Universität Wien

240031 VO Introduction to the Anthropology of Art (3.3.6) (2021S)

3.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 24 - Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie
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Details

Language: English

Examination dates

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

The course will start digital. If the Covid regulations allow it, it will change to on-site or hybrid.
Information about the lecture rooms will then follow in time.

  • Thursday 04.03. 13:15 - 14:45 Digital
  • Thursday 11.03. 13:15 - 14:45 Digital
  • Thursday 18.03. 13:15 - 14:45 Digital
  • Thursday 25.03. 13:15 - 14:45 Digital
  • Thursday 15.04. 13:15 - 14:45 Digital
  • Thursday 22.04. 13:15 - 14:45 Digital
  • Thursday 29.04. 13:15 - 14:45 Digital
  • Thursday 06.05. 13:15 - 14:45 Digital
  • Thursday 20.05. 13:15 - 14:45 Digital
  • Thursday 27.05. 13:15 - 14:45 Digital
  • Thursday 10.06. 13:15 - 14:45 Digital
  • Thursday 17.06. 13:15 - 14:45 Digital

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

The lecture provides an introduction to the history, theory, and methodology within the anthropology of art. It starts out by discussing terminological issues and art-anthropological approaches. After introducing earlier anthropological studies on art, the lecture focuses on key debates within this sub-discipline, including: differences between material culture and art, debates on primitivism, questions of agency, as well as art and technology. Following, newer art-anthropological research will be discussed in the context of art as a commodity, the collection and display of modern and contemporary art, art’s circulation in global art worlds, the provenance and restitution politics of art, and collaborations between anthropologists and artists.
Aims, contents and methods of the course
By the end of the lecture, students will be able to:
Independently recount major theoretical and methodological developments in the anthropology of art
Understand the questions art-anthropologists ask in their research, and the methods employed to answer those questions
speak critically to established and emerging key debates in the field
to communicate the relevance of art-anthropological research to broader (inter-)disciplinary issues
The contents of this lecture will cover:
What is an "anthropology" of art? Which questions do art-anthropologists ask? What are the differences and similarities to other disciplines?
Early anthropological studies on art, and their relevance for anthropology today
Art and the study of material culture, debates on "primitivism"
Methods and methodological approaches in the anthropology of art
Art, Agency, and Technology
Art in motion and the traffic in culture
Global art worlds and the study of contemporary art
Art as a commodity; issues of authenticity, collecting, and displaying
Debates on decolonizing museums
Newer art-anthropological approaches and research
Methods
The course involves lectures with the use of audio and visual materials, and provides the opportunity for questions and debate.

Assessment and permitted materials

Students are expected to write an exam at the end, which will consist of questions to which they have to provide short written answers.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

To pass the course, students have to reach at least 51% of all points.
1: 100 % bis 91 %
2: 90 % bis 76 %
3:75 % bis 61 %
4: 60 % bis 51 %
5: 50% and lower

Examination topics

Content of the lectures, selected provided audio/visual materials, and selected key texts

Reading list

Belting, Hans, and Andrea Buddensieg, eds. 2009. The global art world: Audiences, markets, and museums. Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz.
Bunzl, Matti. 2016. In search of a lost avant-garde: An anthropologist investigates the contemporary art museum. Paperback edition. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Fillitz, Thomas, and Paul van der Grijp, eds. 2018. An anthropology of contemporary art: Practices, markets, and collectors. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Foster, Hal. 1995. The Artist as Ethnographer? In The traffic in culture: Refiguring art and anthropology, ed. George E. Marcus and Fred R. Myers, 302-09. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.
Gell, Alfred. 1998. Art and agency: Towards a new anthropological theory. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Marcus, George E., and Fred R. Myers, eds. 1995. The traffic in culture: Refiguring art and anthropology. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.
Morphy, Howard, and Morgan Perkins, eds. 2007. The anthropology of art: A reader. Blackwell anthologies in social and cultural anthropology 7. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Sarr, Felwine, and Bénédicte Savoy. 2019. Die Rückgabe des afrikanischen Kulturerbes. Berlin: Matthes & Seitz.
Schneider, Arnd, ed. 2010. Between Art and Anthropology: Contemporary Ethnographic Practice. Oxford: Berg.
Steiner, Christopher B. 1994. African art in transit. Cambridge studies in social and cultural anthropology 94. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Velthuis, Olav, ed. 2015. Cosmopolitan Canvases: The Globalization of Markets for Contemporary Art. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Fr 12.05.2023 00:20