VS551

This is a graduate level one-semester course that exposes students to contemporary art making strategies, artists, curators, critics, histories and systems that influence and drive the expansion of the current art world. This is an image-based course in which art and theory are approached in an interconnected fashion, with an emphasis on the flow and interchange of significant ideas between the visual and the textual art in dialogue with theory and history. Topics will be explored through: slide lectures, museum and gallery visits, videos and web sites, as well as reading discussion of selected books, articles and essays. Students engage in research methodology as part of the oral presentation and writing component of the class, providing an opportunity to share research. In order to reflect a variety of viewpoints and disciplines, guests are invited to speak on a broad range of contemporary art and theoretical concerns. Over the course of the semester, a series of related issues are addressed in conjunction with invited guests and MFA lectures whose work is relevant to the subject under discussion.

Hallie Ford School of Graduate Studies

Portland