ARTH 4157 - Themes in Contemporary Art

Credit Hours: (3)

Description: This course investigates the diversity of global visual art practices through thematic topics such as activism, nature, identity, the body, memory, spirituality, language, and science. Students will examine how practices, beliefs, systems, and narratives have come under critique and are challenged by visual artists as well as how alternatives to these practices, beliefs, systems, and narratives proposed by visual artists can lead to transformation. Emphasis is placed on contemporary art practices, but students are encouraged to consider artwork within larger historical and cultural contexts. Course discussions introduce students to aesthetic and theoretical developments, examine significant critical debates within the art world, and explore various historical, stylistic, and methodological questions raised within the visual arts and art history. PREREQUISITE: ARTH 2020, or permission of instructor.