ITALIC 93:
Art Everywhere: How Art Moves and Moves Us
How does art move around the world? Most university courses in the history of the arts are divided either by geography or time period, as well as artistic discipline. But these simple distinctions are not natural to the production or reception of art itself. Although it might be easy to assume that art is made out of materials close at hand and seen or experienced chiefly by local makers, artists have often sought out distant materials and unfamiliar ideas, which are prized for their scarcity or their very distance from what is local and familiar. Historically these movements have revealed global power structures, as well as local interest and agency in ways that can be both far reaching and narrowly focused. Globalization is commonly equated with contemporary multinational corporations, from Apple to Amazon to AliExpress, but earlier periods of global exchange have also materially shaped what art is and can be. Art can reflect and reveal a global movement of peoples and ideas, as well as the raw materials that make art possible - whether words, woods, animals, minerals or melodies. We will focus in this class on a series of case studies that explore how art moves - and why these movements move artists and the people who are influenced by their work. Lectures will feature scholars and artists who address aspects of global exchange or movement in their work. In a series of workshops, students will work towards creating a genealogical project that similarly investigates how origins and movement have enabled and inspired art-making. We think of the class as an atlas for your own investigations into how art moves and how it may move you.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: College, THINK, WAY-A-II, WAY-CE
