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Avant-Guardian Musings

  • Spring 2025
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“Art is an outlet toward regions which are not ruled by time and space”
— Marcel Duchamp

Avant-Guardian Musings is a curated space of ideas and information, resources, reviews and readings for undergraduate and graduate students studying modern and contemporary art history and visual art theory, film and photography studies, and the expanding field of visual culture and screen studies. For students currently enrolled in my courses or the field school, the blog and associated social media links also serve as a place of reflection and an extension of the ideas and visual material raised in lecture and seminar discussion.

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Blog
From the Archives | How (And Why) To Take Excellent Lecture Notes
From the Archives | How (And Why) To Take Excellent Lecture Notes
about 10 months ago
Weekly Musings + Round Up... And A Few More Things
Weekly Musings + Round Up... And A Few More Things
about 2 years ago
Weekly Musings + Round Up... And A Few More Things
about 2 years ago
Weekly Musings + Round Up... And A Few More Things
Weekly Musings + Round Up... And A Few More Things
about 2 years ago
Top 10 Modern and Contemporary Art Exhibitions Worth Visiting In 2023
Top 10 Modern and Contemporary Art Exhibitions Worth Visiting In 2023
about 2 years ago

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Delighted to find these iconic Tom Ford Whitney’s deep in my closet over the weekend ✨☀️🕶️Anyone else remember these sunglasses from back in the day? I want to say these are well over 15 years old and they were a very big splurge, but I loved
Delighted to find these iconic Tom Ford Whitney’s deep in my closet over the weekend ✨☀️🕶️Anyone else remember these sunglasses from back in the day? I want to say these are well over 15 years old and they were a very big splurge, but I loved rediscovering and wearing them today. Great design is timeless. Invest in things you love— your future self will thank you✨ . . . #tomford #sunglasses #tomfordwhitney #whatiwore #shamelessselfie
If Seoul was a colour, it would be neon and bright, and if it was a shape, it would be curved and post-structural.
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#artanddesign #odetoacity #urban #seoul #korea #design #contemporaryart #architecture
If Seoul was a colour, it would be neon and bright, and if it was a shape, it would be curved and post-structural. . . . #artanddesign #odetoacity #urban #seoul #korea #design #contemporaryart #architecture
Visited the stunning Leeum Museum of Art today and took in the spatial delights of Korean architecture married to modern art. What I love most is how the familiar European and American “masters” (i.e. Rodin, Giacometti, Rauschenberg, Hess
Visited the stunning Leeum Museum of Art today and took in the spatial delights of Korean architecture married to modern art. What I love most is how the familiar European and American “masters” (i.e. Rodin, Giacometti, Rauschenberg, Hesse, Flavin, Rothko, Andre, Lewitt, Stella, etc…) are curated both in dialogue with Korean modern artists such as Lee Ufan and Kim Chong-yung, but also in juxtaposition to the beautiful natural setting that is showcased through large windows throughout the complex. A must see gallery if you visit Seoul. . . . #seoul #korea #modernart #contemporaryart #koreanart #arthistory
Flaneur for the day in Seoul ✨🇰🇷 A global city of high contrast, beauty, and living history around every corner.
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#seoul #korea #flaneur #daytripping #streetart #contemporaryart #modernart #urbanart #arthistory #urban #globalcity
Flaneur for the day in Seoul ✨🇰🇷 A global city of high contrast, beauty, and living history around every corner. . . . #seoul #korea #flaneur #daytripping #streetart #contemporaryart #modernart #urbanart #arthistory #urban #globalcity
Hello Seoul! 🇰🇷🛬✨안녕하세요 서울 Lucky me, I am incredibly excited to have arrived in South Korea today and staying smack dab in the middle of the stylish Gangnam District at the COEX Conference Centre. It is my first time in this beautiful city and I ca
Hello Seoul! 🇰🇷🛬✨안녕하세요 서울 Lucky me, I am incredibly excited to have arrived in South Korea today and staying smack dab in the middle of the stylish Gangnam District at the COEX Conference Centre. It is my first time in this beautiful city and I cannot wait to begin exploring, especially the contemporary art and design scene. I am here to attend and give a paper at the #IPSA2025 International Political Science Association World Congress, the largest global gathering of researchers and academics working on all things political and international relations oriented. IPSA as an academic association was founded under the auspices of UNESCO in 1949 and is devoted to the advancement of political science in all parts of the world and promotes collaboration between scholars in both established and emerging democracies. The 2025 Conference theme is “Resisting Autocratization in Polarized Societies” and I was invited to present a paper on my ongoing work on Trumpism, the neo avante-garde, and visual culture on a panel examining the role of cultural actors during periods of democratic backsliding. I only had a few hours after I arrived to my hotel to check out COEX, but I had to see the world famous library housed inside the shopping complex. It was a very cool sight for a book nerd like me 🤓 . . . #seoul #korea #southkorea #politicalscience #arthistory #academiclife #conference @kpuarts @kwantlenu

