FINEARTS 210G Understanding Contemporary Visual Arts Practice

Schedule
Schedule A: Music, Art and Contemporary Society

Semester
Summer School, Semester Two

Campus
City Campus (Semester Two), Epsom Campus (Summer School)

Prerequisite: 60 points at Stage 1 in any subject(s).

Note: Does not satisfy the General Education requirements for BFA, BFA(Hons), BFA and BFA(Hons) conjoints or BVA.

How does the contemporary art world work? This course presents practioners' perspectives on artistic practices. The course involves active exploration of the local art enviroment. This includes visits to galleries, and presentations from artists, curators, gallerists and critics.

The objectives for the course are to:

1. Develop your understanding of contemporary artists' methodologies and the institutional structure of the art worlds that surround them.
2. Encourage you to explore contemporary art in a gallery setting.
3. Increase your capacity to read critically and analytically in secondary sources about contemporary art.
4. Develop your formal writing skills in relation to contemporary artistic practices.

This course is for anyone interested in understanding contemporary visual arts from a practioners' perspective.

On successful completion of this course, you will be able to research and participate in contemporary art practices, and discuss examples of practioners' methodologies and areas of investigation.

A) Weeks 1-5: Introducing Galleries, Exhibitions, and Critical Writing
In these sessions, we begin to find out where contemporary visual art can be found, and practise responding to particular exhibitions. The key thing we hope you will learn from these sessions is that there is not a single “art world”, but a wide range of practices and spaces that present them.

B) Weeks 6-12: Artists, Curators, Practices
In these lectures, we will hear from practising artists and curators about their work and the particular issues they face in their work, including:

• Curating
• Working processes
• Communities and audiences
• Finances and sustainability
• Institutions
• Media

The class meets for one two-hour lecture each week, without separate tutorials. Some classes are held off-site at exhibitions.

FINEARTS 210G is fully assessed by coursework — there is no examination for this course.

Assessment consists of two assignments:

1. Assignment One: Students are asked to review a local exhibition using concepts from their home discipline (40%).
2. Assignment Two: Students are asked to research a contemporary visual artist and give an account of their practice (60%).

There are no set texts for this course, though a number of resources will be presented by the lecturer in class.