ARTH 383 Art and Philosophy

• Mondays and Wednesdays, 2:45-5:30 pm
• Instructor: Andrew Forster 

A key question is how do we engage (or engage others) in a practice which opens up something for which we do not have complet knowledge? How do we begin a process of creation where vocabulary may not yet exist? Or where the practice or method may not yet be defined? How can we sharpen the definition of art practices as experiment (be they personal, social, or political - a space of history and power). Let's call this a course a survey of "counterfactual possibilities" of art practice (a term from literary theorist Ewa Ziarek). What is a space opened up through a practice about which we cannot yet speak? A space of the unknown or the invisible. How do we involve ourselves in creative practices that invent a syntax of new knowledge, a vocabulary for things which we cannot yet make visible or sayable?  We will look for examples in creative practices from the past decade whose work may slip across definitions of art or design practice. This includes artists and designers embracing alternative ways of making, thinking and exchange that are used to test normalized ideas of problem solving, commerce and innovation. To participate in these debates we need to understand the terms that are in the air. As an antidote to an over-designed world the counterfactual possibility of art as a unique and evolving way of approaching the unknown may find an important place in relation to our contemporary situation. What does this mean when we come to make choices about what we will do and what is possible?

This is an Art History course where regular readings and writing projects throughout the six-week course are the main work. Final projects can be essays or creative projects.