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© Dorothy Barenscott, Avant-Guardian Musings, and dorothybarenscott.com, 2010-2023. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Dorothy Barenscott, Avant-Guardian Musings, and dorothybarenscott.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Dorothy enjoying the sights and sounds of a sunset bike tour of Paris.

Dorothy enjoying the sights and sounds of a sunset bike tour of Paris.

Location| Paris & Kassel: Meet Field School Co-Organizer Dorothy Barenscott

July 13, 2017

Tell us a little about yourself—your teaching areas and interests and/or your background and how you became connected to the Paris /Documenta field school?

Bonjour and Guten Tag! My name is Dorothy Barenscott and I am the co-organizer along with Elizabeth Barnes of the 2017 Field School to Paris, France and Kassel, Germany. I am an art historian and researcher with a Ph.D. and specialization in the field of modern and contemporary art, and I am proud to say that this is the third field school that I have helped organize and run through Kwantlen Polytechnic University for the Fine Arts Department (past trips include a fantastic visit to New York and Venice in 2015, and my first field school to Paris and Kassel in 2012, both with artist/studio Instructor Nancy Duff, now retired).

My interests and research in the fields of urban studies, the artistic avant-garde, theories of modernism, and the expanding field of new media studies, together with the history of art exhibitions and the art market, have informed the cities and sights of interest chosen for the field schools, but I would say that the primary goal of this type of teaching and learning environment is to bring students and artists into closer physical and intellectual proximity to the living objects and dynamic histories that the world’s great art cities have to offer. As a lifelong traveler, both as an adult and graduate student studying in the world’s archives and museums-- but also as a child traveling between Canada and Eastern Europe to visit family and navigate the complexities of very different cultures-- I have long believed that world travel fosters a kind of active and pragmatic critical thinking, compassion, and tolerance that is unique and distinctive from other kinds of social engagement. My blog (and the field school blogs assembled here) serve as extensions of this broader interest in “travel” to reach beyond the classroom and enter into dialogue across wider distances and dimensions.

Dorothy, captured here, inside Jean Dubuffet's Le Jardin d'hiver (1968-70) immersive installation at the Pompidou in Paris.

Group photo with the field school students on the night of the memorable bike tour (Dorothy pictured seventh from the left).

How did you approach the task of teaching and working with students inside and outside the classroom for the field school?

Since I have learned a great deal from past iterations of the field school, I have had the benefit of fine-tuning both the pre-trip activities and on the ground itinerary for the art history course that makes up one of the two core courses for the field school. From my experience, one of the best ways to get students to engage with the art of the past is to assign them individual and relevant artists and art works that they can study ahead of the trip. Since my course’s focus was on the nineteenth century renovation of Paris and the modern art movements that emerged in conversation with these urban transformations (i.e. Impressionism and Post-Impressionism), Elizabeth and I sat down early in the planning phase of the field school and carefully chose and assigned artists and works from the Orsay Museum collection that we anticipated would resonate with individual students enrolled in both of our classes. We did this partially based on our knowledge of the students’ interests, but also as part of our desire to push and challenge the group, as individual members and collectively, in new ways. Reading, research, and careful consideration of historical context therefore made up the condensed three-week lecture and seminar portions of our pre-trip classes.

