Ira Solomatina
Postcolonial Identity in Contemporary Art: Between Modernity and Global Order
Seminar, English/Deutsch, 2 SWS, 2 ECTS
Tuesday, 10-12 h, weekly, starting 24.4.2018, Hardenbergstr. 33, room 110

In the course I would like to concentrate on the phenomenon of the postcolonial identity. Even though the 20^th century saw the wave of decolonization, even nowadays the influence of colonization is still being negotiated through contemporary art practices. I would like to use the format of the seminar structure to disseminate the interplay of global, modern, postcolonial influences in contemporary art. With the students we will be discussing particularly striking artworks as well as texts by Homi Bhabha, Arjun Appadurai, Gayatri Spivak and Anthony K. Appiah to try and evaluate the state of contemporary art between globalization, modernity and postcolonialism. The course will be raising poignant questions about the role of global feminism in art, about the identity politics (the rising importance of race and gender) and about the currently increasing interest towards tradition and craft in art.

Leistungsanforderungen für den unbenoteten Studium-Generale-Schein: active and regular attendance; presentation related to one of the aspects of the course, or based on one of the texts from the syllabus and a short essay (3-5 pages) about one of the aspects, discussed in the course.

Conditions for participation: fluent English (though essays and presentations in German are accepted).

Focus: Orientieren, Lesen, Schreiben

Ira Solomatina is an editor and researcher, whose interests span fashion history and globalisation of culture. Having graduated from an MA Programme in Southeast Asian Studies at Humboldt University, she now pursues a PhD degree in Globalisation of Fashion at the University of Amsterdam and lectures on cultural theory at the Humboldt University Berlin.