Art Everywhere

Catalog description

How does art move around the world? And how does this movement influence what we know of art and of the world itself? Most university courses in the history of the arts are divided by geography; one might study Chinese or English or Indian art, music, literature, or performance, each in their own separate classes. But how do we account for the ways that art and ideas move across cultures? What can studying art from one place tell us about that place - and about our own places and times, which might be far away? Historically the movement of art has revealed global power structures, as well as local interests, agency, and rootedness. Globalization is commonly equated with contemporary multinational corporations, from Apple to Amazon to AliExpress, but earlier periods of global exchange have also materially shaped what art is and can be. Art can reflect and reveal a global movement of peoples and ideas, as well as the raw materials that make art possible - whether words, woods, animals, minerals, or melodies. What else does art carry with it when it moves? And how does art that is rooted in place tell us more about that place and the wider world at the same time? We will focus in lectures on case studies that explore how art and artists respond to place, whether their own local environments or more far-reaching ones. In a series of workshops, students will work towards creating a site-specific final project to be exhibited at Burbank.