“Contemporary art: from concept to masterpiece” - course 15,000 rubles. from MSU, training 3 weeks. (1 month), Date: December 3, 2023.

It makes no sense to approach contemporary art armed only with your own common sense and intuition; it requires serious knowledge of history and theory of art, and most importantly - understanding the conceptual fields in which, with varying degrees of awareness, modern artists work artists. Theory has never been as important for art as it is today. To the public to answer the question: what does a modern artist do and why? The artist, to explain, first of all to himself, what he is already doing, and why he is doing it this way and not otherwise. The course includes not only lectures, but also practical creative exercises, which are designed to give an idea of ​​the languages ​​and meanings of various philosophical and artistic theories, teach how to read texts and art objects from the point of view of both classical and non-classical philosophical discourses, try yourself in the role art critic and curator. Contemporary art is inseparable from philosophical discourse, therefore the course will analyze theoretical texts (M. Heidegger, K. Greenberg, V. Benjamin, J. Baudrillard, R. Barthes, R. Smithson, M. Foucault, R. Krauss, etc.), which largely determined the trajectories of artistic practitioner

Contemporary art poses serious challenges to both viewers and researchers. What exactly can be considered a work of art today? How does an artist become a star and a work of art become recognized by the general public? Is it possible to identify the most significant factors influencing its perception? Is it correct to say that novelty and originality of a concept are decisive these days?

As part of the course, students are offered two views on the problems of the emergence, development and existence of contemporary art: “conceptual” and “pragmatic”. The course involves familiarity with the basic philosophical concepts and theories, without which understanding is impossible contemporary art, as well as an analysis of the mechanisms that transform ambiguous and sometimes controversial objects into masterpieces. Course at Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov will also talk about the basic mechanisms of modern artistic market and methods of promoting artists, as well as how artists of various eras.

Target audience: art historians, artists, cultural experts, everyone

Program results

• know the main directions of modern European and American art, as well as the main concepts and main vectors of development of modern art; the most important texts by philosophers and art theorists that influenced the formation of the discursive field of contemporary art;
• be able to “read” and understand works of contemporary art;
• establish relationships between the contents of philosophical and art historical theories and the vectors of development of modern art inspired by them;
• classify works of art and related theories of art into classical, modernist and contemporary;
• have the skills to conduct discussions about contemporary art; the rules of the language game “criticism of contemporary art”; skills of independent work with texts by contemporary art theorists.

Classes will be held in the evenings 4 times a week:

Mondays - 19.00-20.30

Tuesdays - 19.00-20.30

Thursdays - 19.00-20.30

Fridays - 19.00-20.30

Form of study 
online 

Duration
36 hours