TAD3112

Perspectives on postwar practices 3B

3 points - 2 hours lecture/seminar/tutorial and 4 independent study hours per week - Second semester - Caulfield - Prerequisites: Two second-year level TAD subjects - Prohibitions: TAD2102, TAD2112, TAD3102 - Elective

Objectives On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to identify the basic tenets of the major movements in art and design from 1945 to the present; give critical consideration to the main concepts of contemporary ideas about art and art theory; apply their analytical and research skills and understand ways in which to apply them to their own practice.

Synopsis This subject examines the shift of cultural power from Europe to America and the way in which art and design can play a central role in the formation of cultural identity. Influential movements such as abstract-expressionism, pop art, formalism, conceptual art, performance art, neo-expressionism, and the issues raised by varieties of postmodernism are explored. While still placing art and design within cultural and historical contexts, this subject introduces a more theoretical component to the analysis of postwar movements. Feminist analyses of art, the re-writing of art history and the history of visual culture and the influence of the theory of semiotics are introduced in this subject. Where appropriate, references are made to Australian art and design.

Assessment Tutorial paper: 50% - Gallery report: 50%

Prescribed texts

Appignanesi R and Garratt C Postmodernism for beginners Icon Books, 1995
Drucker J The visible world: Experimental typography and modern art, 1909-1923 U Chicago P, 1994
Gablik S Has modernism failed? Thames and Hudson, c1984
Harrison C and Wood P (eds) Art in theory 1900-1990: An anthology of changing ideas Blackwell, 1993
Margolin V (ed.) Design discourse: History, theory, criticism U Chicago P, 1989

Back to the 1999 Art and Design Handbook