The main written assignment for this course will be a research paper (minimum - 10 pages - 2500 words) based on one or more of the key issues in contemporary art that we debate upon in this course.
• You will be required to present a short (5 minutes) progress report on your topic, the way you intend to approach it and the references you intend to use. The following week you should hand in a one page (300 words) typed synopsis of your topic. A revised version of this synopsis will be the abstract of your research paper.
• Towards the end of the semester, you will be required to give a formal presentation (15 minutes long), preferably with visuals, on your research paper. Your peers will provide constructive criticism that you should attempt to incorporate in the final copy of the written paper.

Adams, Hazard and Leroy Searle. Editors. Critical Theory Since 1965. Tallahassee: Florida State University Press, 1986.

Becker, Carol. Editor. The Subversive Imagination. Artists, Society and Social Responsibility. New York: Routledge, 1994.

Becker, Carol. Zones of Contention: Essays on Art, Institutions, and Gender in Society. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996.

Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1986. (NX 456.H89 )

Bolton, Richard, ed. Culture Wars. Documents from the Recent Controversies in the Arts. New York: The New Press, 1992. NX735.C84

Bourdieu, Pierre. The Field of Cultural Production. Essays on Art and Literature. Edited and Introduced by Randal Johnson. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993.

Butler, Judith. Excitable Speech. A Politics of the Performative. New York: Routledge, 1997.

Drucker, Johanna. Guest Editor. Special issue of "Art Journal (56) 1, Fall 1997, pp. 30-38. "Digital Reflections: The Dialogue of Art and Technology."

Drucker, Johanna. Theorizing Modernism. Visual Art and the Critical Tradition. New York: Columbia University Press, 1994. (N6465.M63D78)

Druckery, Timothy. Editor. Electronic Culture: Technology and Visual Representation. New York: Aperture, 1997.

Druckery, Timothy. Editor. Iterations: the New Image. Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T. Press, 1993,

Dubin, Steve. Arresting Images: Impolitic Art and Uncivil Actions. New York: Routledge, 1992. (NX 735.D79)

Eagleton, Terry. Literary Theory. An Introduction. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1983.

Edelman, Murray. From Art to Politics. How Artistic Creations Shape Political Conceptions. Chicago. University of Chicago Press, 1995. (N8236.P5E3)

Elliot Bridget and Wallace, Jo-Ann. Women Artists and Writers. Modernist (im)positionings. New York: Routledge, 1994.

Ferguson, Russell, Martha Gever, Trinh T. Minh-ha, Cornel West. ed. Out There: Marginalization and Contemporary Cultures. New York: The New Museum of Contemporary Art and MIT Press, 1990.

Foster, Hal. Recodings . Art, Spectacle, Cultural Politics. Port Townsend, Washington, Bay Press, 1985. (NX 456.5.P 66 F67)

Foucault, Michel. Power/Knowledge. Selected Interviews and Other Writings. 1972-1977. New York: Pantheon Books, 1980.

Godeau, Abigail Solomon. Mistaken Identities. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1993.

Guerilla Girls. Confessions of the Guerrilla Girls/ by the Guerrilla Girls themselves (whoever they really are). HarperPerennial, 1995.

Guerrilla Girls. The Guerrilla Girls’ Beside Companion to the History of Western Art. London and New York: Penguin Books, 1997.

Harrison, Charles and Paul Wood, edited. Art in Theory, 1900-1990. An Anthology of Changing Ideas. 1900-1990. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1994 (first published 1992).

Hughes, Robert. The Culture of Complaint. New York: Warner Books, 1994.

Huyssen Andreas. After the Great Divide. Modernism, Mass-Culture, Post-Modernism..

John Berger. Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting Corporation and Penguin Books, 1972.

Kipnis, Laura. Ecstasy Unlimited. On Sex, Capital, Gender and Aesthetics. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1993.(E169.12.K47)

Kruger, Barbara and Phil Mariani. Editors. Remaking History. Discussions in Contemporary Culture. Seattle: Bay Press, 1989.

Lacy, Suzanne. Mapping the Terrain. New Genre Public Art. Seattle: Bay Press, 1995. (NX 650.P6M36)

Lippard, Lucy. Mixed Blessings: New Art in Multicultural America. New York: Pantheon Books, 1990.

Mercer, Kobena. Welcome to the Jungle. New Positions in Black Cultural Studies. New York: Routledge, 1994.

Mitchell, W.J.T. ed. Art and the Public Sphere. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993.

Moser, Mary Anne and Douglas MacLeod. Editors. Immersed in Technology. Art and Virtual Environments. Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T. Press, 1996.

Mulvey, Laura.Visual and Other Pleasures. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana Univ. Press, 1989.

Nelson, Robert and Richard Shiff. Editors. Critical Terms for Art History. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.

Penny, Simon. "Virtual Reality as the Completion of the Enlightenment Project." in Culture on the Brink: Ideologies of Technology. Edited by Gretchen Bender and Timothy Druckery. Seattle: Bay Press, 1994, pp. 231-248.

Rose, Jacqueline. Sexuality in the Field of Vision. London and New York: Verso, 1986.

Segal, Lynne and Mary McIntosh. Editors. Sex-Exposed. Sexuality and the Pornography Debate. New Brunswick, N.J. : Rutgers University Press, 1993.

Staniszewski, Mary Anne. Believing is Seeing. Creating the Culture of Art. London and New York: Penguin Books, 1995.

Stiles, Kristine and Peter Selz, edited. Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A Sourcebook of Artists’ Writings. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996.

Wallis, Brian. ed. Art After Modernism. Rethinking Representation. New York: The New Museum of Contemporary Art, 1984 (NX 456.5.P66A74)

Wallis, Brian. ed. Blasted Allegories: An Anthology of Writings by Contemporary Artists. New York: The New Museum of Contemporary Art and MIT Press, 1990. (NX504.B5)

Weintraub, Linda. Art on the Edge and Over: Searching for Art’s Meaning in Contemporary Society 1970’s -1990’s. Includes essays by Arthur Danto & Thomas McEvilley. Art Insights Inc. 1996.