|
Authorship and Identity The role of the artist - changes and contemporary challenges to concepts of authorship and identity Driven by artists and theorists, the role of the artist is currently being reconstructed to embrace concepts of diversity, hybridity and responsibility to audiences. These adjustments are based in part on a re-evaluation of concepts of identity. In today's global, post-modern society, we work in and through communities that interact and thus reshape each other. Traditional Western philosophy assumes that societies are composed of stable, autonomous individuals. This position is opposed by claims that selves can be realized only in and through communities, and that we do not possess identities outside of the social matrix. For today’s artists/authors/designers, who may work individually or in collectives, with or without an audience in mind, it is useful to acquire a working knowledge of theories of identity that underlie practice, as they affect the personal satisfaction as well as the scope of productivity of artists in their respective societal contexts. We will seek for evidence of the implementation of concepts of identity in work by historic and contemporary artists and curators from varied cultural contexts, while trying to develop working strategies for the future. In group critiques and guided individual explorations students will have the opportunity to plumb and compare their own approaches within a critical discourse. |
||