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2020/2021

Contemporary Art

Code: 103017 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2501928 Audiovisual Communication OB 3 1
The proposed teaching and assessment methodology that appear in the guide may be subject to changes as a result of the restrictions to face-to-face class attendance imposed by the health authorities.

Contact

Name:
Sandra Alvaro Sanchez
Email:
Sandra.Alvaro@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
catalan (cat)
Some groups entirely in English:
No
Some groups entirely in Catalan:
Yes
Some groups entirely in Spanish:
No

Other comments on languages

This subject is taught in Catalan. However, the main languages of the reading materials are English and Spanish.

Prerequisites

English proficiency is desired for working with the bibliography and reference materials. Showing interest in the aesthetics and artistic work, as well as the art evolution after the adoption of new technologies, is also highly recommended. Furthermore, students are expected to demonstrate critical attitude and creativity.

Objectives and Contextualisation

This subject is aimed to introduce the students into different contemporary cultural and artistic theories while fostering their critical attitude and creativity. At the same time, the aim is offering tools and resources to help the students to create contents and design innovative communication strategies.

To attain this objective, the structure of the subject follows the evolution of artistic creation after the historical avant-garde and since the adoption of new technologies for artistic production. The itinerary will introduce the contemporary artistic ecosystem highlighting the relation of art with technology and society.

The students will learn how to contextualize the evolution of new forms of artistic production, the formation of new creative environments and what are the outstanding  artists, events and publications

  • They will understand the relation between art, technology and society
  • They will be introduced to the technological convergence and the Post-media, as well as, the evolution of new artistic mediums, among them the tangible image, interaction and immersive environments.
  • They will participate in the critical reflection about social and cultural changes, from the point of view of art. Especially, the changes concerning the societal adoption of disruptive technologies, like Artificial Intelligence.
  • Finally, the transfer of knowledge using different audiovisual formats will be facilitated.

Competences

  • Demonstrate a critical and self-critical capacity.
  • Demonstrate a self-learning and self-demanding capacity to ensure an efficient job.
  • Develop autonomous learning strategies.
  • Develop critical thinking and reasoning and be able to relay ideas effectively in Catalan, Spanish and a third language.
  • Differentiate the main cultural and artistic theories and trends in the modern world.
  • Disseminate the area’s knowledge and innovations.
  • Manage time effectively.
  • Use advanced technologies for optimum professional development.
  • Use one’s imagination with flexibility, originality and ease.
  • Value diversity and multiculturalism as a foundation for teamwork.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Assimilate the artistic dimension of cultural trends.
  2. Demonstrate a critical and self-critical capacity.
  3. Demonstrate a self-learning and self-demanding capacity to ensure an efficient job.
  4. Develop autonomous learning strategies.
  5. Develop critical thinking and reasoning and be able to relay ideas effectively in Catalan, Spanish and a third language.
  6. Disseminate the area’s knowledge and innovations.
  7. Identify interactions between art and audiovisual creation.
  8. Manage time effectively.
  9. Use advanced technologies for optimum professional development.
  10. Use one’s imagination with flexibility, originality and ease.
  11. Value diversity and multiculturalism as a foundation for teamwork.

Content

This subject introduces the evolution of new formats and aesthetic concepts, as well, as their use in cultural and artistic creation while fostering the student's involvement with current cultural production through the material and historical analysis of the production spaces, events and most outstanding works.

With this objective, the students will be conducted through the evolution of the artistic environment since the '20s. The itinerary structured around the following subjects:

  • Introduction: Technological convergence and Post-Media
  • Artistic Avantgarde: The Big Wars, Automatization and the 60’s Cultural Revolution.
  • New Poetics: Concept, Performance and Communication
  • Art, Technology and Society: Communication, Interactivity and Immersion
  • The Subject: Body and Identity
  • Aesthetics and Artistic Practices in the Urban Space
  • Art and Science in a Globalized World: Anthropocene and New Environmentalisms
  • Closure: New Formats and Communication.

 

Gender Perspective: The proposed syllabus is sensitive to gender perspective, including this thematic in one of the transversal subjects – The Subject: Body and Identity-, in which will be addressed the influence of LGTBI+ issues onto artistic production. The syllabus also brings visibility to women artist, including their work in parity of representation in all the subjects.

