Please write this paper based on the prospectus!
PAPER: You must write a final paper, as a form of critical “meditation,” on one (or more) case study artworks or exhibitions covered in class. This paper must also address, in depth, 2 -3 texts covered in class. Only one text may be from the same week as the case study. The idea is to reflect upon a combination of artworks and texts covered over the entire 10 weeks of our class. Your questions are prompts for you to return to the artworks/exhibitions/texts and dig deeper on what you initially found interesting. Please reference the Chicago Manuel of Style for footnotes etc.
PROSPECTUS:
Topic: The intersection of memory and aesthetic in contemporary art: an exploration of how contemporary artists engage with memory through aesthetic forms.
Ideas: This paper will engage with the works of contemporary artists who use aesthetic forms as a way to explore memory, history, and the politics of representation. Specifically, it will focus on the works of Mona Hatou, William Kentridge, and Kara Walker, who use different aesthetic forms such as installation, drawing, and video to reflect on themes related to memory.
Argument: This paper will argue that contemporary artists are using aesthetic forms to create new ways of engaging with memory, history, and the politics of representation. By examining the works of Hatoum, Kentridge, and Walker, it will demonstrate how these artists use aesthetic forms to reflect on the ways in which memory is constructed, preserved, and transmitted. Furthermore, the paper will explore how these works challenge traditional modes of representation and bring attention to marginalized histories and narratives.
Overall Question: How do contemporary artists use aesthetic forms to engage with memory, history, and the politics of representation?
Assigned Readings:
Hannah Arendt, “Thinking and Moral Considerations,” Responsibility and Judgement.
Hans-Gerog Gadamer, “Aesthetics and Hermeneutics,” The Gadamer Reader: A Bouquet of Later Writings.
Juli Carson, “Aesthetics of an Untethered Past,” The Hermeneutic Impulse: Aesthetics of an Untethered Past.
Case Study Artwork/Exhibition:
Mona Hatoum’s “Measures of Distance”
William Kentridge’s “Drawing Lession 1”
Kara Walker’s “A Subtlety”
These readings and case studies will provide a framework for exploring the intersection of memory and aesthetics in contemporary art.
This paper will also explore how these works challenge traditional modes of representation and bring attention to marginalized histories and narratives. Ultimately, this paper will argue that the use of aesthetic forms to engage with memory has the potential to create new ways of understanding the past and its relationship to the present.Topic: The intersection of memory and aesthetic in contemporary art: an exploration of how contemporary artists engage with memory through aesthetic forms.