ARTH 388 Narration & Art: Alternative Accounts of the Aesthetic Experience

• Tuesdays, 14:45-17:15 pm
• Course delivery: Online
• Instructor: Dr. Rebecca Duclos

Most of the world’s citizens are neither historians nor theoreticians. So how do “non-art-experts” articulate their aesthetic encounters? How are these experiences translated into speech and writing? And what can art historians, curators, and critics learn from individuals’ personal narratives that are formulated, structured, and expressed without scholarly concern? This course will engage in close readings, viewings, and acts of listening focused on unusual case studies—from epiphanic realizations to enhanced sensorial perceptions to near death experiences. We will pay particular attention to the vocabularies used, perceptual positions claimed, somatic affects noted, and existential impacts felt. Why might artistic experiences matter? Let’s ask others and hear what they say.