Art, Criticism and Its Institutions

This course discusses conceptual and institutional frameworks for works of art and art critique. The relationship between art and social reality will be explored and questioned in a historical perspective; especially the potential discrepancy between the aesthetic and the political and social dimension. This should enable us to discuss constituents at play in aesthetic studies in general, and in critical writing in particular.

The students should acquire a basic understanding of the institutional frameworks of art and art experience, and be trained to relate critically to the guiding mechanisms in discourses about art, aesthetic experience and criticism.

Lectures/seminars and self study.

Students specialise in a topic chosen under guidance from the course instructor.

This will result in an essay (12-15 pages).