Studies in 20th & 21st Century Art (460-0-2)
Topic
Theories of Intention
Instructors
Rebecca Elizabeth Zorach
Meeting Info
Block Conference Room: Tues 2:00PM - 4:50PM
Overview of class
This seminar looks broadly at theories of intention and at the place of intention--or the absence thereof--in the making and reception of art. We will read critical and theoretical texts that grapple with this question, and test them out through a series of case studies generated by students from their own interests. The seminar addresses theory and historiography from Freud and phenomenology to the New Critics and analytic philosophy of mind to the poststructuralist Death of the Author, as well as theories of collective, distributed, non-human, and networked agency. We will seek to understand why writers have questioned the place of authorial intent in the evaluation or interpretation of a work, as well as critiques and responses to this position. In wresting authority away from the producer, have we given over too much authority to the consumer? Some of our topics may include miraculous ("acheiropoietic") objects, images "made by nature" and other nonhuman actors, artworks not intended for a human audience, artwork made using the operations of chance, collaborations in which any singular intention is difficult to establish, examples in which intention is simply inaccessible to the interpreter, and examples in which it is, or seems, all too apparent. Work will include frequent mini-presentations and a final paper and presentation on a research topic, which can be drawn from participants' individual fields of research.
Class Materials (Suggested)
Most books as well as individual articles/chapters will be available as PDFs.
Books worth purchasing (and are not too expensive used) include Michael Baxandall, Patterns of Intention (to be read for the first class meeting); Karl Marx, The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte; and Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem.
Book purchases will be optional. PDF or free Ebook options exist for all titles. Please note that Michael Baxandall's Patterns of Intention is to be read for the first class meeting (1/11/22 because of "Northwestern Monday").
A PDF will be available in advance or you may choose to purchase the book.