Handbook

This course introduces you to recent histories and contexts that inform the major themes of contemporary art. As Lynne Segal noted “it is never possible, whatever the image, to isolate it, fix its meaning and predict some inevitable pattern of response, independently from assessing its wider representational context”. This course locates art practices within wider social, cultural, political, and philosophical contexts. You will be introduced to the histories of postmodernism, feminism, globalisation, decolonisation and other major frameworks that continue to shape contemporary art. The course focuses on art practices since the 1960s and examines how the rise of installation, performance and conceptual art have influenced the breakdown of traditional discipline boundaries. You will develop critical visual analysis skills through discursive tutorial activities, academic reading, writing and research tasks, assisting you to situate your own artistic interests within the context of recent key debates in art history and theory.