• Offered by School of Art and Design
  • ANU College ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences
  • Classification Transitional
  • Course subject Art History
  • Areas of interest Art History, Digital Arts, Visual Arts, Creative Arts, Arts
  • Academic career PGRD
  • Course convener
    • Dr Chaitanya Sambrani
  • Mode of delivery In Person
  • Co-taught Course
  • Offered in First Semester 2021
    See Future Offerings

Contemporary art from various Asian contexts has attained a high level of international visibility during the past two decades. In part brought about by geopolitical developments, a major and continuing realignment of international exhibition rationales has seen the work of a number of Asian artists featured regularly in major biennial and triennial exhibitions around the world. This new visibility for non-western art is also related to the critique of Eurocentric, universalist ideologies that has influenced recent scholarship in the humanities and social sciences.


This course introduces students to a varied and exciting range of artistic practices from contemporary India, Indonesia, Japan and China. Students will also be offered an understanding of political, cultural and artistic contexts against which this work may be located. Questions of postcolonial politics, globalisation and nationalism will be addressed as part of the theoretical framework.

This course may be offered in semester-long format or as an intensive.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

  1. demonstrate familiarity with the major trajectories in contemporary visual art in the four countries selected as case studies, i.e., India, Indonesia, China and Japan;
  2. display a developed capacity to analyse significant works, the careers of individual artists, and relevant cultural and political histories in formal and contextual terms;
  3. illustrate an understanding of specific historical issues that underpin the development of contemporary art cultures in the Asian region;
  4. show a sophisticated understanding of theoretical frameworks internationally, and to apply insights from these to the chosen case studies; and
  5. present thorough written and oral arguments that address the implications of key works, and/or the careers of individuals or collectives within the framework of issues discussed in the course.

Indicative Assessment

  1. Oral Presentation including submission of PowerPoint Slides/presentation notes (12 minutes) (30) [LO 1,2,3,5]
  2. Essay (4500 words) (60) [LO 1,2,3,4,5]
  3. Tutorial Participation (10) [LO 1,2,3,4,5]

The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.

Workload

For semester-mode delivery:

130 hours of total student learning time made up from:

a) 36 hours of contact: one 2 hour lecture and one 1 hour tutorial per week for 12 weeks (a total of 3 hours contact per teaching week)

b) 94 hours of independent student research, reading and writing


For intensive-mode delivery:

a) 36 hours of contact delivered in seminar mode during successively timetabled intensive days across two weeks

b) 94 hours of independent student research, reading and writing

Inherent Requirements

Not applicable

Requisite and Incompatibility

You are not able to enrol in this course if you have previously completed ARTH2170, ARTV2053 or ARTV6053.

Prescribed Texts

Nil

Preliminary Reading

Available on the course WATTLE site.

Fees

Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.  

Commonwealth Support (CSP) Students
If you have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). More information about your student contribution amount for each course at Fees

Student Contribution Band:
12
Unit value:
6 units

If you are a domestic graduate coursework student with a Domestic Tuition Fee (DTF) place or international student you will be required to pay course tuition fees (see below). Course tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.

Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.

Units EFTSL
6.00 0.12500
Domestic fee paying students
Year Fee
2021 $3180
International fee paying students
Year Fee
2021 $4890
Note: Please note that fee information is for current year only.

Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links

ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.

The list of offerings for future years is indicative only.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.

First Semester

Class number Class start date Last day to enrol Census date Class end date Mode Of Delivery Class Summary
4589 22 Feb 2021 01 Mar 2021 31 Mar 2021 28 May 2021 In Person View

Responsible Officer: Registrar, Student Administration / Page Contact: Website Administrator / Frequently Asked Questions