In the 1960s, artists began to engage conspicuously with legal ideas, rituals, and documents. The law—a primary institution subject to intense moral and political scrutiny—was a widely recognized source of authority to audiences inside the art world and out. Artists frequently engaged with the law in ways that signaled a recuperation of the integrity that they believed had been compromised by the very institutions entrusted with establishing standards of just conduct. Taking an artwork-centered approach, this course explores contemporary artistic engagements with the law, including, but not limited to, indigenous rights, human-animal relationships, the role of surveillance and documentation and protest strategies actualized through art and performance. Evaluation based on class participation, presentations, and a short paper.

HISTART Concentration Distributions: Europe and the US, Modern and Contemporary

Image: Romare Bearden, Scales of Justice, c. 1976 Paper collage