*The calendar will be available on the first day of class. Students will find all information on the Virtual Campus: the description of the activities, teaching materials, and any necessary information for the proper follow-up of the subject. In case of a change of teaching modality for health reasons, teachers will make readjustments in the schedule and methodologies

Methodology

Classroom teaching

Magister classes and participatory critical commentary of artworks

Tutorship

The students will receive methodological and bibliographical tutorship and will be guided in the realization of supervised activities.

Online mentorship

The teacher will moderate a virtual forum, in which the students could share questions about the course.

 

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Magister classes 39 1.56 4, 2, 5, 8
Type: Supervised      
Methodological and bibliographical tutorship 7.5 0.3 3, 5
Online mentorship 7.5 0.3 10, 3, 4, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9
Type: Autonomous      
Individual work, graphic presentation. Team work 80 3.2 10, 3, 4, 2, 5, 8, 9, 11

Assessment

The subject consists of the following evaluation activities:

  • Activity A, Exam, 30% on the final grade
  • Activity B, Individual work, a summary of research and presentation, 30% on the final grade
  • Activity C, Teamwork, creation of an audiovisual work, 30% on the final grade
  • Activity D, classroom attendance, 10% on the final grade.

It is necessary to obtain an average 5 of all the grades in activities A, B, C and D to pass the subject.

The works and the exam are included for the calculus of the grade point average when the mark obtained is equal or greater than 3,5

The final grade is the result of the addiction of the averages of each evaluative activity.

It is possible to take part in the recuperation of the failed activities. A minimum grade will be not required to take part in the reassessment process.

The students taking part in the revaluation for improving their marks must be aware that it can imply a lower note as a result. 

 

*The proposed teaching methodology and evaluation activities may undergo some modifications depending on the health authorities' attendance restrictions.

 

Qualifications revision procedure

In the moment of realization of each evaluative activity, the teacher will inform the students (Moodle) about the reassessment procedure and dates.

Revaluation procedure

The student will be entitled to the revaluation of the subject if he or she has been evaluated of the set of activities the weight of which equals a minimum of 2/3 of the total grade of the subject.

The activities that are excluded from the revaluation process are classroom attendance. The teamwork will be evaluated by means of the submission of equivalent individual work.

Second enrolment

In the case of a second enrolment, students can do a single synthesis exam/ that will consist of 5essay questions and the critical commentary of an artwork. The grading of the subject will correspond to the grade of the synthesis exam.

Plagiarism

The student who performs any irregularity (copy, plagiarism, identity theft...) that can lead to a significant variation of the qualification of an evaluation act, will be qualified with 0 this act of evaluation. In case there are several irregularities, the final grade of the subject will be 0.

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Classroom atendance 10% 0 0 10, 3, 4, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9
Exam 30% 3 0.12 10, 1, 3, 4, 2, 5, 8, 7
Individual work, summary of research and oral presentations 30% 7 0.28 10, 3, 4, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11
Team work, creation of an audiovisual work 30% 6 0.24 10, 3, 4, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11

Bibliography

In addition to the reference bibliography, the teacher will provide additional support materials for each content and in different formats during the course.

  • Rosalind Krauss (1999). A Voyage on the North Sea. Art in the Age of the Postmedia Condition, Thames and Hudson
  • Rosalind Krauss (1996) The optical Unconscious, MIT Press
  • Paul Virilio (1989) La Máquina de Visión, Catedra
  • Harren, Natilee (2020) Fluxus Forms: Scores, Multiples, and the Eternal Network, University of Chicago Press.
  • Godfrey, Tony (1998) Conceptual Art, Phaidon, London
  • Gene Youngblood (1970) Expanded Cinema, E.P. Dutton
  • Oliver Grau (2004) Virtual Art from Illusion to Immersion. MIT Press
  • Oliver Grau (2007) Media Art Histories. MIT Press
  • Frank Popper (2006) From Technological to Virtual Art, The MIT Press
  • Paul A. Fishwick (2008) Aesthetic Computing. MIT Press
  • Stephen Wilson (2003) Information Arts: Intersections of Art, Science, and Technology, The MIT Press
  • Sean Cubitt and Paul Thomas (ed) (2013). Relieve. Media Art Histories. MIT Press
  • Judy Malloy (2003) Women, Art, and Technology, The MIT Press
  • Sadie Plant (1997) Zeros + Ones. Digital Women + The new Technoculture. Fourth Estate
  • McKenzie Wark (2015) The Beach Beneath the Street: The Everyday Life and Glorious Times of the Situationist International. Verso
  • Sean Cubitt (2017): Finite Media: Environmental Implications of Digital Technologies, Duke University Press Books