Topic: Art Worlds New York City: Exploring Art, Culture and Power in the City

Catalog description

This learning community will pair ENG 110 (Composition) and SOC 296U (Art as Power, Privilege and Persuasion) to explore the social context in which art is produced, distributed and received. The class will investigate the process through which individuals become defined as artists, will examine the "art industry" that distributes and commodifies art products, and will explore the tension that characterizes the relationship between art and commerce. The class will investigate and observe the role that social factors-including class, race and gender, and level of education-play in influencing one's taste in art, and we will offer our own expressions and interpretations of these worlds through various genres of analytic and narrative writing. Finally, we will investigate the role that art has played in promoting social change, and examine this specifically with respect to performance art, digital art, and ephemeral art.