CONTEMPORARY ART

The course is part of the master degree programme in Arts Management, which aims to provide students with an in-depth proficiency in the whole artistic process, including the production, management and communication of art events. Contemporary art I (6 cfu) is the first module of the course Contemporary art (I and II, 12 cfu), which is part of the core educational activities in “History and Art” of the degree programme.

The course will provide an in-depth knowledge of the contemporary art world, introducing students to key artists, works, theories and institutions that regulate today's art system. Classes will encompass the fundamental arts structures, processes and stakeholders, as well their critical reception and theoretical framing.
The main objective of the course is to enhance skills in the following fields:
- to recognize the works and artists discussed in class and place them in a broader theoretical and cultural context
- to develop critical skills and analyze an artwork within its historical context and from multiple perspectives, including its technical, iconographic and stylistic features
- to get familiar with key theories, actors and institutions governing the contemporary art system
- to strengthen communication skills and acquire an appropriate vocabulary tailored to the given context

Basic knowledge of contemporary art history and practice

The module will offer an investigation into the contemporary art system from an historical perspective and in an international context. A comparative analysis of the topics addressed in class and devoted to art theories, professions and institutions - such as artists, curators, critics, galleries, museums and exhibitions - will be conducted in the framework of the Exhibition Studies, Cultural Cold War Studies and Global Studies.

Notes taken during the lessons.

Anu Allas, Beata Hock (eds), Globalizing East European Art Histories. Past and Present, Routledge, New York 2018, pp. 1-9; 39-52.

Bruce Altshuler, Biennials and Beyond: Exhibitions That Made Art History, 1962-2002, vol. 2, Phaidon, London-New York 2013, pp. 11-24, plus the exhibitions analyzed in class

Bruce Altshuler, Exhibition History and the Biennale, in Starting from Venice, edited by Clarissa Ricci, et al., Milano 2010, pp. 17-27

Hans Belting, Art History after Modernism, University of Chicago Press, Chicago 2003 (only the pages in moodle)

La Biennale di Venezia, The General Four-year Plan of Activities and Events (1974-1977), 1974, “Annuario 1975: Eventi del 1974”, Venezia, La Biennale, pp. 71-75

Achille Bonito Oliva, Cardinal Points of Art, exh. cat. (La Biennale di Venezia, 45. Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte, 14 June – 10 October 1993), Marsilio, Venezia 1993, vol. 1, pp. XXIII-XLI

Joel Robinson, Folkloric Modernism: Venice’s Giardini Della Biennale and the Geopolitics of Architecture, “Open Arts Journal”, no. 2, Winter 2013-2014, pp. 1-24

Sarah Thornton, 33 Artists in 3 Acts, W. W. Norton & Company, New York – London 2014 (only the pages in moodle)

Written exam with open-ended questions and comments on artworks presented during the lessons

Lectures and screening of images and videos during the lessons. Students are invited to take active part in the discussion

English

written

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "International cooperation" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development