AHY 2210 - A History of Exhibitions

Credits: 4
This course is study of seminal international exhibitions of art in a global context from the 1850s through the 21st century. In weekly readings of both primary and secondary sources, writings and class discussions we will examine the production and curation of seminal exhibitions as complex processes marked by particular social, political, economic and cultural forces. The course will be divided into three major sections. In the first section we will follow a chronological structure and will consider exhibitions such as, The First Impressionist Exhibition (Paris, 1874), The Armory Show (New York, 1913), 0.10 The Last Futurist Exhibition of Pictures (Petrograd, 1915), The First Gutai Art Exhibition (Tokyo, 1955), and their relationship with cultural formations such as avant-garde and modernism and their difference from World’s Fairs. In the second section we will consider iconic and experimental exhibitions after World War II, including When Attitudes Become Form (Bern, 1969), Information (New York, 1970), The Bulldozer Exhibition (Moscow, 1974), Magiciens de la Terre (Paris, 1989) and Traffic (Bordeaux, 1996) and their relation to notions such as contemporaneity, contemporary art, and the Cold War. In the third and final section of the course, which will be thematically structures, we will discuss mega-exhibitions, spectacle museum architecture dedicated to showcasing contemporary art, and the nature and role of the world art biennials at the intersection of nationalism and globalization. We will also take one to two field trips to museums in Baltimore and/or Washington DC.

McDaniel Plan: International and Social, Cultural, Historical Understanding