Advanced Topics in Arts and Performance (380-0-2)

Topic

Art and Performance in Asian America

Instructors

Clara Lee

Meeting Info

Wirtz 240 Seminar Room: Tues, Thurs 2:00PM - 3:20PM

Overview of class

What is Asian American art? How do the racial and political undercurrents of the designation "Asian American" lend itself to various stylized forms, such as the cyborg, alien, recluse, or Orient? In this class, we will examine a range of art objects and performances by Asian American and Asian diasporic artists—including but not limited to Mitski, Patty Chang, Yoko Ono and Jes Fan—which have emerged out of or in relation to the varied experiences and imaginaries of Asia/ America. Instead of pursing a comprehensive historiography of Asian American art, we turn our attention how these experiments—in video, photography, performance art, and music—elaborate the inconsistencies and resonances that permeate formations of Asia America. Finally, in locating our study at the intersection of Asian American studies and Performance studies, we will learn to lean into our senses (sight, touch, hearing) and the sensory (the visible, invisible, haptic, tactile, whispers, murmurs, screams, etc.) as analytical tools capable of complicating the association between identity and representation.

Class Attributes

Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
SoC Humanities and Fine Arts Distro
SoC Individual and Social Behavior Distro