Made in India: Modern and Contemporary Art

HART20801 Made in India: Modern and Contemporary Art 20 Semester 1 Undergraduate Level 2 Emilia Terracciano Unit coordinator 1 FHEQ level (Framework for Higher Education Qualifications) ' Middle part of Bachelors ' European Credit Transfer & Accumulation System Rating : 10.0 What do histories of colonial subjection and resistance to it tell us about ongoing struggles for and against modernisation? What can art produced in the world’s most populous country (and largest democracy) tell us about the impact of globalisation on lands, people, and their ways of living? What forms of art emerge in a country grappling with significant challenges posed by the rise of industrialisation, chronic poverty, failing infrastructure, and the presence of a phenomenally rich and high-powered global elite?This seminar-based course examines how artists make sense of the complex phenomena of colonialism and globalization, via a focus on India in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Through close analyses of specific objects of art, architecture and design, we consider how Indian artists engaged with questions of authenticity, narrative, urbanization, the environment, feminism, and science and technology. Specifically, we analyse art produced before and after the 1947 Partition of India which divided the subcontinent into two independent dominion states: India and Pakistan. The emergence of a self-conscious Indian modernism in the decades between independence and the 1980s had a significant impact on the Indian art scene. From the 1980s a period of economic and societal liberalisation ensued, when India opened to the world after experiences of Third World utopianism. This was a time of self-criticism and re-appraisal when artists felt that nationalism had fundamentally constrained their practice. Moreover, they confronted new threats posed by the surge of corporate monopolies, the growth of the militant far-right, and challenges to secularism by the rise of ethno-nationalism. The tensions between the modern powerhouse economy, manual forms of labour and environmental exploitation became focal points of analysis, with artists engaging critically with their predecessors. This seminar-based course examines how artists make sense of the complex phenomena of colonialism and globalization, via a focus on India in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Through close analyses of specific objects of art, architecture and design, we consider how Indian artists engaged with questions of authenticity, narrative, urbanization, the environment, feminism, and science and technology.  The course enables students to comprehend the development of art practices and movements in relation to questions of colonialism, modernism, and globalisation in India across the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Students will learn how to make sense of definitions of the ‘political’ in art by evaluating and comparing theories whilst being exposed to a variety of forms of assessment.  Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of how artists deploy a variety of ‘political’ art forms from 1905 up until the present to confront the challenges posed by globalisation. Evaluate and assess the significance of artistic contributions in relation to the theme of globalisation. Show critical awareness of historical and art historical literature, both past and present. · Produce a satisfactory account describing how artists negotiate the challenges posed by globalisation in relation to wider debates. Demonstrate ability to work both independently and collaboratively on a set topic. Demonstrate knowledge of a particular area in the history of art. Demonstrate an understanding of works of art in their historical context.Engage in detailed and critical discussion of art historical and methodological issues at a satisfactory level. Display independent and critical understanding of the material. Use and exploit research resources in the field. Articulate arguments both verbally and in writing. Complete an original academic research project under supervision. Demonstrate that they have developed the ability to work under pressure and are able to articulate their knowledge effectively under time constraints. Conduct independent research in libraries and online. Devise and execute a structured research and writing plan. Work collaboratively and develop willingness to share, debate and exchange knowledge with colleagues. Assess and integrate peer critical feedback on their own work Understand, assess and synthesise key arguments from a variety of research sources. · Become an original and independent-minded researcher and writer. Become an indispensable team-player able to contribute, lead and moderate critical discussions in class. Produce a clear and cogent written exposition of a given topic. Manage time efficiently and deliver written and oral work to set deadlines. Deploy IT resources for research and communication purposes. Other This course prepares students to continue with graduate and postgraduate study and equips them with sufficient transferable skills to enter a wide range of professional employment. On completion of this course students will be equipped with a range of transferable skills in research, synthesis of key arguments, independent thinking, time management, written and oral delivery, and general IT literacy. Lecture-basedDirected readingSmall and focused group discussion of texts and worksReading and slide presentation uploaded to Blackboard  0 Other 100% <figure class="table"><table><tbody><tr><td>Assessment Task </td><td>Formative or Summative </td><td>Length </td><td>Weighting within unit (if relevant) </td></tr><tr><td>Plan and indicative bibliography for Essay 1</td><td>Formative</td><td>500 words</td><td>0%</td></tr><tr><td>Essay 1</td><td>Summative</td><td>2000</td><td>50%</td></tr><tr><td>Essay 2</td><td>Summative</td><td>2000</td><td>50%</td></tr></tbody></table></figure>  Oral and Written feedback on plan and indicative bibliography for Essay 1Written feedback on essay 1/2Supplementary one-to-one feedback by appointment or during office hours Y Dadi, Iftikhar. Modernism and the Art of Muslim South Asia. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2010. 197-216. Habermas, Jürgen. Excerpts on Communicative Ethics, from The inclusion of the Other. Studies in Political Theory. Jürgen Habermas. MIT Press, 1998, parts VIII and IX of Chapter 1 only, reproduced here; <a href="https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/habermas/1998/communicative-ethics.htm">https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/habermas/1998/communicative-ethics.htm</a>Kapur, Geeta. 2012. “Secular Artist, Citizen Artist.” in Jessica Moss and Ram Rahman, eds., The Sahmat Collective: Art and Activism in India since 1989, (THE SMART MUSEUM OF ART at the University of Chicago, 2013). Mufti, Aamir, “Towards a Lyric History of India,” boundary 2 31:2, 2004. Pinney, Christopher. 2014. “Gandhi, Camera, Action! India’s ‘August Spring.’” In The Political Aesthetics of Global Protest: The Arab Spring and Beyond, edited by Martin Webb, Pnina Werbner, and Martin Webb, 177–92. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. <a href="http://ls-tlss.ucl.ac.uk/course-materials/ANTH7025_74094.pdf"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;display:inline !important;float:none;font-family:"Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif;font-size:12px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:start;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">http://ls-tlss.ucl.ac.uk/course-materials/ANTH7025_74094.pdf</a>Rancière, Jacques. 2009. “Contemporary Art and the Politics of Aesthetics.” In Communities of Sense, 31–50. Durham: Duke University Press. <a href="https://selforganizedseminar.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/communities-of-sense.pdf"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;display:inline !important;float:none;font-family:"Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif;font-size:12px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:start;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">https://selforganizedseminar.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/communities-of-sense.pdf</a>Terracciano, Emilia. Art and Emergency: Modernism in twentieth-century India. London and New York: IB Tauris, 2018. 1-11. Terracciano, Emilia. “Disappearing Worlds:” The Caravan, February 2014. 106-113. <a href="http://caravanmagazine.in/reviews-and-essays/disappearing-worlds"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;display:inline !important;float:none;font-family:"Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif;font-size:12px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:start;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">http://caravanmagazine.in/reviews-and-essays/disappearing-worlds</a> Lectures 22 Seminars 11 0 167