Admission requirements
Admission to the MA Arts and Culture: Museum Studies / Art History, research master Arts and Culture, research master Arts, Literature and Media. Students of the MA Arts and Culture: Art History take priority.
Students of the Humanities faculty who are interested and who are not enrolled in the Master Arts and Culture should contact the study adviser in order to enroll, only possible if there are places left.
Description
In the 21st century, debates about the contemporary arts are not only about innovation in the arts themselves, but within these debates actors seek and find relevance in socio-political and environmental challenges and shifts in cultural policies. The arts should not be limited by old criteria. This opens up new places, new audiences and new forms of action in the arts. It also stimulates, guides and informs ongoing debates about political power and decolonisation, racism and gender issues. Contemporary art in its broadest sense, from literature to cinema, sculpture, painting, video and all media, is more visible, perhaps more important, than ever before. On the other hand, for some audiences, art has never been so far removed from their own experience.
Within art institutions, whether the museum, the academy, the gallery, the artist-in-residence or some form of institution in between, the general aims might be to connect artists and their audiences, to showcase the possible or the almost impossible, to be a hub for discussion, a place for sociological therapy, to educate the visitor, or a place for contemplation and reflection. These functions follow the politics and practices of art, even beyond art institutions.
Art markets, on the other hand, tend to flatten and commercialise what were once very activist artistic personalities?
New questions are being raised in the arts: How to create sustainable contemporary art or maintain artistic integrity? What kind of art is politically relevant? What is the social responsibility of artists and art institutions? How can artists defend their autonomy and moral compass?
And why is art (all of a sudden?) an important field for the study and examination of morality? And is this a valid question?
In the light of ongoing paradigm shifts (perhaps this is a definition of history?), this course examines the current conditions and discourses on the multiple forms of contemporary art, in the light of history, art and historical and contemporary debates, including the works of art themselves, which should speak to us in a meaningful way. This course will take place within the walls of the Beelden aan Zee Museum, in the library. It is not a course on sculpture, but sculpture is a natural part of the discussion.
Students are expected to take an active part in the discussions and small practical tasks during the seminar series. More in-depth analysis and contextualisation of a selected case study will be developed in a research-based podcast, a 'political ekphrasis' and a written final paper. For more information on this 'output', see Brightspace.
Course objectives
to gain understanding of the major paradigm shifts of contemporary arts in a global perspective:
1/ A student knows: paradigm shifts, history of contemporary arts, in global perspective.
Skills: researching2/ A student is able to discuss historical and art historical shifts, using comparisons of art works, comparisons in secondary literature, and other relevant sources.
Skills: oral communication, written communication.to learn to consider, compare and apply varying conceptual and theoretical framings of art works:
1/ A student is able to use, in spoken texts, written essays and in class discussions: theoretical ideas, the toolbox of concepts, methods and theories relevant to a subject.
Skills: analysing, reflecting, resilience, societal awareness, written communication, oral communication.to examine the possible positive and negative impact of contemporary arts in local, national, regional, and international (sub)cultures:
1/ A student understands and discusses, in the output of the podcast, the essay and the political description outputs, the possible positive and negative impact of contemporary arts in local, national, regional, and international (sub)cultures.
Skills: research, analysing, reflecting, oral communication, written communication.to critically analyze and contextualize artworks and related curatorial practices:
1/ A student understands and discusses the exhibition making of art, related to best practices.
Skills: reflecting, analysing, oral communication, written communication.2/ A student is able to debate and discuss pro’s and con’s of exhibition choices in existing situations.
Skills: reflecting, analysing, oral communication, written communication.3/ A student is able to formulate ideal exhibition conditions and choices.
Skills: reflecting, analysing, oral communication, researching, written communication.to formulate concrete, art work related analyses, relevant to interested museum visitors, to communicate to a larger audience (podcast e.g.):
1/ A student shows empathy with a readers audience of general readers in the formulation of his/her etc. Text, whether written or spoken.
Skills: societal awareness2/ A student learns different ways of making output, in a podcast for instance.
Skills: digital skills, oral communication, social awareness, collaborating, project based working.to acquire an informed position on the subject, with history, anthropology, and other disciplines reaching out as a helping hand to have a better understanding:
1/ A student uses different disciplines to enhance the analysis.
Skills: research, analysis2/ A student is able to formulate research questions and methods in interdisciplinary terms.
Skills: research, analysis, oral communication, written communication.
Timetable
The timetables are available through My Timetable.
Mode of instruction
Seminar
Attendance is compulsory. Students can miss a maximum of two seminars, provided they present a valid reason beforehand. Students who have missed more than two seminars will have to apply to the Examination Board in order to obtain permission to further follow and complete the course.
Assessment method
Assessment
Political ekphrasis 20% (midterm)
Podcast 30%
Essay 50%
ResMa students taking this course will write a paper that reflects the demands of the Research Master. That is, they will have to formulate a more complex and original research question and include a critical positioning towards the state of the art of its subject.
Weighing
The final mark for the course is established by determining the weighted average. To pass the course, the weighted average of the partial grades must be 5.5 or higher.
Resit
A resit/rewrite can be done for the constituent examination (individual research paper 70%) if it is not passed.
Inspection and feedback
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.
Reading list
1/ Haskell, Francis. History and Its Images: Art and the Interpretation of the Past. New Have: Yale University Press, 1993. Chapters: 8 and 9 (The Arts as an Index of Society; The Musée des Monuments Français)
2/ Boime, Albert. Art and the French Commune: Imagining Paris after War and Revolution. Princeton USA: Princeton University Press, 1996. Chapter 3: The Dislocating Impact of the Commune on the Impressionists
3/ A viewing (in your own time) of the movie Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, Werk ohne Autor, 2018, available on different streaming media, for rent on Youtube. (also on other streaming media: Google Play, Amazon Prime, Apple TV)
4/ other readings: on Brightspace
Registration
Enrolment through MyStudyMap is mandatory.
General information about course and exam enrolment is available on the website
Registration À la carte education, Contract teaching and Exchange
Information for those interested in taking this course in context of À la carte education (without taking examinations), eg. about costs, registration and conditions.
Information for those interested in taking this course in context of Contract teaching (with taking examinations), eg. about costs, registration and conditions.
For the registration of exchange students contact Humanities International Office.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office: Arsenaal.
Remarks
This series, to be absolutely clear, will be organised in the library of Museum Beelden aan Zee, The Hague, Scheveningen.