New York City, Modernism, and the Origins of Cool WNY 316

Instructor: Liza Johnson ‘92

This course focuses on twentieth century New York, on its many avant garde movements, and specifically on ideas about the “hip” and the “cool” that circulate through the history of the city. The course will be a comment on and a continuation of the conceptual ideology of jazz, honoring its deep radical legacy of experimentation and the hybrid modernist forms it produced. Looking at avant garde histories in music and art history, and at the realm of the abstract languages they constructed, the course pays homage to modernism’s ties to black cultural production, presenting a comprehensive picture of mid-century modernism, the origins of ‘cool’ and its relationship to New York City.

How is our present experience of the city embedded in this history of ‘hip’ culture and neo-modernity? Much of the course will be taught in the field, visiting cross-disciplinary venues that connect music and visual art as well as historic sites that shaped avant garde ideas.

Students will be evaluated on class participation and discussions based on readings, and the completion of one outside project.