Studying the history and philosophy of art means dealing with two kinds of transformation at the same time. One is about the ways art has been made, perceived, organised by institutions, and understood over time. Another is about how we have understood the most fundamental concepts about art, nature, and our experience of the world. In this course, we will not make sense of these transformations chronologically by telling a linear story from the Renaissance to the present. We will, rather, approach the issue thematically, investigating how art has undergone “paradigm shifts” that can be compared to – but are not identical with – those we find in science, reflecting, refracting, contradicting, challenging, and supporting scientific discoveries, political ideologies, and dominant cultural forms. We will ground all this in the core ideas of modern European philosophy of art (“aesthetics”) as developed by Immanuel Kant, G.W.F Hegel, Martin Heidegger, Theodor W. Adorno, and Jacques Derrida, tracing the artistic, scientific, and technological transformations of our ideas about four main categories that are especially relevant to the history of art: perception, beauty, representation, and images. We will read these texts critically and think about how they relate to the narratives of art history and how artists and critics have understood what they were doing, using examples that include paintings, sculptures, installations, architecture, photographs, and films to reflect on the relationship between theory, practice, and scientific and political change.

Students will be encouraged to visit an exhibition in Vienna with me after each session and will have the chance to discuss the issues we raise with curators, gallerists, and artists working in the field.

Students will be assessed according to their contributions in the sessions (including gallery spaces and private discussions). They will have the option of producing short presentations and/or written work in which they identify and discuss how a single work of art or cultural object is marked by various transformations, including their own act of interpreting it.

The literature about the history and philosophy of art is vast and challenging, but always compelling. Readers working at any level can only be expected to deal with a small fragment of all the books and articles that are out there. Thus, each session will repeatedly return to the core ideas from the classics of art history and modern European aesthetics (extracts and passages will be provided). These texts will be supported and often challenged by critical sources, including feminist, queer, non-European, postcolonial, and decolonial responses.

Understanding these works and criticisms of them is a collective, collaborative effort. That means we will read and interpret extracts, passages, quotations, and ideas together in each session, supporting each other’s understanding and criticism. Students are not expected to have read any or all of them before the course starts, or even each session, but they will inform the notes and presentations that I make for our discussions (these will, of course, be provided). I will be available to discuss any problems after sessions, and by appointment in person or via Zoom.