This course is an occasion to think seriously about appropriation in art and contemporary culture. Surveying an array of examples—from Sherrie Levine to Kara Walker to Kent Monkman to Vaginal Davis—we will discuss practices of sampling and quotation in visual art and performance, as well as the ethical dilemmas associated with appropriated artifacts and traditions. Our examples will accompany more theoretical discussions on the topics of commerce, labor, and property in capitalist modernity, and about the role of land expropriation in the project of colonial settlement. We’ll also address strategies for restitution and atonement, and creative attempts to subvert institutional power. Readings will include Lorraine O’Grady, Douglas Crimp, bell hooks, José Esteban Muñoz, Nizan Shaked, and Fred Moten. Assignments will consist of short formal and theoretical analyses with creative options.Philosophy and Critical Theory (PHCRT) courses focus on developing critical reading and thinking skills, with an emphasis on learning to frame and explore meaningful questions. Students consider multiple perspectives and claims in the process of formulating independent, well-founded opinions.

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