This cross-disciplinary course, taught by Laura Karp-Lugo, will approach the question of art from the following angles: art and migration in the 1st semester – identity and métissage in the 2nd semester.

Global Art History in Questions (1): Art and Migration

This course will look at art on the move – migration (exile), travel – from a global perspective in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. By decentring Europe, this course will examine the multiple networks of globalisation, thus calling into question the geographical compartments in the study of traditional art history. It will mobilise concepts for thinking about connected histories around artistic creation, such as appropriation and reception, and will endeavour to draw up a panorama of world art which, in Piotr Piotrowski’s horizontal proposal, can reflect as much as possible of the world’s artistic production in all its plurality and diversity.
The creative output of cities such as Mexico City, Mumbai, Dakar, Buenos Aires, Istanbul, São Paulo, New York and Shanghai will be examined with this in mind. Key concepts such as exile, migration, diaspora and displacement will be introduced, drawing on the work of researchers such as Edward Saïd, Burcu Dogramaci and Kobena Mercer. This will be followed by independently conceived thematic sessions analysing the work of artists such as Gertrudis Chale, Frida Kahlo, Carl Meffert, Grete Stern and Julia Codesido.

Global Art History in Questions (2): Identities and cross-fertilisation (2nd semester)

This course is built on the theoretical basis of decolonial thought, postcolonial theories, connected history and cultural transfers, and seeks to distance itself from hegemonic narratives and the centre-periphery dichotomy. As the work is always the starting point for the reflections developed during the course, the work of Argentinean artist Xul Solar, Lithuanian artist Lasar Segal and Ukrainian artist Boris Kriukow, among many others, will be at the heart of the discussions.
Resolutely participatory sessions will focus on a collective study of a work, alternating with theoretical classes in which the analysis of the works will be accompanied by readings of major texts such as those by Walter Mignolo, Partha Mitter, Sanjay Subramanyan, Serge Gruzinski, Nestor Garcia Canclini, Michel Espagne, Dipesh Chakrabarty and Enrique Dussel.
Seeking to mobilise different approaches, such as postcolonial theories, decolonial thought, gender studies and subaltern studies – while endeavouring to bypass hegemonic canons and methodologies – the course will offer a reflection on various themes, including dialogue and transmutation, gender, identity and belonging, indigeneity, hybridity and métissage, multiple temporalities and decentring.

Course timetable Thursday from 10am to 12pm :

1st semester 12 October to 21 December 2023
2nd semester 22 January to 12 April 2024

Photo credit: Ali Arkady