Aesthetics

Aesthetics and Critical Theory Current Term Art and Critique Links

Learning Outcomes: The successful student is capable of offering a challenge to received opinions concerning art, art critique, and the world, either through the direct presentation of personal work or through the direct engagement with the work of others. More specifically, these goals can be stated in the following succinct points:

Demonstrate content familiarity with 20th Century modern and post-modern critical perspectives.
Apply critical ideas through writing or visual creative work.
Communicate ideas about works by reference to art tradition and technical approaches.
Effectively self-represent a body of work through an artist statement.
Demonstrate the paradoxes of ‘understanding’ of an anthroposemiotic worldview.

Because "art" as process may be a very individual rather than a social expression, the course outcomes are designed to bridge between the "personal" and the "social" bases of criticism. Because "art" may be a form of "criticism", some of the "aesthetic as criticism" outcomes can be measured, indeed, by noting the levels of discomfort evident in those of conventional mind who encounter works. This class recognizes that art is often presented as a challenge to or critique of ideas of "cultural norms." The aversion of the gaze, squirming in the chair, signs or exclamations of surprise, profuse sweating, panic attack, nervous laughter, and occasional psychotic breaks are all signs that honest critique is "in the house", so to speak. On a more social level, this class teaches that creative activity does not have to conform in order to be valid; in fact, conformity may diffuse the aesthetic or critical efficacy of an artist's or critic's work. Yet the most powerful effects of the successful artist or critic are a promotion of desire among others to emulate creative action, an attraction to "causes" (especially those involving production, gender, the environment and multicultural issues), and most of all the encouragement to question one's "first take" on anything, and to write or create every day, and to do everything possible to encourage others to write and create every day.

Initial Reading Assignment: Why I Believe Becoming Peircean is Preferable, Floyd Merrell, Purdue. University.

Text: A Critical and Cultural Theory Reader, Antony Easthope and Kate McGowan, eds., U. Toronto Press.

Assignments: Aesthetics and Critical Theory is an experiential treatment of aesthetic issues with emphasis on integrating the arts, broadly defined, and the wide range of descriptive and critical cultural studies generated by anthropology and other disciplines. Students read critical works representing postmodernism and the arts, explore their own creativity through writing, visual projects, performance, and other self-initiated projects. There are no set assignments. Each student, however, is expected to read the recommended text, produce independently defined creative work to share with the class, relate these experiences, and participate in the critical discussions of work brought to class. The instructor provides guidance for this ongoing work, facilitates discussion, challenges students through reading, and shares his own work. In addition, artists and critics visit class sessions to discuss their own work and answer questions. Past class sessions have involved work in art history, ballet, creative non-fiction, feminist criticism, fiction writing, film, folk dance, painting, poetry, performance, photography, rap, and sculpture.

The class typically includes students from arts disciplines and anthropology.