Unravelling Modern & Contemporary Art: The Body (AC110107)

The body has been a potent site for personal and political struggle in art from the 1970s onwards. But how has this developed in a contemporary world, where changes in technology affect the way we perceive our physical boundaries, and art has hybridised to incorporate theory, humour, ethics and aesthetics? The body continues to adapt to the demands of artists, fulfilling the role of subject, medium, conceptual signifier and political tool. Surveying a wide range of media – from painting to performance, sculpture to film – this course approaches these issues via thematic introductions to subjects such as identity politics, cyberculture and the grotesque.