360°: Biennials and Conservation
Students in this 360° will engage a deeper history of Contemporary Art—one that considers the ways in which an artwork's exhibition and its care structure its meaning in complex ways.
Students in this 360° will engage a deeper history of Contemporary Art—one that considers the ways in which an artwork's exhibition and its care structure its meaning in complex ways.
In the world of Contemporary Art, concerns of artists, institutions, and conservators must be weighed against one another to arrive at practical solutions and policies. As biennials and art fairs become the most popular venues for debuting and selling contemporary art, transport between this temporary site and its more permanent home usually mean changes to the artwork that may conflict with the artist's intention or institution's infrastructure or policies. Students in this 360° will engage a deeper history of Contemporary Art—one that considers the ways in which an artwork's exhibition and its care structure its meaning in complex ways.
Courses
This course, taught by Carrie Robbins, considers the role of a contemporary art curator and explores the various theories and practices of exhibiting contemporary art, both inside and outside of conventional art institutions. Students learn to understand the contested role of the curator in today’s art world and to recognize curatorial practice as ideology, distinguishing between deployments of postmodern methodologies, including post-colonialism and feminism. Students discuss and deploy these methods in their interpretations of curatorial intentions.
Taught by Marianne Weldon, this course explores the ethics, principles, analysis, and materials used in art conservation. Case studies, guest lectures, and museum visits introduce the unique problems involved in preserving, conserving and exhibiting contemporary art. The course includes some hands on/lab component activities.