Spring 2018
ARTH 4155 Latin American Modernisms and Technology
The involvement of Latin American artists with modern media technologies dates at least to the late nineteenth century and has especially flourished in the last three decades. The canonical histories and criticism of Latin American art for the most part depict a history of artistic production in which technology plays a minor or invisible role. This construction of history reinforces the assumption that experimentation, innovation and theorization in technological art are exclusive provinces of the developed world. As the history of art expands to include diverse areas of media arts and visual culture, the recognition of Latin American artists’ involvement with technology is not only overdue but also essential to the development of more diverse and rigorous understandings of both modernity and modernism.
The students in this seminar will investigate question such, such as: How does the inclusion of technologically engaged practices in the history of Latin American art challenge our understanding of this art? Are there regional specificities to the use and understanding of media technologies? Are modern technologies relevant to the representation of national identities? Has the dissemination of digital technologies contributed to preserve cultural memory? To what extent do technologically engaged practices contribute to indigenous social movements and aesthetics? To what extent do contemporary media artists invoke the indigenous and colonial past in their work? Is Latin American digital art indifferent to social realities? Are existing theories of globalization and comparative modernities adequate to understand this work? Can artists’ engagements with technology stimulate the development of new historical and critical discourses about Latin American art? Diverse disciplinary and methodological approaches will be included and welcomed.
