Issues in Public Art: Representation of Workers ((4 Credits))

Catalog description

This study is primarily concerned with contemporary public art primarily in New York City with some focus on works made for the worker and/or a working class consciousness either through studying the work of others or by the creation of the student’s own creative project. The assigned readings and presentations introduce the complex relationship between aesthetics and the development and life of the city in public art, and its ever-changing relationship with architecture and urban planning. Students will consider issues such as the importance of the role of art and artists in society, how public art addresses-- or is addressed-- by issues of race, class, and gender. We shall also study the hierarchical relationships between craft and art and how the student’s own electricians trade might be considered or reconsidered. It is also only offered in-class at the college’s Harry J. Van Arsdale Jr. School for Labor Studies in New York City. Prerequisites: .