iHeart work spotted in Vancouver in late April 2019, six weeks into Vancouver’s Covid-19 lockdown (photo: D. Barenscott)

Courses For Spring 2021: Contemporary Art. Urban and Screen Culture, and Film Studies

November 23, 2020

As registration for Spring 2021 academic courses is ongoing, I wanted to provide more information about courses I will begin teaching starting January 2021. Please see detailed descriptions below. If you have any specific questions that are not answered here, you can contact me directly. In keeping with Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Covid-19 plan, all of the following courses will be held ONLINE and be asynchronous with non-mandatory and optional synchronous components.

ARTH 2222: CONTEMPORARY ART & VISUAL CULTURE, 1945-PRESENT

Cindy Sherman, Untitled #586, 2016/2018 (photo: D. Barenscott) — Cindy Sherman, *Untitled #586*, 2016/2018 (photo: D. Barenscott)

Kwantlen Polytechnic University (ONLINE). Prerequisites: 6 credits of any 1100-level courses or higher.

How is the world of contemporary art a reflection on our broader culture? What can artists teach us about visualizing the complex world in which we live? This course will investigate social, political, cultural and technological influences on Western art from the mid-twentieth century to the present, exploring modern and contemporary painting, sculpture, architecture, printmaking, ceramics, photography, film, installation art, video art, digital art, performance art and other multi-media practices.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: From photography to video, collage to assemblage, installation to performance, such media have extended notions of what art could materially consist of, but have also affected the anticipation of audiences for that work, having social as well as aesthetic implications. Ultimately, our attention will be on the network where art is made, presented to and reacted to by different parties, and to the ways that portions of the art system―such as art history and cultural criticism―have conceived of and explained the workings of such a system and the society it exists within.

ARTH 1140: INTRODUCTION TO VISUAL ART, URBAN, AND SCREEN CULTURE

Eine, Harmony mural in Chicago, 2020 (photo: D. Barenscott)

Kwantlen Polytechnic University (ONLINE). Prerequisites: 6 credits of any 1100-level courses or higher.

Formulated to compliment ARTH 1130: Introduction to Film Studies, ARTH 1140 extends the conversation about screen culture to the world of urban studies and public art. We begin with the question "How do we navigate and make sense of the fast-changing world of new urban visual environments and the emerging world of screen culture?" and explore case studies in street and graffiti art, hip-hop and punk culture, video gaming, anime, new media and Internet art, urban performance art, activist art, grassroots fashion, street photography, and the world of mobile photography and filmmaking.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: Students will study the broad field of contemporary visual art and culture with a specific focus on the role of urban environments and the emerging world of screen culture in shaping new possibilities for global art production and circulation. Students will explore how they can become active agents rather than passive observers through engagement with the diversity of visual art and culture surrounding them. They will investigate interdisciplinary topics connecting the world of visual art with urban and screen cultures through case studies in street and graffiti art, hip-hop and punk culture, video gaming, anime, new media and Internet art, urban performance art, activist art, grassroots fashion, street photography, and the world of mobile photography and filmmaking.

ARTH 1130: INTRODUCTION TO FILM STUDIES

Joaquin Phoenix in Joker (2019) — Joaquin Phoenix in *Joker* (2019)

Kwantlen Polytechnic University (ONLINE). Prerequisites: None

The ever popular film studies course is continuing to evolve and update to consider recent developments in the film industry, together with new research that links histories of cinema's past to its present. This is a course that will have you thinking critically about motion pictures long after the final exam.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: Students will study the history and development of world cinema, and the comprehension and theory of film as a visual language and art-making practice from its inception in the late nineteenth century to the present. The goal of the course is to introduce students to the critical interpretation of the cinema and the various vocabularies and methods with which one can explore the aesthetic function, together with the social, political, and technological contexts and developments, of moving pictures. Each week, a full length feature film (chosen by popular class vote) will be screened and serve as a starting point and gateway for discussion about the course’s weekly themes.

Detail from Egon Schiele, The Hermits (1912). Thought to be a self-portrait of Schiele with artist and mentor Gustav Klimt, this painting represents what Schiele has described as “the mourning world” that mirrors the social and political erosion of … — Detail from Egon Schiele, *The Hermits* (1912). Thought to be a self-portrait of Schiele with artist and mentor Gustav Klimt, this painting represents what Schiele has described as “the mourning world” that mirrors the social and political erosion of the crumbling Austro-Hungarian Empire. Both Austrian artists would die in 1918 during the Spanish Flu pandemic— Schiele at the age of 28 and Klimt at the age of 55.

