VISST-200 courses develop students' visual analysis skills while providing the opportunity for in-depth study of the visual/structural artifacts associated with a particular topic, region, or movement. Students will also engage with the relevant primary/secondary literature for the topic at hand. Courses will pay particular attention to the larger cultural, historical, and theoretical/ideological contexts in which the visual artifacts and structures under consideration were created.Section Description:Students wishing to register for this course need to first obtain instructor approval by emailing the instructor (instructor emails are listed with a more detailed program description in portal: cca.edu/abroad). Once a student is approved, registration must be done in person at the Student Records Office on either campus.Open to undergraduate and graduate students from all disciplines, this course explores a wide range of contemporary artistic and exhibition practices that are responding to both historical precedents and the tense global politics of our moment — with a focus on this year’s Venice Biennale as well as the vibrant cultural scene of Berlin. Taking as its starting point the title of the Venice Biennale, May You Live in Interesting Times, the class examines how these innovative practices are challenging and/or adapting to radical changes in the political, urban, and social landscape.
 
Students are introduced to a diverse range of international practitioners: in addition to the Biennale and other current exhibitions, we visit artist studios, galleries, project spaces, museums and private collections; interview curators and gallerists; and hold seminars with various academics, filmmakers, and critics.
 
Venice is home to the longest running international art exhibition, curated this year by Ralph Rugoff, director of the Hayward Gallery, London, who was the former director of the Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts at CCA. May You Live in Interesting Times alludes to our period of uncertainty and turmoil, marked by the corrosion of political discourse in the face of “fake” news and “alternative” facts. From Venice, we travel to Berlin, where we explore how the German capital came to be reinvented as one of the most innovative and cutting-edge centers for contemporary cultural production.
 

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