Constellations: HAA 2401 Special Topics Contemporary - Possible (and Impossible) Histories of Contemporary Art
Is contemporary the name of an art historical period that has succeeded modernism, or does contemporaneity mean that periodization is past (an anachronism from modernity) both in the general culture and in the visual arts? Does it then follow, as many argue, that contemporary art can only be a kind of modernism that has outlived its time? Against this, there is the view that the multiple modernisms and non-modern practices within twentieth century art prefigure the diversity of contemporary art. This implies that shifts from modern to contemporary art occurred in distinct ways in different places, and that tracking these is an urgent art historical task. Looking directly at the present, we might ask whether or not contemporary conditions have reshaped our conception of the world, and thus our conception of the currents manifest in global contemporary art. Are the evident interconnections between each region, people, city, even locality in the world today sufficient to enable us to speak of a new, contemporary phase in the world history of art?
