Welcome on the course Contemporary Theories for Art Research
The course Contemporary Theories of Art Research has an annually changing theme/topic. This year, the course is divided between two fields of research, (Global) Art Systems and Fresh Approaches to Cultural Theory.
In (Global) Art Systems we study how the concept and system of art developed in the heart of Continental/Central Europe - and what it overshadowed and clashed with in e.g. Japan and Nigeria, when it overshadowed the local cultural systems. The texts touch also upon (the gendered nature of the concept of) genius, festivals as art, Zen, the (claimed) lack of criticism in Asian (more precisely Japanese) artistic traditions and the variety of ways to classify and frame artistic practices in the world.
Fresh approaches to cultural theory include new thinking on ontology, space, atmospheres and the body/mind problem (e.g. in relation to film and new media).
The working method of our meetings is simple. After reading the texts (at home, me included) we discuss them - and we all comment on them, share our critical remarks, associations and intuitions. So, please make sure that you have at least somehow cracked the texts before coming to the sessions! It is possible to meet live, so we will.
The main texts are numbered, but at least for some sessions there is also an extra text that you can choose to read, if you like. (Read always anyway the main text(s), please.)
We will have visits at least by Rein Raud (University of Tallinn) and Aurosa Allison (Politecnico di Milano).
Schedule
and the texts:
Tuesday
1.3, 15-17, (GLOBAL) ART SYSTEMS 1
1. Akira Amagasaki, "Art Outside of Life and Art as Life"
2. Chinua Achebe, "The Igbo World and Its
Art"
3. Megumi Sakabe, "Subject of Absence and
Absence of the Critique"
Tuesday 8.3, 15-17, (GLOBAL) ART SYSTEMS 2
4. Christine Battersby, "Gender and Genius" (excerpt)
5. Martha Woodmansee, "Genius and Copyright" (from Rereading
Aesthetics)
Tuesday 22.3, 15-17, (GLOBAL) ART SYSTEMS 3
6. Max Ryynänen, "A Philosophy of Central
European Art: The History of An Institution and Its Global Competitors" (Introduction, Chapter 1
and Chapter 2)
Tuesday 29.3, 15-17, FRESH APPROACHES TO CULTURAL THEORY 1
Theme: Brain as the new key strategy for a holistic understanding of culture
Reading:Vittorio Gallese, Michele Guerra and Frances Anderson, The Emphatic Screen: Cinema and Neuroscience (2020, or 2019 - both are in our library as electronic books), Chapter 1
Tuesday 5.4, 15-17, FRESH APPROACHES TO CULTURAL THEORY 2
Theme: Atmospheres.
Reading: Tonino Griffero, Atmospheres: Aesthetics of Emotional Spaces (2014, 2016), Chapter 1.
Thursday 14.4 (note the change in the date), 15-17, FRESH APPROACHES TO CULTURAL THEORY 3
Theme: Ontology.
We will have a visitor, Rein Raud. Please take a look at Raud's book, Being in Flux (2021), Chapter 1.
Tuesday, 10.5, 15-17, FRESH APPROACHES TO CULTURAL THEORY 4
We will have a visitor, who will give an open lecture: Aurosa Allison (Politecnico di Milano). The title of the talk will be New Cultures of Dwelling: From Phenomenology to Aesthetics.