Weekly Round Up... And A Few More Things

November 22, 2020

An optimist by nature, I try to be the kind of person who finds the silver lining in difficult situations and choose to persevere rather than give up or give in. But this month has been especially hard, on so many levels personal and professional, and for so many people near and dear in my orbit. With my students, I have been trying to find a balance as we finish out this difficult semester. Compassion is called for at these times, and the discussion around mental health and well-being, on many levels, has filled up more of my time than any real conversations about course content. I have to remind myself constantly that we are not living anywhere near “normal” times, and then find a way to mirror that reality as an educator. Compassion is called for in a way that we may not see again in the same way in this lifetime.

Thankfully, the study of art history and visual culture provides ample opportunity to explore and find resonance with the creatives and artists of past eras, and I am seeing some of the most profound and thoughtful ideas coming out of the courses I have taught since the pandemic started. In my round up this week, you will discover something of this sentiment in an art world continuing to find meaning and offer critical reflection as the optimism of recent years is tested.

A FEW MORE THINGS BEFORE THE ROUND UP

I have been writing a few lines a day in my five-year journal (pictured above) since the early days of the pandemic.

At the beginning of the pandemic, the historian in me knew that a documentation of what lay ahead would someday prove compelling. As I am pretty inconsistent with daily journaling, I wanted something low stakes and analog to meet me where I was. Some Lines a Day Journal has proven to be the perfect journaling companion. It is one of the many five years on a page journals out on the market that prompts a short entry (literally of 4-5 lines tops) each day and allows you to see the comparison of your entries year to year for five years, all on one page. I have been recommending this to my students and I share here as well as a small daily habit that over time will create quite a personal keepsake. I also love the elegant simplicity and quality of the Leuchtturm1917 journals—they are a dream to write in.
I am currently working on a paper that will be published in an edited book titled Through a Glass, Darkly: Screening the Art World through Amsterdam University Press later next year. My chapter is tentatively titled “Breaking the Fourth Wall: Exposing the Business of Contemporary Art in Documentary Film” and as part of my research I have been reading recent art theory that deals with art and culture in the era of Trump. Among the literature I am reviewing, I have especially enjoyed Hal Foster’s book What Comes After Farce? (Verso, 2020). I routinely assign Foster for many of my upper level art history courses-- his books were also staple reading when I was a grad student-- and his latest book is already helping me to conceptualize important underpinnings to the arguments I will be making in my paper. Highly recommended text for a broad interdisciplinary readership, but also incredibly accessible for a lay audience interested in what is happening to the arts in a “post-truth” world. And P.S. the book is currently 40% off through the publisher’s year-end sale.

"Yayoi Kusama’s Self-Portrait as a Young Provocateur"

hyperallergic.com

"Life on the Line: 10 Artists Spread Mental Health Awareness Across Toronto’s Subway"

thisiscolossal.com

"How Do You Know When Society Is About to Fall Apart?"

nytimes.com

"Processing Our 2020 Feelings With Patty Chang"

hyperallergic.com

"Fade into Place"

canadianart.ca

"Why the Art World Shouldn’t Be Congratulating Itself on Donald Trump’s Defeat"

artnet.com

"The story you haven’t heard about that viral image of Kamala Harris and Ruby Bridges"

latimes.com

"‘The Crown’: The History Behind Season 4 on Netflix"

nytimes.com

"The Pandemic Clarified Who the Kardashians Really Are"

theatlantic.com

"How mass media representations shape us | Cindy Sherman (VIDEO)"

moma.org

Georgia O’Keefe, City Night (1926). O’Keefe, an American modern artist, was born on this day in 1887 and spent part of her career capturing the urban landscape in all of its utopian and dystopian dimensions. — Georgia O’Keefe, *City Night* (1926). O’Keefe, an American modern artist, was born on this day in 1887 and spent part of her career capturing the urban landscape in all of its utopian and dystopian dimensions.

Weekly Round Up... And A Few More Things

November 15, 2020

In the wake of Remembrance Day, the rising tide of the pandemic globally, and political instability returning to the U.S. after a momentary glimpse of hope and change, it has been a very sombre and introspective week. And it appears that the “dark winter” that many have been predicting is slowly and inevitably upon us…and in more ways than one. No doubt, it is very human to think we are unique in our struggles and anxieties, and living in unprecedented times, but as someone who has spent many years studying the history of failed revolutions and cultural transformations, especially of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, I continue to marvel at how many parallels exist between our present moment and that of the past.

The artist Georgia O’Keefe, who was born on this day in 1887 and lived to be 98 years old, is a poignant example of an individual who not only survived the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 — she was an art school professor during that period— but also the two world wars that followed, along with participating in the women’s movement. Looking at her artworks spanning this time, one recognizes the rejection of her traditional art training and turn to modernism as part of an internal revolution that mirrored the world she viewed around her. “I said to myself,” writes O’Keefe, “I have things in my head that are not like what anyone has taught me - shapes and ideas so near to me - so natural to my way of being and thinking that it hasn't occurred to me to put them down. I decided to start anew, to strip away what I had been taught.” What brings me comfort via O’Keefe’s example is the knowledge that most of us will absolutely survive this difficult year, despite facing the truth that so much, and so many, will be lost. The fortunate among us will be rewarded with the opportunity to start anew.

