ARTH 368 Studies in Contemporary Art and Architecture: Brazilian Art

• Tuesdays, 5:45 - 8:15 pm
• Insctructor: Rodrigo De Alcântara Barros Bueno

This course provides an overview of Brazilian art by rescuing concealed histories from the country’s colonial past to centralize Afro-diasporic, Indigenous, and Queer perspectives, all the way to the present. By shedding light on the construction of nation-specific identities in post-colonial movements in Brazil, such as Modernismos and Tropicalismo, the course proposes to expand students’ understanding and knowledge of the rich artistic practices that arise from the Brazilian creative scene. The course examines, for instance, the origins and contradictions of the Brazilian trans-cultural tradition of absorbing elements from both colonizing and colonized cultures to manifest its own national expression. In this direction, the course highlights the importance of Brazilian contemporary art in revisioning the stereotypes perpetuated by Euro-Christian colonial legacies. These discussions are articulated through critical analyses of case studies that approach the entanglements between colonialism, modernism, and globalization. A plethora of counter-hegemonic contemporary theorists focusing on racial and gender studies help to articulate this specific historiography.