This past year, I’ve spent quite a bit of time thinking about how to readjust teaching the final weeks of my survey course in modern and contemporary art, and as now is the time the semester is finishing out, I am getting to see how my tweaks and new pedagogical approach have panned out. To be clear, this final section of my course is where I cover off the past 10-20 years of historical developments in the art world globally. As any historian teaching content up to the present day knows, this is always the toughest part of any course to teach, as we lack the critical distance to understand the full significance of changes taking place. But, as my own research interests have integrated more and more consideration of the art market, the influence of social media, and the rising influence of art fairs and spectacle events surrounding artists, along with growing income inequality globally, I am seeing the necessity to address the big shifts that are taking place right before our eyes in the world of contemporary art.

The trifecta of “outrage art” from 2019 proved to be a perfect case study and pedagogical tool in my survey Contemporary art history course. Shown here are: Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian (2019), Banksy’s, Love Is In the Bin (2019), and Rodney Graham’… — The trifecta of “outrage art” from 2019 proved to be a perfect case study and pedagogical tool in my survey Contemporary art history course. Shown here are: Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian (2019), Banksy’s, *Love Is In the Bin* (2019), and Rodney Graham’s *Spinning Chandelier* (2019)

2019, in particular, proved to be a watershed year in this regard, with a trifecta of well covered controversial art works, both local and global, that allowed me to set up a near perfect case study: Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian (2019), Banksy’s, Love Is In the Bin (2019), and Rodney Graham’s Spinning Chandelier (2019). Each of these works of art present an entire nexus of discourse and analysis on a range of issues that ideally require an understanding of modern and contemporary art history of the past 50-70 years. The cover art for my ARTH 2222: Contemporary Art & Visual Culture syllabus and online course presents these three works as a kind of persistent teaser, and over the 12 weeks of the class the goal is to have the works come into clearer focus, understanding, and relevance for my students.

Therefore, instead of attempting to capture a traditional historical approach and merely surveying the “important” artists of the past 10-20 years—something which I am finding is almost impossible to do without the necessary historical distance— I have taken to assessing the circulation of meaning around particular artists and controversial art works as a way to assess critical currents in today’s art world. I list for you below three of the videos I have featured in the final module of my ARTH 2222 course that undertake some of the analysis of the three controversial art works in question. Each provide a glimpse into what is driving conversation and change in the art world during these precarious times, but at the same time, allow for the understanding that none of these artists or art works may stand the “test of time” and enter into the canon of art history.

A few more things before the round up

As the end of the semester ramps up, I am always trying to encourage my students to avoid all of the distractions (especially of the screen variety). A quick and simple fix comes in the form of apps that disable your phone and/or computer for set times and types of notifications etc.. One that I have used recently is OFFTIME (for my iPhone) but I also love the old school app SelfControl (for Macs) or Freedom (for all platforms).
Academy Award season is next month (April 25th) and once this semester is done, I am planning to finally watch many films I missed while surviving the year of Covid. Here is a list to get you started in case you have similar goals, and I want to once again shout from the roof tops about how awesome it is that two women (Emerald Fennel and Chloe Zhao) are nominated in the Directing category. Slow but steady progress.