Australian Interactions with American and European Art and Art-Worlds During the Modernist Period.

Australian Interactions with European and American Art and Art-Worlds will provide an introduction to Australia's engagement with American and European Art with a particular focus on exhibition history within these countries. Through the provision of theoretical, social, political and historical contexts the course will include an introduction to key art theorists such as Clement Greenberg, Harold Rosenberg, Sol Lewitt, Rosalind Krauss, Ian Burn , Joseph Beuys, Marina Abromavic and others whose ideas had an impact on Australian artists. Topics may include: Two Decades of American Painting (1967) The Field exhibition and its legacy (1968) and Kaldor Art Projects (1969 onwards). The political context for these exhibitions will also be discussed, particularly in relation to the purchase of Blue Poles by the NGA in 1973 and the promotion of American art internationally during the Cold War period as well as the significance of Christo's Wrapped Coast and other works from Europe that had a key impact on Australian artists. Through an examination of the relationship between exhibitions and theory, the second part of the course will focus upon developments in performance art, womens art, conceptual art and environmental art. The course will provide a vital introduction to European-American-Australian art and theory from the 1940's onwards.