A FEW MORE THINGS BEFORE THE ROUND UP

I have reached the American New Wave week of my Introduction to Film Studies class, and as part of my preparation I recently re-watched Dog Day Afternoon (1975), a classic of the period starring Al Pacino and directed by Sidney Lumet. I cannot express how fresh and relevant this film remains to contemporary eyes. Without spoiling the film, let’s just say it was way ahead of its time in exploring themes around media and celebrity, cultures of policing, income inequality, and racial and sexual discrimination underpinning so much of North American society. I cannot wait to see what my students make of the film when they respond to their screening questions, and I hope some of you put this one on your list for lock-down viewing in the coming months.
Speaking of the winter and upcoming holidays, I keep waiting for the first sign of the season, which for most of us arrives in the form of Christmas songs and treats of the season (and yes, those Irish Cream Americanos are worth a visit to Starbucks). More specifically though, who doesn’t find Mariah Carey’s super festive and upbeat earworm “All I Want For Christmas Is You” a signal that the holidays are underway. As a teenager of the 1980s and fan of autobiographies, I have been looking forward to Carey’s long awaited book The Meaning of Mariah ever since I first got wind of it last year. I finished it a few weeks ago and I have to say that it was one of the most incredible and conceptual memoirs I have read in recent years. What I love most is the way that Carey invites her readers into her creative process and shares how deeply personal struggles transformed her artistry and approach to making music. Highly recommended and this review gives you some insights and reasons to pick it up.
Oh yes, unless you have been living under a rock, The Crown Season 4 dropped this morning on Netflix…. I will slow watch this one between now and the holidays and savour every beautifully shot and scripted episode.

"When Waking Begins"

theparisreview.org

"The Mary Wollstonecraft Monument in London Is Bad Kitsch Feminism"

curbed.com

"Eric Fischl’s Privileged Bubble"

hyperallergic.com

"How Societies Go Backward"

nybooks.com

"How Does the Art World Feel About Joe Biden’s Victory? (PODCAST)"

artangle

"Kara Walker kicks Donald Trump to the curb and more of the best Instagram art responding to the US election"

theartnewspaper.com

"Was Michelangelo a Renaissance Banksy?"

wsj.com

"Lithuania’s Award-Winning Venice Biennale Pavilion Is Coming to an Abandoned Swimming Pool Just Outside Berlin"

artnet.com

"An Impossible Photograph: Jeff Wall (VIDEO)"

art21.org

"Art for Two - Diwali Special Edition: Amish Tripathi x Neil MacGregor (VIDEO)"

thegetty

Julie Mehretu, Easy Dark (detail) (2007). Mehretu’s artworks are dedicated to exploring time, space, place, politics, and history in the making, especially in urban environments, and through the language of abstraction. — Julie Mehretu, *Easy Dark* (detail) (2007). Mehretu’s artworks are dedicated to exploring time, space, place, politics, and history in the making, especially in urban environments, and through the language of abstraction.

Weekly Round Up... And A Few More Things

November 08, 2020

Julie Mehretu, Easy Dark (2007). — Julie Mehretu, *Easy Dark* (2007).

Waiting and watching for the results of the U.S. election along with the rest of the world, I spent time distracting myself from doomscrolling Twitter and refreshing the New York Times election map by organizing photographs from museum and gallery visits in 2019. Among the images from my trip to the Venice Biennale with the field school last summer, I was reminded of the many abstract works we had encountered that engaged with ideas around confronting history—from artists such as Adrian Ghenie, Sean Scully, Luc Tuymans, and Julie Mehretu—and all of the conversations about how and why abstraction had come to define what was “happening” and being explored by artists, especially in the previous two to three years. Much of what we were seeing was in direct response to the Biennale theme, “May You Live In Interesting Times” and the global response to the rise of illiberalism globally, and the yet unknown impact of Trump’s presidency. I was reminded again that the most captivating works we encountered turned on the idea of what remains beyond language, beyond conventional representation, and in that space where abstract art does its best work—in that liminal domain of transformation and becoming.

