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Department of History of Art and Architecture

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HAU33006 and HAU33014 Global Postmodern and Contemporary Art

This course examines global postmodern and contemporary art from the 1950s to the present day. It will discuss transformations in media, authorship, spectatorship, display, and distribution, along with the globalisation of art through art markets, biennales, artistic networks, and museum franchises. Students will learn about key developments such as Pop, Minimalism, Conceptual Art, Performance, Computer Art, and the Social Turn, with particular emphasis upon how these have been interpreted, expanded, and challenged by artists outside of Western metropolitan centres in, for example, Brazil, China, India, Ireland, Japan, and Oceania. In addition to the themes and contexts of postmodern and contemporary art, students will engage with relevant debates concerning economic and cultural globalisation, transcultural exchange, Indigeneity, and postcolonial politics.
  • Module Organisers:
    • Dr Timothy Stott
  • Duration:
    • Semester 1
  • Contact Hours:
    • HAU33006: 2 Lectures perweek, 1 seminar per fortnight
      HAU33014: 1 lecture perweek, 1 seminar per fortnight
  • Weighting:
    • HAU33006: 10 ECTS
      HAU33014: 5 ECTS
  • Asessment:
    • HAU33006: Essay, project and visual analysis exercise
      HAU30014: Essay and visual analysis
  • Course open to:
    [M=mandatory; O= optional] :
    • Single Honors (O), Joint Honors (O), Art History as a minor (O), visiting (O).

Learning Outcomes:

Upon the successful completion of this module students should be able to:

  • Identify and analyse the work of Western and non-Western artists from the 1950s to the present day.
  • Identify and explain the stylistic, medial, and theoretical bases of various schools, movements, and groups such as Minimalism, Conceptualism, Gutai, Fluxus, Neo-Concretism, Baroda, and Xiamen Dada.
  • Outline the global and regional contexts in which art has been produced and displayed during this period.
  • Engage critically with art-historical, critical, and philosophical texts relevant to postmodern and contemporary art.
  • Demonstrate original, self-directed historical and theoretical research on postmodern and contemporary art.