Visual art is no longer defined exclusively in terms of painting or sculpture, even if these media continue to play an important role in the present-day art world. It is common for artists to work across a range of practices, from photography and film and text based work to performance and interventions in the environment. We shall be discussing artists' experimentation with these different kinds of art making and looking at new ways of engaging with the realities of the modern world that emerged as a result. Discussion is based on selected case studies, drawing on artists' interviews and statements as well as videos. We shall begin with artists such as Andy Warhol who were working in the 1960s and 1970s and who continue to set the agenda for present-day practice, move on through figures who came to prominence in the 1980s and 1990s, such Rachel Whiteread and Kara Walker, and finish in the present day. Themes explored include - the different forms taken by recent art as artists experimented with a variety of visual media, the interplay between abstract and realist tendencies, the role played by political commitments and concerns in recent artistic practice, postmodernism as a broader tendency in the visual arts, and the impact of consumerism and globalization.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $0-$50.

HISTART Categories for concentration distributions: 4. Modern and Contemporary, D. Europe and the US