KUN4550 – Topics in Modern and Postmodern Art and Architecture
Course description
Schedule, syllabus and examination date
Course content
The most prevalent word used to describe Postmodern art and architecture is "indifference." As in our common understanding of the word, indifference is most often used by critics as a negative and judgmental term that puts forth a certain characterization, or better yet, caricature, of Postmodernism’s ambitions and achievements.
Postmodernism’s equation with indifference is meant to criticize it in terms of its:
1) embracing a condition of neutrality suggesting lack of commitment, taking shape in various forms of irony, cynicism and nihilism;
2) a moral weakness due to a general coldness, emotional distancing and a lack of affective connectivity;
3) an aesthetic and political failure that suggests it is a form of weak relativism that eschews any particular stance, position, judgment, value, or hierarchy;
4) a general passivity, inertia, or lack of will;
5) its full-scale capitulation to the tenets of capitalism in its emphasis on a general equivalence of things, most often characterized as a leveling or flattening of existence.
This course is meant to explore a very different and more complex sense of indifference than the negative interpretation outlined above. In doing so, it will open up a different framework for thinking about art, architecture, and urbanism of the last fifty years. Throughout the course we will look at a broad range of art and architectural examples, as well as drawing upon relevant art historical, literary, theoretical, and philosophical writings on topic.
Learning outcome
After the completion of the course the student should be able to:
- Have a more nuanced understanding of postmodern art, architecture, and urbanism and its relationship to broader intellectual currents.
- Have a better sense of how postmodern art has been characterized in relationship to modern and contemporary art.
- Develop the ability to move supply between close attention to works of art and the kinds of ideas, words, and frameworks that we use to describe, explain, and interpret them.
- Analyze artworks from this period using the terms and concepts presented in the course literature with an in-depth use of art theory.
- Identify and present the most important critical and theoretical positions in the art historical literature dealing with this period, and define the key terms and concepts in this literature and develop a critical reflective attitude towards these.
- Evaluate the critical and theoretical positions in the course literature from a comparative perspective.
- Develop an ability to verbalize statements about works of art and to communicate your knowledge to others.
- Have improved writing skills in academic English.
- See the benefit of being able to use the course’s key concepts, terms and theory in your own master thesis.
Admission to the course
Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in Studentweb.
The course is available to students admitted to Kunsthistorie og visuelle studier (master). Students enrolled in other Master`s Degree Programmes can, on application, be admitted to the course if this is cleared by their own study programme.
If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures.
Recommended previous knowledge
Overlapping courses
- 10 credits overlap with KUN2550 – Topics in Modern and Postmodern Art and Architecture.
Teaching
27 hours of lectures and seminars.
This course will be conducted primarily as a seminar with class discussion, presentations, and some lectures.
Following the seminars are highly recommended. We expect students to meet prepared for classes and to participate actively.
In order to qualify to the final exam, you must complete a compulsory assignment:
- Submit a preliminary draft of your term paper by a stated deadline. The preliminary draft must be at 3-4 pages.
You submit your written assignment in Canvas. You must familiarize yourself with the login and submission procedures in timely manner before the submission of assignments.
Please note that you do not qualify for the final examination unless this compulsory requirement is fulfilled.
Please note information about teaching can be sent to your student email and be placed in Canvas. Check therefore student email and Canvas regularly.
Access to teaching
A student who has completed compulsory instruction and coursework and has had these approved, is not entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework. A student who has been admitted to a course, but who has not completed compulsory instruction and coursework or had these approved, is entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework, depending on available capacity.
Examination
The examination at KUN4550 is a semester essay.
The essay must consist of 8-10 pages (à 2300 characters without spaces, not including illustrations, notes and reference).
The assignment will be given and shall be handed in using Fronter. You must familiarize yourself with the login and submission procedures in timely manner before the submission of assignments.Read about how to submit your exam in Fronter here.
When writing a semester essay you are entitled to individual guidance by you teacher. To be eligible for this guidance you must submit a draft of your paper that meets certain requirements. More detailed information about guidance and how to submit your draft will be given by the teacher during class or in Fronter.
Language of examination
The examination text is given in English, and you submit your response in English.
Grading scale
Grades are awarded on a scale from A to F, where A is the best grade and F is a fail. Read more about the grading system.
More about examinations at UiO
- Use of sources and citations
- How to use AI as a student
- Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
- Withdrawal from an exam
- Illness at exams / postponed exams
- Explanation of grades and appeals
- Resitting an exam
- Cheating/attempted cheating
You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.