What is Contemporary Art?

Catalog description

What is contemporary art? When is contemporary art? For whom is contemporary art? Where is contemporary art? And… why does contemporary art matter? This survey introduces us to some central artists, themes, works, and debates currently comprising the history of contemporary art, with a particular focus on the social, racial, and political engagements that have informed artistic developments, as well as how they are historicized in relation to other art and geopolitical events, globally. We consider the ways in which artists have approached, contested, reflected, and reconfigured the problems and possibilities of institutions in order to find critical traction and build historical context. We also look at how globalization, technology, racialization, and capitalism have all shaped artistic production, art criticism, and the art market, while also reflecting upon the temporality of our present and what it is that is “contemporary” to our “now.”