Home > Courses > Five x Five: Five Exhibitions Across Five Decades of Contemporary Art
Five x Five: Five Exhibitions Across Five Decades of Contemporary Art
23rd January 2018 to 20th February 2018
Tuesdays
11:00 - 13:00
Led by Anna Moszynska
What makes ‘contemporary art’ contemporary? To answer this question, this course will explore art over
the last fifty years concentrating on five themes which run across the period: the massive expansion in
techniques and mediums; the growth of a more global vision of art; the transforming expansion of the
female viewpoint; the desire to reflect wider popular culture; and an increasing shift towards the use of
art as a direct form of social document. Engaging with the period since 1968 five ground-breaking
exhibitions are used as the starting point for the individual lectures. Each session will focus on the work of
a particular decade; together they will provide not merely a loose history of the period, but also a dynamic
exploration of the shifting idea of what constitutes contemporary art, placing this in the context of the
wider issues that make the subject so fascinating and rewarding.
1. The 1970s: Information, 1970
This highly influential exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York demonstrates the breakaway
from conventional painting and sculpture in favour of the new technologies (including at the time,
photography, film and video). These continue to have major implications for the art of today.
2. The 1980s: Les Magiciens de la Terre, 1989
This Paris-based exhibition challenged the colonial ethnocentricity of contemporary art by drastically
expanding representation of non-Western artworks, setting the scene for the more global art which we
now see in museums, other exhibitions and art institutions.
3. The 1990s: Sensation: Young British Artists from the Saatchi Collection, 1997
The move towards embracing popular culture runs as a leitmotif across the whole period, but it is
particularly prominent in the 1990s as will be seen in discussion of this scandalous Royal Academy
exhibition, based on the art collection of the advertising tycoon, Charles Saatchi.
4. The 2000s: WACK!: Art and the Feminist Revolution, 2007
This major show of groundbreaking women’s art from the 1970s in Los Angeles offers the opportunity to
discuss the continued and expanding role played by women artists over the course of recent decades,
demonstrating just how much work was previously overlooked due to gender bias.
5. The 2010s: Documenta 14, 2017
The 14th edition of this major quinquennial overview offers an opportunity to review current concerns and
the explosion of documentary art as a means of exploring and understanding the global political context in
which that art is made.
Anna Moszynska is a lecturer and writer, specialising in contemporary art. She developed the first
British MA Degree in the subject at Sotheby’s Institute and has also taught at institutions including the
Royal Academy and Tate, as well as lecturing to diverse audiences in cities ranging from Dubai to New
York. She has reviewed for BBC Radio and various art periodicals. Anna currently teaches at academic
institutions in London and Paris and runs her own courses under the auspices of Contemporary Art Talks.
Her books include Abstract Art (1990) and Sculpture Now (2013) published by Thames & Hudson.
A number of members have expressed interest in this short course but because of other commitments are unable to attend all the sessions so have not booked. As a one off we are offering the option of attending only one or two of the lectures at a price of £20 per lecture. This is an exceptional arrangement for this course only. Please select the specific lectures you want to attend and the total number of single lecture tickets you want to buy. If you are booking by post please indicate clearly which lectures you wish to attend.
It is still possible to book for the whole series of this interesting subject.