In this module we think about the changing conditions of the sculptural object since the mid-1950s in America and Europe. We track the legacies of the surrealist objet trouvé and Duchampian readymade, strategies of the neo-avant-garde, the rise of the Minimalist object, and its later dematerialization into a range of ‘conceptual’ and process-based and performative works. We approach these various reconfigurations of the object through a range of theoretical approaches, drawing on art critical and historical writing both from the period and subsequently, as we track the various ways in which the ‘object’ has been understood in the modern period.
We spend some time thinking about the paradigm shifts that occurred to the sculptural object throughout the period, from its dominance in the mid-sixties to its subsequent disintegration. The consequences of those shifts continue to shape much of today’s art practice, and we look at the persistence of the modernist object in the work of some contemporary artists.
By the end of the module, students should have acquired:
Module Code HOA00010H