Lectures, seminars, group discussions, tutorials, excursions, home study

This course charts some of the main aesthetic, institutional, economic and
political transformations in the art world since the 1960s, and analyses their
underlying mechanisms.

Since the iconoclasm of the 1960s, the art world has undergone a series of complex changes. The visual arts have evolved from a critical avant-garde for a relatively small interested group to the massively mediatized entertainment industry and global speculative market we know today.

The museum in particular has evolved under increasing pressure to become economically sustainable, even profitable, and to satisfy a growing cultural tourist class. Important social developments such as multiculturalism and globalization have given rise to new museological perspectives, while increased mobility and communication have helped make art institutions
powerful engines of city marketing and regeneration.

Besides the museum, numerous other forms of presentation have become dominant: mega-galleries, private collectors with their own public museums, independent curators, artist-critic hybrids, the active role of auction houses and international art fairs …
These now make for a complex and stratified system of distribution that, to a large extent, determines our perception and interpretation of art, but its underlying causes and relations are far from selfevident.
The course unit consists of several parts: it starts in the autumn with an introductory seminar that surveys some of the salient art-world transformations since the 1960s. Students then select a topic for a significant piece of academic writing (3,000 words).

Preparatory findings are to bepresented at the end of the first term, followed by a one-on-one tutorial early in the second term. An elaborated draft is to be submitted in the middle of the Spring term, along with a group presentation. Final submission and oral defense are scheduled at the end of the second term.

- Meeting the programme’s admission requirements
- Familiarity with the history of modern and contemporary art

- Deepened insight in the functioning of the contemporary art world and the
development of its diverse forms of presentation
- Ability to critically analyse and reflect on these mechanisms
- Acquisition of practical experience through interviews and primary research
- Developed oral, written and research competences

Individual (by digital appointment)

Continuous and end-of-term assessment. Students are evaluated based on participation in the lectures and seminars, and personal contributions through home study. Attendance of lectures and seminars is essential.

End-of-term assessment: Research Paper
Academic paper with end/footnotes, bibliography and illustrations, on a topic of relevance to the course, by prior arrangement with the tutor.
paper, final presentation and oral assessment

Retake during the second examination period is possible.

Learning materials: digital
Excursions: transportation + admission: max. 25 EUR
Estimated total: max. 25 EUR

Modern art, Contemporary art, Modernism, Avant-Garde, Postmodernism,
Economy, Politics, Art market, Museum policy, Museum history

Op dit opleidingsonderdeel is er geen volgtijdelijkheid van toepassing.