ARTH 375 - Montreal Art Milieu: Outside the Box: Public Art and Site-Specific Practices in Montreal

• F - 12:15 - 14:45
• EV-1.615
• INSTRUCTOR: STEFAN JOVANOVIC

This course will explore the diverse history of Montreal artists and institutions in the development, since the 1960s, of art practices located at the interstices of local histories, geographies, architecture and urban spaces.  While the term ‘site-specific’ has by now come to encompass and be applied to a wide range of contemporary practices, including the rhetorics of installation and display in the conventional gallery/museum setting, our focus will be on projects, interventions and performances outside of the museum or galley space, engaging with the unique social and spatial histories and the urban fabric of Montreal.  Our approach will be both historical and theoretical; in addition to some general readings and overviews of public/site-specific practices and concepts, our weekly lectures and activities will introduce students to case studies that highlight the important role of Montreal artists and of local projects by visiting artists at the forefront of issues such as the role of art in the public sphere, the evolution of the monument and outdoor sculpture after modernism, the making and remaking of local identities, the phenomenology of viewing art outside the gallery, as well as in relation to the broader psychical dimensions of the urban experience.  We will also consider the question of the ontological status of site-specific works (both permanent and temporary) and the role of documentation and the archive in preserving ephemeral phenomena. This course will introduce students to some of the most significant artists, practices and projects/exhibitions in the Montreal art milieu of the past four decades, and allow each student to conduct primary research into a specific local artwork or event.