ARTH 2605 - Contemporary Photography

(crosslisted)
(also VISST 2605) (CA-AS)

Spring. 4 credits.

J. Nisbet.

Beginning in the late 1960s, the field of photography experienced a dynamic expansion and revision. This “photo boom,” as one practitioner described it, ushered in a significant realignment in contemporary art, witnessing photography shift from a specialist practice on the periphery of painting and sculpture to dissolving their very claims to medium specificity. Focusing on major art centers in North America and Western Europe, we will begin with conceptual art during the 1960s, to be followed by such topics as performance, archival practice, staged photography, digitality, and camera-less abstraction. Major figures include Bernd and Hilla Becher, Mel Bochner, Cindy Sherman, Sherrie Levine, Thomas Demand, and James Welling. Readings will be drawn primarily from artist statements and criticism.