Once on the ground in Paris, and later in Kassel, we asked students to keep a daily travel journal of their encounters with the city and the art works they had studied, prompting them to reflect (through daily questions and mini assignments) on the unfolding and deepening knowledge they were gaining about their assigned artist and artwork. For students who were enrolled in both the art history and studio courses, this engagement also translated to their art practice and the daily art assignments that Elizabeth devised in coordination with my art history questions to keep our students creatively engaged for the duration of the trip. One of the bonuses of then traveling to Kassel to see Documenta was the challenge we posed to our students to connect their nineteenth century artist to some of the many contemporary artists featured at the important global art exhibition. Many people do not realize how radical and difficult much of the art of the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists was to the audiences of the their time, and it was therefore an important goal of this field school to have students critically engage with cutting edge contemporary art—an often difficult task—through their own appreciation and knowledge of past cutting-edge art movements.

Capturing 180 degrees of Monet at the L'Orangerie Gallery in Paris.

Looking up to see Chagall at the Paris Garnier Opera House.

Traveling out to Giverny to see and experience Monet's gardens.

Graffiti and street art hunting in Kassel-- here with Graham, who made it onto both ends of the panorama shot!

What was unique or memorable about experiencing Paris and Kassel with a group of students already interested in and/or practicing art making?

So much! To be honest, part of me worried that experiencing Paris and Kassel for a second time, albeit with a new group of students, would somehow lessen the exhilaration I experienced on the first trip in 2012. But nothing could be further from the truth. My number one thrill—watching students encounter and become captivated by compelling works of art or artists that they have long loved—was something I got to experience many times on this trip, and that feeling never gets old. Other moments, like walking with students through the grand halls of the Louvre and the Orsay, hunting with them on the streets of Paris for the perfect café experience, bike-riding at sunset, dashing for the Metro in laughter, discovering new local restaurants or street art, or stumbling upon some fantastic new artwork in an unexplored part of Documenta—the many many special moments that made up this trip were experienced in entirely new ways for me. This was perhaps one of the biggest revelations of the trip. Each field school is very unique, and it is the individual students—their distinct personalities, interests, quirks, and backgrounds— that bring the energy and special character that inform the final “feel” and long-term memory of the adventure.

Dorothy photographing the Champs-Élysées after touring the Arc de Triomphe.

Dorothy photographing the Champs-Élysées after touring the Arc de Triomphe.

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Which of the activities during the trip stand out to you? Any special highlights or memorable moments for you?

I can say that one of the most memorable aspects of this trip, something I had never done in the past, was that I kept an art journal and did daily sketching and drawing along with the art students. I also took many photographs and enjoyed the process of selecting, editing, and filtering images for the field school Instagram hashtag #kpuparis. Exercising another outlet for creativity besides my writing and research was a revelation, and I was grateful to be encouraged in my efforts by Elizabeth and many of the other students. I believe I am becoming a better art historian as I experiment with art making, and the more time I spend working with and teaching studio artists, the more I appreciate their mind-set and unique perspective on art history. I also made a quick exit from the field school on our final day in Paris to present a conference paper (based on the collection Canadian Culinary Imaginations I am co-editing with Dr. Shelley Boyd) at a Canada 150 themed international conference hosted by Paris Diderot University. This momentary pause to put on my researcher hat and represent KPU was somewhat surreal as it brought two very different parts of my job into sharp relief.

Looking back at this group and this particular field school, I have a big smile on my face as I can think of many great moments that I shared with each individual, but some of the special highlights that come first to mind include: taking a trip up to Giverny with Ashley to see Monet’s Gardens (where I think we both had one of our best meals of the trip); laughing so hard my sides hurt and tears were streaming from my face at our group dinner; wandering into the majestic Pantheon with Cameron, Kate, and Elizabeth on an impromptu visit; hunting for Yves Klein paintings with Kenneth at the Pompidou; finally experiencing the whole “Supreme” phenomenon in the Marais with Lukas; dreaming up new business ventures to pitch on Shark Tank over beers with Graham; seeing (and somehow photographing!) Celine Dion and Olivier Rousteing at the ballet I attended with Elizabeth; and finding many quiet moments alone to sit back and reflect on how fortunate I am to be on this adventure of a lifetime yet again. 

To see more photos and impressions of Paris and Kassel as the field school continues, check out our Instagram feed #kpuparis

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© Dorothy Barenscott, 2010-2025