Aesthetics of Crisis

For: Research Master Students
Type: Course
ECTS: 6
Dates: Second Semester
Time: tba
Place: tba
Organizer: Johan Hartle
Registration: J.F.Hartle@uva.nl (before January 15, 2016)
Contact: J.F.Hartle@uva.nl

The course is dedicated to the question of representing societal and economic crisis in contemporary art: How can a society characterised by processes of virtualisation, abstraction and instability be represented at all? And: Why should it? Much has been written about the social impact and responsibility of the arts in a situation of crisis. A number of relevant artistic positions are addressing these challenges directly. In the tutorial we will read some classical texts concerning the question of artistic realism against the background of advanced post-fordist societies. Key texts to be discussed include works of TJ Clark, Allan Sekula, Hito Steyerl, Alberto Toscano to outline the possibility of a critical aesthetics.
Students who are interested in following this tutorial should register before January 15th (j.f.hartle@uva.nl)