SHUM 4971 - Risk and Artistic Value: Comparative Analyses in Dominant, Residual and Emergent Artworks

(crosslisted)
(also ARTH 4971, VISST 4971)

Spring. 4 credits.

Limited to 15 students.

P. Aroch-Fugellie.

When articulating meaning in unforeseen ways, artists may put at risk their possibility to (continue to) circulate. Whether artworks are deemed valuable is something for which the value-assignment mechanisms of the market fall short. So, what else is there at stake in their appraisal at reception? And how does the willingness to take the risk of destabilizing accepted meanings vary according to the conditions of production of dominant, residual and emergent art? We will explore these questions through the work of unknown artists, canonical artists and artists in vogue at the global core and periphery. The selection includes art by Regina José, Orozco, Oldenburg, Cueto, Magritte and Colectivo Tijera. Our discussion will benefit from texts by Raymond Williams, Jameson, Heidegger, Lacan and Peirce, among others.