This course explores highly anticipated international art spectacles in Venice and Basel, as well as the city of Berlin, capitol of the international art world.We begin at the 2024 Venice Biennale, an event that brings creatives from all over the globe to exhibit in unique venues throughout this dramatic city of canals and islands. Themed this year as FOREIGNERS EVERYWHERE, the Biennale will focus on artists who are themselves foreigners, immigrants, expatriates, diasporic, émigrés, exiled, and refugees—especially those who have moved between the Global South and the Global North.

We will then travel to Basel, Switzerland, to attend Art Basel. Art Basel in Switzerland is the most influential art show on a global scale. Even though its events in Miami and Hong Kong enjoy immense popularity in their own right, the show in Messe Basel is where it all originated and its traditions and modernity create a unique blend for art lovers.

Finally, in Berlin, we will explore the reinvention of the German capital as one of the most innovative and cutting-edge centers for contemporary cultural production. The Berlin cultural scene draws much of its energy from the city’s tumultuous history: the complex intertwining of past and present that make up Berlin’s ever-changing political, artistic, and architectural landscape. Students will be introduced to a wide range of international practitioners and experts: we will visit artist studios, private collections, and non-profit spaces; meet with curators, artist collectives, architects and gallerists.