Descriptif

Experimental Arts in New York City, 1950s-Today

This course explores the development of several experimental arts scenes in New York City between the mid-1950s and today across a wide range of media including performance, music, film, photography, the artist’s book, experimental writing, and installation. Each week is dedicated to an area of the city—when possible, a street or a building—in which an artistic practice was born and developed. We will touch upon topics such as the creation of the artist’s cooperatives (today’s loft), second-wave feminism, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic, among others. We will look at the works of Laurie Anderson, Tony Conrad, Simone Forti, Dick Higgins, Louise Lawler, George Maciunas, Yoko Ono, Andy Warhol, David Wojnarowicz, La Monte Young et al. You will be required to participate actively and prepare oral and written assignments based on artworks, readings, and films. Your final assignment will consist of writing a proposal for an exhibition.