Artists, Museums, and Social Purpose: Contemporary Models

Peter Bruun

peterbruun1@gmail.com

Cell:  410/916-3752

Artists, Museums, and Social Purpose: Contemporary Models

How might artists and institutions inventively employ their creativity and resources to meaningful engage with social issues, and in doing so serve their own individual and institutional goals? We explore that question in this course with three broad areas of focus: 1) an introductory overview of the historical relationship between museums and artists, and their respective roles in society; 2) an exploration of recent and contemporary case studies of artist/museum collaboration born of social purpose; 3) student-developed proposals for Johns Hopkins University’s 2012 art festival that draw upon artists’ work as a tool for meeting institutional goals and serving social purpose. Classes include lectures, group discussions on readings, and individual and group presentations. Student assignments include readings, short analytic papers, and individual and collaborative research channeled into students’ development of exhibition proposals.

Readings for each class will be assigned in advance.

February 2                     Introduction to Course

February 9           Art and its Publics

        Readings:

        Art and its Publics: Museum Studies at the Millenium, edited by Andrew McClellan, p. 1-49                

February 16           Evolutions of Artists, Institutions, & their Roles in the Social        

Readings:  

Select chapters from The Invention of Art, by Larry Shiner

Introduction (p. 3-16)

Chapter 1, “The Greeks Had No Word for It” (p.19-27)

Chapter 5, “Polite Arts for the Polite Classes” (p. 88-94)

Chapter 7, “From Taste to the Aesthetic” (p.137-140, 146-151)

Chapter 12, “Silences: Triumph of the Aesthetic” (p. 213-219)

Chapter 15, “Beyond Art and Craft?” (p. 270-282, 289-301)

Conclusion (p. 303-307)

February 23                   The Curatorial Experience                        

Readings:

“The Great Curatorial Dim-Out,” by Lawrence Alloway (Thinking About Exhibitions, p. 221-230)

“From Museum Curator to Exhibition Auteur,” by Nathalie Heinich & Michael Pollak (Thinking About Exhibitions, p. 231-247)