The sense of Duchamp's work against sense was to unravel the strategies of how sense is normally produced: first in works of art, including his own, then in ways of life, in ideology and society. Thus in his art there is a close relationship between art about art and cultural criticism. Duchamp does not aim at what art normally does: i.e., to suggest to the spectator certain aesthetic, ideological or "cosmic" and "poetic" feelings. On the contrary, he wants the spectator to realize that art as well as culture are games he can change. These games depend on conventions-very much like science and mathematics depend on axioms: hence his interest for the fourth dimension. The course will focus on Duchamp's work in context with contemporary avantgarde art from Courbet, Seurat, Cubism to Surrealism. First, we will try to understand early avantgarde art, and Duchamp's subtle iconoclasm directed against it. Second, we will examine his his appreciation of linguistic fashions in which we come to understand art as well as ideology-including the connections between the two, and their power over our cultural identities. Requirements: participation in class discussions, class presentation, and a research paper. Prerequisites: ArtH 101-102. Enrollment limit: 15.

Hour: M. ZIMMERMANN