Undergraduate Seminar

Falling from the Grip of Grace: A Critical Reading of Contemporary Art and Exhibitions

Lecturer, Department of Art, Film, and Visual Studies
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
2016

This course studied a history of spectatorship, participation, and social engagement in contemporary art. It referred to a selection of case studies of exhibitions, artworks and institutions to equip students with the knowledge and tools for assessing the changing role of spectators from indifferent viewers to integrated participants. Readings, class discussions, screenings, museum visits, and Carpenter Center programming guided critical reflections on recent curatorial and artistic strategies in exhibitions at museums and biennials in the United States and Europe.

The Carpenter Center exhibition Phil Collins: A Learning Site was the essential component of the course. The program served as the locus for experiencing the art of British artist Phil Collins while providing students opportunities to organize and contribute to CCVA public programs. The class collectively organized two Open Seminars dedicated to topics related to Collins’s practice. The course and program occasionally merged the public sphere of the institution with the private activity of the academic seminar to engage the visiting public in questions around the art of Phil Collins.

Exhibition, Syllabus