Undergraduate Course: Examining Exhibitions: How Histories of Modern and Contemporary Art Are (Re)Made Through Exhibitions (HIAR10208)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh College of Art |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course examines the ways in which exhibitions contribute to changing art-historical narratives and produce new understanding of modern and contemporary artists' works. Through a series of case studies we will explore how exhibitions and their accompanying catalogues propose intellectual and theoretical arguments which reshape art history, as well how they respond to wider social and political demands for change. |
| Course description |
Histories of art are contested, and how museums choose which artists to exhibit, as well as what categories of material to count as 'art', change in response to wider intellectual and social pressures, which since the 1960s have included movements such as feminism, anti-racism, poststructuralism and new materialisms. At the same time, artistic practice itself is embedded in historical processes and can be shown to offer new forms and concepts which can change and deepen our understanding of history. Over the latter half of the twentieth century, exhibitions and their accompanying catalogues have become one of the key ways in which new ideas and conceptualisations for art history have been proposed, and through which the potential of art to offer new understanding of history has been explored.
In this course, each week we will study an example of an exhibition which proposed a revisionist or historically significant argument, seeking to change existing narratives or bring new understanding of previously neglected or misunderstood artistic practices. Case studies will vary each year but for example may include The Milk of Dreams, the Venice Biennale of 2022; AfroModern: Journeys Through the Black Atlantic (Tate Liverpool, 2010), or Eva Hesse: Studioworks (Fruitmarket, 2009). Each week we will ask: what argument does this exhibition make? How does it seek to change existing narratives? What new understanding does it offer? How could we use this new understanding to do art history differently in the future?
The course is taught through a series of ten, weekly 2-hour seminar discussions. One of these will usually take place in a local gallery or museum, or with the participation of a curator. Students will be expected to prepare for class by completing the required reading (typically 2-4 articles or book chapters). Students will also be encouraged and supported to attend weekly 1-hour peer study groups, to discuss a key question set by the teacher. In class, students will be asked to present their study group findings and participate in general discussion of the readings and the case-studies.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2024/25, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
| Course Start Date |
13/01/2025 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 9,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 9,
External Visit Hours 2,
Feedback/Feedforward Hours 1,
Summative Assessment Hours 1,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
174 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
This course has 2 assessment components
- Portfolio of three 750-1,000-word analyses of exhibitions due in Week 5-8 of semester (50%). Each of the three analyses contributes equally to the overall mark for this component.
- 2,000 word essay, due in May exam period
The first assessment task (the Portfolio) will help you develop the broad basis of knowledge and understanding of exhibition practices as well as the analytical skills to support you to achieve well in the second assessment task (the essay). |
| Feedback |
FORMATIVE LEARNING TASKS:
This course has the following formative learning task, which is not graded, but contributes to developing your understanding and helping you improving your performance in the summative assessment:
- A spoken presentation delivered in class, c.10 mins, supported by appropriate visual materials, in a week agreed between the student and the Course Organiser.
This task will help you develop the skills of analysis and clear presentation of relevant contextual information which will support you to achieve well in both components of the summative assessment.
FORMATIVE FEEDBACK:
A feedforward meeting with the Course Organiser on the presentation, on the day or within a week after the presentation is given. This meeting will focus on identifying things you are doing well and things you could do better, the level of your understanding of the material, and how you can use what you have learned to improve your performance in the summative assessment.
Students will also be encouraged to offer constructive feedback to each other in student-led peer study groups.
SUMMATIVE FEEDBACK
Will be given according to University regulations as follows:
Written feedback on the coursework will be provided via Turnitin and you will be given the opportunity of a 1:1 meeting with the Course Organiser to discuss the feedback if requested. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the ways in which exhibitions have contributed to changing art-historical arguments.
- Analyse key examples of exhibitions in relation to their historical context and relevant critical debates.
- Explain the ways in which art history, as developed through exhibition practice, is part of and contributes to wider social and political processes.
- Show how the understanding of the work of particular artists can be changed by the way in which they are framed and discussed through exhibitions.
- Explore how works of art can offer new ways of understanding history, as shown through particular exhibitions.
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Reading List
Abdel Nabi, Nabila et al. 'Hilma af Klint & Piet Mondrian: Forms of Life'. London: Tate Publishing, 2023.
Alemani, Cecilia ed. 'The Milk of Dreams: Biennale Arte 2022'. Venice: La Biennale di Venezia, 2022.
Barson, Tanya and Peter Gorschlüter eds. 'Afro Modern: Journeys Through the Black Atlantic'. Liverpool: Tate, 2010.
Fer, Briony. 'Eva Hesse: Studiowork'. Edinburgh: Fruitmarket Gallery, 2009.
Franke, Anselm ed. 'The Whole Earth: California and the Disappearance of the Outside'. Berlin: Haus der Kulturen der Welt, 2013.
Gardner, Anthony and Charles Green. 'Biennals, Triennals and Documenta: The Exhibitions that Created Contemporary Art'. New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell, 2016. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Personal and Intellectual Autonomy: This course will help students to develop their abilities as critical and reflective thinkers, by asking them to analyse and evaluate the arguments put forward in different exhibitions, displays and texts; and to consider the place of art-historical arguments in relation to wider social and political movements.
Research and Enquiry: The course will help students develop their abilities as creative problem-solvers and researchers, by asking them to explore the application of ideas and arguments to specific examples of artistic and curatorial practice, and to develop convincing interpretations, arguments and proposals of their own.
Communication: The course will help students develop their skills as effective communicators, in written form, through the coursework essay, as well as in spoken form, through the individual spoken presentation. The emphasis on seminar class discussion and the use of Autonomous Learning Groups will help students develop their skills as effective communicators, through listening to and engaging with others' ideas and working constructively through group discussion to develop new understanding. |
| Keywords | Exhibitions,Critique,Contesting Histories,Curating |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Tamara Trodd
Tel: (0131 6)51 3120
Email: Tamara.Trodd@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mr Nathan Ross-Hammond
Tel: (0131 6)51 5880
Email: nrossha@exseed.ed.ac.uk |
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