Undergraduate Course: Popular not Populist - Contemporary Art 'lost' in the mainstream (ARTX10056)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh College of Art |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course will examine attempts to make art more popular. It will look at the practices, theories and hopes that informed popular and demotic attempts, in for example 19th Realism, Pop, British art of the 90s, socially engaged practice, and more recent video and digital work. It will also explore the accompanying artistic, theoretical and political debates surrounding ideas about the popular - its contemporary and historical definitions, the politicisation of aesthetics and an examination of what popular aesthetics might look like today. First part of the course will be contextual, second half focusing on case studies and study trip.
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| Course description |
This is a lecture- based course, with accompanying student-led seminars. Each lecture will be for one hour with a one hour seminar scheduled afterwards. Theories and definitions of the politics of popular aesthetics and culture will be examined and applied to popular histories of art from 19th realism to Pop to Yba, Philistines and Neo-conceptualism and beyond. Key practices, discourses and tactics will be explored across the lectures, through seminars and site visits, such as: Being Popular with the Public (relational aesthetics and the social turn); Digital Pop; Aesthetic journalism (popular video and film); and Art not art (giving up on art to be popular).
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2023/24, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 16 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 10,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 10,
External Visit Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
174 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Formative Assessment: Essay Plan submitted on LEARN 1000 words
Submitted mid semester approx. week 6
(0%) - feedback/feedforward will be given based on Learning Outcomes 1, 2 and 3.
Formative Assessment: Seminar presentations
(0%) - feedback/feedforward will be given based on Learning Outcomes 1, 2 and 3.
Summative Assessment: 4000 Word Essay
(100%) - assessment will be based on Learning Outcomes 1, 2 and 3
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| Feedback |
Formative presentations - delivered in group seminars with immediate verbal feedback/feedforward
Formative Essay Plan - submitted mid semester approx. week 6 via Learn Written/verbal feedback/forward via Learn in 15 working days of submission
Summative Essay - submitted approx. week 12 via Learn
Grades and written feedback via Learn in 15 working days of submission
Formative assessment (feed forward) will be given in relation to the written assessment at the mid-point of semester. Students will be asked to prepare 1000 word plan for their written assessment task and will receive verbal or written feed forward / feedback on this in advance of the final submission date. Summative assessment: 4000 word essay. Grades and written feedback via Learn in 15 working days of submission.
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| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Present evidence of a high level of scholary and artistic research via group seminars and your written submission.
- Critically analyse a range of textual and non-textual discourses concerning new problems and issues within the discipline of contemporary art.
- Demonstrate the ability to write, talk and visualise responses to contemporary art, in oral and written formats.
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Reading List
Bishop, Claire, (2012). Artificial Hells: Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship Verso
Fisher, M (2009). Capitalist Realism. London: Zero Books.
Kocur, Zoya. & Leung, Simon (2013). Theory in Contemporary Art: from 1985 to the present, Blackwell publishing.
Steyerl, H, (2009), The Wretched of the Screen, Sternberg Press
Storey, John, (2015) , Cultural Theory and Popular Culture Paperback , Routledge
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
CHARACTERISTIC 1: KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING :
Demonstrating a critical, detailed and knowledge and understanding of intersectional theories and their relationship to contemporary art practice.
CHARACTERISTIC 2: PRACTICE: APPLIED KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND UNDERSTANDING
Knowledge and understanding that is generated through research that makes a significant contribution to the development of the students Visual Culture and studio based work.
CHARACTERISTIC 3: GENERIC COGNITIVE SKILLS
The ability to critically review, consolidate and extend knowledge, skills, practices and thinking in intersectional theory and practice to contemporary art practice.
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| Keywords | Contemporary,Art,Popular |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Mr John Beagles
Tel: (0131 6)51 5909
Email: |
Course secretary | Miss Hannah Morrison
Tel: (0131 6)51 5763
Email: |
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