ARTS1804 — This Is Art!? Art & Ourselves
All art was contemporary, once. And since art is made by people, it reflects everything about the attitudes, ideas and serious questions at play in the culture when it was made, as well as the multifaceted identities of the makers behind the works. From rogue graffiti, giant metal sculptures of balloon animals to a banana taped to the wall, these works speak volumes about our values, desires, fears and foibles. This course will introduce students to methods and ideas necessary to understand artworks often deemed difficult or too hard to "get" by the general public and then use that knowledge in larger discussions about what they are being asked to consider about this moment in time. prereq: new college student in their first semester of enrollment at UMM