ARTH3011 · Fine Arts

Exhibitions as Form

Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences

This course traces the history of exhibition design and installation in modern and contemporary art. We will investigate what happens when artists forego the production of discrete art objects in order to investigate the conditions of display, curation, or participation. A major problem will be formulating ways of discussing artistic environments that make the experience of the viewer--immersed in sometimes bewildering, disorienting spaces--the subject of art making. What sensory experiences are opened up once the privileged sense of sight is troubled and we must feel our way through space by means of touch, hearing, or smell? And most importantly: Why and to what ends have artists, such as Marcel Duchamp, Niki de Saint Phalle, Yayoi Kusama, or David Hammons found it necessary to decenter, disorient, or unground spectators, making the experience of art uncomfortable, agitating, or unsettling?