ART 374 - Modern Art & Trauma

Unit(s): 4

This seminar examines aesthetic responses to both individual and collective traumas in the work of modern and contemporary artists from diverse geographic regions since World War II. Topics include aesthetic responses to war; slavery; racial violence; gender and sexual violence; global health crises (AIDS, drug addiction). We study how psychoanalytic, literary, cultural and philosophical theories about trauma, memory, and representation inform critical examination of this work. The course includes exploration of debates about the function and form of memorials and site-specific works. We focus on a selection of case studies of specific artists, events, issues and geo-political regions. Note: course content includes some graphic imagery.

College of Arts and Sciences