13444

WiSe 20/21: Art of the 1990s

Eric de Bruyn

Additional information / Pre-requisites

online, Webex

Comments

In Art of the 1990s we will examine the main artistic practices and debates of the (long) decade, starting with Die Wende of 1989 and leading up to our present century. Since a critical history of contemporary art since the 1980s remains largely unwritten and the 1990s, in retrospect, have proven to be a pivotal period in many respects, it is an opportune moment to begin the work of evaluating the various cultural and social transformations of this moment. We will, for instance, consider the following characteristics of the 1990s: the reappraisal of modernist histories of art as well as the critical strategies of post-conceptual art (e.g. relational aesthetics); the exploration of processes of historical memory, tied to documentary and archival forms of practice; the rise of a globalized art world with a proliferation of biennials and art fairs; the phenomenon of the independent curator; the development of post-colonial perspectives on modern and contemporary art; the new forms of collective practice (e.g. the concept of ‘knowledge production’); the turn towards ´new’ media (i.e. video projection and digital art). To structure our joint project of ‘writing a history of the 1990s’ we will focus on a different landmark exhibition in each meeting (e.g. Magiciens de la Terre (1989), 3rd Havana Biennial (1989), Project Unité, (1993), Kontext Kunst (1993), Traffic (1996), Documenta 10 (1997), The Short Century: Independence and Liberation Movements in Africa, 1945–1994 (2001)). close