DR. MARIA ELENA BUSZEK
ARTHI4035-03: Seminar in Postmodern art and theory
Wednesdays, 2:30-5:30 EB217

COURSE DESCRIPTION: Unlike Modernist art, postmodernism no longer proclaims its autonomy, its self-sufficiency, or its transcendence. Instead it narrates its own contingency, insufficiency, and immanence. Postmodernism's deconstructive thrust allows us to compare art arising from a dissatisfaction with "modernity." This course focuses on the culture and codified signs of this dissatisfaction—reflected in art, theory, music, and politics—as well as the pleasures to be found therein.

• Spring 2009 Postmodernism syllabus

• Spring 2009 Postmodernism "reserve" readings

• Art History links

WRITING AND RESEARCH: Citation style guidelines
Search the collection of KCAI's Jannes Library
Research your papers on the Wilson Web!
Search the collection of the Kansas City Public Libraries
Search the UMKC Libraries' catalog
Search the University of Kansas Libraries' catalog

Art in the news:

• NEW! Metropolitan Museum of Art spotlights the work of The Pictures Generation, 1974-1984
• NEW! Bruce Nauman gears up to represent the US at this year's Venice Biennale
• NEW! MoMA dedicates a new exhibition to contemporary artists' drawings
• Rising star Mickalene Thomas discusses her unusual path to the art world
• Watch the trailer for Astra Taylor's Examined Life: Philosophy in the Streets
• The New Museum introduces its "generational" triennial of contemporary art
• "Near Ninety," legendary choreographer Merce Cunningham debuts new work
• The 2009 Havana Biennial opens with an eclectic mix of international artists
• ArtBabble goes live as the art world's YouTube
• London's Barbican Center celebrates the work of Modernist architect Le Corbusier
• Jenny Holzer retrospective at Whitney reveals the prophetic nature of her work
• English government considers tearing down Alison and Peter Smithson's Robin Hood Gardens
• Call for artists to take part in the "global remake" of Vertov's Constructivist documentary, Man With a Movie Camera!
• Take a tour of the radically made-over Whitechapel galleries with its director and artist Rachel Whiteread
• Paris Grand Palais opens its retrospective of Andy Warhol portraits
• Performance artist Teching Hsieh gets late recognition in recent exhibitions
• Armory Show in New York tests the waters of the contemporary art market
• Philadelphia Museum of Art explores the outsized influence of Cezanne in the 20th century
• German Neo-Expressionist Martin Kippenberger given a sprawling, posthumous retrospective at MoMA
• New documents reveal Surrealists under surveillance during Cold War era
• LACMA exhibition explores The Art of Two Germanys since WWII
          [Visit LACMA's website for The Art of Two Germanys: Cold War Cultures]
• The Tate Biennial opens in London, proposing a new era of "Altermodern"
          [Visit the Tate's Altermodern website]
• Film-Makers' Cooperative archive threatened with eviction
• Barkley Hendricks retrospective travels to the Studio Museum in Harlem
• London's Guardian celebrates the legacy of Fluxus founder George Maciunas
• National outcry follows Brandeis decision to sell off Rose Museum collection
• Watch artist Sam Taylor-Wood's short film for the English National Opera
• Nerman Museum opens New Now: Building the Museum Collection
• Frieze magazine talks to Daniel Birnbaum, curator of 2009 Venice Biennale
• New Yorker article revisits the CIA's "cultural cold war" projects
• Ubufilms.com archives both canonical and quirky examples of performance/film history
• Check out Tout-Fait, the scholarly journal dedicated entirely to Duchamp!
• Jean Baudrillard, The Matrix, and "fashionable philosophy"

Lecture links:

• Watch excellent documentary on Situationist International, including footage of the May '68 riots
• Check out several of Guy Debord's experimental "detourned" films
• Two examples of Lawrence Weiner's video work
• Read Lawrence Weiner interview from the month of his 2007 Whitney retrospective
• Watch one of Jean Baudrillard's last lectures, filmed before students in 2004
• Watch Robert Morris and Carolee Schneemann perform Site
• Footage of Yves Klein's Anthropometries in action!
• Francesco Vezzoli's "ad" for Greed
• Watch The Guardian's Jonathan Jones miss the point entirely by "explaining" what he thinks is Duchamp's original Fountain