Category: Liberal Arts Electives

Socrates famously said to his student, Meno: “I,don’t know that I can teach you, and I don’t even,know that you can learn! The best I can be is a,midwife to ideas.” At first, Socrates is talking,about Virtue, but also, Justice, Beauty, Art.,Joseph Beuys declared that “To be a teacher is my,greatest work of art.” If we do not know that we,can learn, and do not know that we can teach, why,,then, do we talk so much about Art, as a society,spend so much on Art, and go into debt to,”learn” about something that we are not even sure,can be learned? What are the implications of,making pedagogy – and with it dialogue and a,changed relationship between “teacher”and,”student” – the subject of art? Art + Pedagogy,from Socrates to Joseph Beuys looks at why,teaching / pedagogy (BFA/MFA/PhD; Paulo Freire,,Jacques Rancière, Lygia Clark, etc.) along with,dialogue / conversation and the meal as a vehicle,of self-learning and new strategies of,inter-subjectivity (Plato’s The Banquet /,Symposium, Dante’s The Banquet, Theaster Gates,,Rirkrit Tiravanija, Michael Rakowitz, InCubate,,Detroit Soup, etc.) have become such prominent,,troubling, and exciting subjects in contemporary,art practices precisely at the moment when there,is recognition that the democratization of art and,its institutions begun in the Twentieth Century is,over and the techniques for transmitting /,teaching this “art” have become obsolete. Students,are invited to conclude the semester with a,student-curated meal and conversation or Banquet,of friends.

Credits: 3

Prerequisites: Take one 3.0 credit, 200 level course from one of the,following subjects: DAH (Art History), DEN (English), DAS,(Academic Studies), DVC (Visual Culture).

Biopolitics is one of the most significant,developments in Critical Theory. Using the topics,of waste and violence, this class offers an,introduction to the main concepts, strategies,,and pre-occupations of Biopolitical thinking and,its relevance to understanding the contemporary,world and violence of globalization. A,significant aspect of the course is the use and,role of film as critical theory.

Credits: 3

Prerequisites: Take one 3.0 credit, 200 level course from one of the,following subjects: DAH (Art History), DEN (English), DAS,(Academic Studies), DVC (Visual Culture).

Drawing inspiration from consciousness-centered,education models, this innovative course offers,students an opportunity to dive within themselves,,discovering and exploring their own boundless,creative potential. Consider this course an,experimental incubator for the creation of ideas,,images, and artistic motivation. Emphasis is,placed on reflection with the student’s,journaling, discussing and meditating together. ,This unique course offers students new methods of,inquiry, encouraging students to re-integrate,their own creativity and imagination. All,students will have the opportunity to be trained,by professional meditation teachers during the,third week of class and will meditate in class,throughout the semester.

Credits: 3

Prerequisites: Take one 3.0 credit, 200 level course from one of the,following subjects: DAH (Art History), DEN (English), DAS,(Academic Studies), DVC (Visual Culture).

Will explore the various links between the visual,and literary arts through readings of plays,,poems, stories, novels, letters, manifestos,,etc. that have been written by and/or about,artists and designers.

Credits: 3

Prerequisites: Take one 3.0 credit, 200 level course from one of the,following subjects: DAH (Art History), DEN (English), DAS,(Academic Studies), DVC (Visual Culture).

This seminar explores the following: (i) art,becomes modern when art is rejected; (ii) there is,no modern art without poetry, philosophy, ethics,or the political; (iii) art becomes modern when,the poet Charles Baudelaire realizes the city as,an active subject in art; (iv) the city and,anti-art produce an avant-garde which claims to,refuse art. Broadly speaking, the course is not,concerned with the claim of a particular movement,or artist as the beginning of modern and/or,avant-garde activity; instead the course is,concerned with the practices, attitudes and values,that make for distinctively modern conceptions of,artistic activities, of which the following are,emphasized: the city, poetry, spectacle and,performance. There is a special section in the,course devoted to the city and film. Students,will be encouraged to devise creative responses in,film, photography, digital media, drawing,,painting, sculpture etc. to their environment.

Credits: 3

Prerequisites: Take one 3.0 credit, 200 level course from one of the,following subjects: DAH (Art History), DEN (English), DAS,(Academic Studies), DVC (Visual Culture).