ARTH 380 Histories of Art History: Contemporary Circumpolar Art, Media, & Performance

• Wednesdays, 11:45am-2:15pm
• EV-1.615
• Instructor: Charissa von Harringa

This course introduces students to contemporary art, media, and performance practices by Inuit and Sámi artists—the Indigenous peoples of northern Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Scandinavia, and Siberia. A focus on the contemporary moment is a useful entry point for addressing the shared yet distinct sociocultural histories as they continue to impact political and aesthetic movements today. This course analyzes diverse processes and media, including photography, film, and embodied performance, within their exhibitionary contexts and knowledge frameworks. Special consideration will be given to global museology among pressing issues of ecological and resource sovereignty and activism in the era of the global climate change. These will be examined as they are impacted by settler-colonialism, intersect with the historical past, and are institutionally mediated in the present. A key objective is to understand how histories and identities are linked with the past and how they continue to be negotiated towards emancipatory ends. Students will also hopefully come away with a clearer understanding of decolonial processes and terminologies as they meaningfully structure the dynamic interactions of art and community today.