Art Today
Peter Kalb | 8 Weeks, 12 Credits | June 6-July 29, 2016
Contemporary art is a big business and one in which the reasons for participating far exceed the desire for money. But what does it take to succeed in the art world today? In the Art Today JBS you will delve into the contemporary art world starting with the history and theory that informs the creation and reception of today's art. Together, with your classmates, you will examine and analyze works of art from around the world and grapple with the artists' vision, as well as theories about life, beauty, politics, identity, and nature. Beyond the classroom, you will engage directly with the products and people that make up the art world by meeting some of the professionals who make their living in the arts. Through visits to artists' studios, galleries, and museums the Art Today JBS is a window into how contemporary art impacts society and how that art circulates in the commercial marketplace as well as the museum.
This summer you could be:
- Touring some of the world's finest contemporary art collections and exhibitions at: the Museum of Fine Arts, Mass MOCA, the De Cordova Museum, the Institute of Contemporary Art, the Rose Art Museum, the Harvard Art Museums, and the MIT List Center.
- Receiving behind the scenes tours with the directors of these museums and the curators who assembled the exhibitions.
- Discussing the business of art with director and owners of for-profit and non-profit galleries.
- Exploring the history of contemporary art through close reading, close looking, independent research, and in-class discussion.
- Debating the issues, concepts, meaning and merits of contemporary art from around the globe.
- Talking with working artists in their studios about their latest works and what it takes to succeed in the arts.
- Having discussions with gallery owners and museum curators are looking for when they acquire new pieces for an exhibition or for sale. Learning how contemporary art circulates in the marketplace through galleries, auctions, donations, and museum acquisitions.
- Working with classmates on a capstone project to design and implement an online exhibition of contemporary art.
- Discovering what it takes to make a living today's art marketplace.
Potential Guest Speakers include:
- Chris Bedford, Director of the Rose Museum
- Dina Deitsch, Independent Curator
- Lisa Fischman, Director of the Davis Museum
- Kristen Gresh, Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh Assistant Curator of Photographs, MFA
- Jennifer Gross, Curator at the DeCordova museum
- Randi Hopkins, Director of the BCA Mills Gallery
- Barbara Krakow & Andrew Witkin, Owner and Director of the Barbara Krakow Gallery
- Denise Markonish, Curator of Mass MOCA and Brandeis Alum!
- Jen Mergel, Robert L. Beal, Enid L. Beal and Bruce A. Beal Senior Curator of Contemporary Art at the Museum of Fine Arts
- Abby Newbold, artist
- Mary Schneider Enriquez, Curator of Harvard Museums
- Allison Smith, artist
- Susan Stoops, Independent Curator
- Deb Todd Wheeler, artist
- Greg Williams, art historian/critic, BU.
- Guest speakers are subject to change and are not guaranteed but are all contacts of the Instructor.
Ideal for
The Art Today JBS is for any student who has an appreciation for, and desire to learn more about, the contemporary art world. All three courses in the Art Today JBS are new to the Brandeis curriculum. Art Today: History and Art Today: Theory are slated to be accepted for major or minor credit in the Fine Arts department as modern/contemporary courses. Art Today: Practice would be accepted for elective credit in Fine Arts.
Students in this JBS will earn 12 credit hours and fulfill three Creative Arts (CA) requirements toward graduation. Additionally, one JBS can count as a semester of residency toward graduation.
Curriculum
JBS Art Today: History (4 credits)
Art Today: History is an introduction to contemporary visual art created in the last three decades through the art and words of the artists themselves. As a lecture and discussion course, our class meetings are structured around image presentations designed to introduce a range of contemporary art. Using primary sources including statements by the artists, interviews, and the artworks themselves students will engage with the creative work without the crutch of other writer' secondary sources. Together, the class will use close reading, close looking, independent research, and in-class discussion, to grapple with the relationship between the words and works of artists and strive toward better understanding the art of our time.
JBS Art Today: Theory (4 credits)
Art Today: Theory is a series of seminars creating and examining the connections between contemporary art and theory. Using the writings and thoughts of today's theorists, philosophers, and critics, we will examine questions of Citizenship, Aesthetics, and Ecology, in contemporary artistic theory. Class sessions will use these theoretical readings as a basis for discussions led by students as we sort out the meaning and ramifications of the texts. The goal in our discussions, as when encountering any art, is not to understand everything, but to grapple with the issues and concepts and put the ideas and theories to work. Our discussions will be largely speculative and will rely on the art introduced to the class through short image presentations.
JBS Art Today: Practice (4 credits)
Art Today: Practice is an overview of the art world as reported by the participants themselves. With your classmates we will visit a series of prominent museums, galleries, and studios to talk with critics, historians, collectors, curators, gallerists, and artists. With these art professionals as our hosts, we will learn about today's contemporary art world from those who earn their living in the arts. The trips for our JBS may include visits to Boston area galleries such as Samson Projects, Krakow Gallery, Carrol and Sons; non-profit spaces such as BCA Mills Gallery, Laconia Gallery, university museums including The Rose Museum, The Harvard Art Museums, The MIT List Center; and independent museums such as the MFA, ICA, and De Cordova.
Capstone Project
This JBS will include a final collaborative capstone project of designing and implementing an online exhibition of contemporary art with explanatory texts and essays. This final project requires curatorial work, exhibition design, and various forms of writing, web-design, and presentations.
Questions?
If you have questions about the program, please email Prof. Peter Kalb at: pkalb@brandeis.edu.
If you have questions about the application process or have general programs about the JBS program, email us at: jbsprogram@brandeis.edu.