Art, Politics and Ethics - Contemporary Art and Social Responsibility

Professor Neil Cox, Dr Andrés David Montenegro Rosero, Dr Natasha Adamou, Hugh Govan,
Emma Bennet

This module addresses some of the pivotal themes and issues in contemporary art since the 1970s.
Instead of offering a single, teleological narrative, the module takes advantage of the specialist
research of our postgraduate students, focusing on particular issues for contemporary art from a
series of different viewpoints. These will include: post-Minimalism and the phenomenological turn;
the legacy of the dada and Surrealist objects; the heated debate around identity politics during the
80s; the rise of participatory practices in the 90s; and issues of the presentation and representation
(mostly in photography) of reality, as well as current discussions around the role of agency in
photographic depictions. Through its close connection with the research activities of the lecturers,
the module will localise the relevance of these broad themes to the work of specific artists. It will
also, however, draw together the common concerns that link contemporary artists across a variety of
different theoretical narratives. The module aims, through a series of focused seminars, at providing
a tentative constellation of the crucial debates that have informed and continue to inform
contemporary art.

Timetable

1. Departure points: Multiple “Specific Objects”

2. The Minimalist Object
3. Post-Minimalism and the Siting of Sculpture
4. Conceptual art and photography: ‘Performing’ the ‘real’
5. Automatism and Agency
6. Identity politics and biennials: The Bienal de la Havana and the “Discourse of Others”
7. Collaboration: Relational Aesthetics and its discontents
8. The Object in contemporary art I: The Legacy of Duchamp’s readymade
9. The object in contemporary art II: The Surrealist Object

Assessment
• one 4,000-5,000 words final essay. Topic MUST be developed in consultation with tutor