That is how I have felt since the moment Trump lost the election, and especially as the spontaneous response to the result worldwide is signalling some potential for a profound paradigm shift globally. To this end, I wanted to feature Julie Mehretu’s work in particular. As an Ethiopian-American and biracial LGBTQ+ contemporary artist, Mehretu has spent much of her career utilizing abstract art in the service of social and political content, especially in terms of exploring lived space and landscapes of power in the United States. I invite you to listen and learn about Mehretu in her own words, and I hope what will remain with you is the singular importance visual artists hold in terms of capturing what may be the “psychogeography” of moments like the one we are collectively experiencing this week. Enjoy the round up this week, and remember that we are indeed living in interesting times!

"Why I Love Women Who Wallop"

nytimes.com

"Democracy’s Afterlife"

nybooks.com

"‘Good Luck, America’: Artists and Arts Workers React to the Nail-Biting US Presidential Election"

artnet.com

"The Guardian view on live art: irreplaceable energy"

theguardian.com

"Brendan Fernandes’s Zoom Choreography"

canadianart.ca

"How to build the next American president"

theartnewspaper.com

"The Art Angle: How Pepe the Frog Explains America’s Toxic Politics (PODCAST)"

artnet.com

"How Collectors Can Establish Meaningful Connections with Artists"

arsty.net

"360º Exhibition Walkthrough | Gerhard Richter: Painting After All (VIDEO)"

metmuseum

"Postcommodity in "Borderlands" - Extended Segment | Art21 (VIDEO)"

art21

Hannah Höch, Untitled (1930) from her series From an Ethnographic Museum. Hoch was born on this day in 1889. A German Dada artist, Hoch was best known for her photomontage works that provoked conversations about gender and identity. — Hannah Höch, *Untitled* (1930) from her series *From an Ethnographic Museum*. Hoch was born on this day in 1889. A German Dada artist, Hoch was best known for her photomontage works that provoked conversations about gender and identity.

Weekly Round Up... And A Few More Things

November 01, 2020

I am publishing this post as I return home from a complete day of rest, leisure, and time away from my work, teaching, and research. I rode my beloved motorcycle James up the sea-to-sky highway to Whistler for a lunch date with my husband, listening to my favourite playlist the whole way (1970’s deep funk has been on heavy rotation lately), and reveling in what will likely be the last sunny day warm enough to make this kind of journey. Yes, this a full day off—one where I prioritize myself, my mental health, and uphold the boundary to keep Sundays sacred and off limits to email, grading, work, or any other distraction from pure me-time. Does this sound selfish or impossible? Perhaps to many of you it does, and the reality is it doesn’t matter much to me anymore. I used to care, and care far too much about what others thought of me and my decisions, but these days I am entirely unapologetic about the way I carefully carve out space and time to make these kinds of days, and my own way of prioritizing all facets of my life, possible.

Part of the reason for this share, and at this specific time, is because four years ago this week I finally had to face my own out of control workaholism and tendency to prioritize other people’s (students, colleagues, friends, family, you name it….) emergencies, demands, last minute requests, and other stress-inducing tasks. I got to the point where I simply couldn’t take any more, and I got sick, really sick, and had to suffer for six weeks with a horrible, painful case of the shingles, and right at a time I was trying to finish up an especially challenging semester and publishing deadline (and strangely, just after Trump was elected… but I digress). My doctor looked at me and said, “something has to change for you, or else you will be faced with this again in some other form.” This landed… hard, and I was forced to rest, and forced to take a long hard look at everything. In the years that came after that episode, I started making A LOT of changes—changes in how I organize my time, changes in how I relate to others and accept being treated, and yes, changes in my health—physical, mental, and even spiritual. Long story short, it was a complete overhaul of how I prioritize what is important to me.

So, on this the fourth anniversary of my health emergency wake-up call, I want anyone reading this to know that it is ok, and sometimes even life-saving, to carefully carve out and guard your precious time. It is also ok to say no to workaholism and the need to constantly be doing, performing, striving, and living up to others’ expectations. Listen to your gut, and trust your inner voice to know what really needs your attention. What lies on the other side of upholding your boundaries and championing your health? Happiness, contentment, peace, and the kind of joy that I can only describe as transcendent as you weave along a sun-drenched highway on a motorcycle, up to the mountains for the day, playing Marvin Gaye’s “Got to Give It Up” on full blast.

A FEW MORE THINGS BEFORE THE ROUND UP

Two books arrived in my mailbox this week that I trust will be helpful as I continue to navigate the online learning environment. I will report back once I get through them, but they may prove useful for other colleagues, grad students who are TAing, and other educators with a stake in this new normal. The first is James Lang’s Distracted: Why Students Can’t Focus and What You Can Do About It, and the second one is Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science in Online Classes.
I was reminded when catching up on my art history periodicals from earlier this fall that comedian Hannah Gadsby, a comedian who manages to work art history and her routines, dropped another Netflix schedule sometime during the haze of the early phases of the pandemic. It is called Douglas, and you can read Ben Luke’s take on her subversive uses of art history here.