Pick one of the two following questions to answer in an essay of 5-6 pages (1250
Pick one of the two following questions to answer in an essay of 5-6 pages (1250-1500 words), citing at least three (3) different authors and three (3) different objects as textual and historical evidence.
The authors can be John Berger, Mary Ann Staniszewski, anyone in the e-Course Reader or cited in the lecture slides.
The objects can be from the assigned readings or my lecture slide shows. When citing objects, you must specify 1) the creator/maker, 2) the identity of the object (title if a work of art), and 3) the date of creation.
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Question 1: The Making of Art. What historical transformations have enabled the creation of Art as a rarefied category for visual and material culture? What philosophical ideas and institutions have contributed to the emergence and persistence of Art as a category? What features do objects of Art have in common?
Question 2: Reproduction & Imitation / Commodification / Bad Taste. The phenomena of 1) reproduction & imitation, 2) commodification, and 3) “bad” taste (kitsch and camp) have historically put pressure on the authority of Art as a precious, almost sacred domain of visual and material culture. How so? Pick one (1) of these 3 issues and explain how the ways in which it undermines Art and its associate ideas.