Art and Activism

Catalog description

This course will focus on modern and contemporary artists and artists’ collectives who use their work for the explicit purpose of changing society, and who subscribe to the belief that all representation is ideological. Students will examine texts that propose a form of activism and persuade artists to be responsible for the way they represent the world—and perhaps even determine if the goal of art is not to represent the world in the first place. “What is art?” “What should art do?” “How can art incite social change?” “Does the artist have any social responsibility?” are just some of the questions raised when art comes into contact with the political sphere—especially when that art proposes to make a political or social change, i.e., when art becomes action. The artists and theorists that we will discuss are concerned with problems in our society that effect gender, race, sexuality, poverty, labor issues, and the environment. Key artists to be discussed include Martha Rosler, Kara Walker, David Hammons, Allan Sekula, Mel Chin, Barbara Kruger, Hans Haacke, Fred Wilson, General Idea, Guerilla Girls, Adrian Piper, and Alfredo Jaar.