Millennium Approaches: The Art of the 1990s

This seminar will examine the art historical legacy of the 1990s, the decade of Bill Clinton, Beavis and Butthead, and Y2K. By placing art in conversation with music, popular culture, and political events, we will explore the dark underbelly of the decade's facade of sunny optimism. Key topics will include the the end of the Cold War, multiculturalism, American interventionism, the AIDS crisis, and early internet culture. Artists covered will include Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Kim Gordon, Mike Kelly, the Young British Artists, Gregg Bordowitz, Lorna Simpson, Zoe Leonard, Byron Kim, and Glenn Ligon. What is the relationship between art, popular culture, and history? How did the 1990s help shape our current culture?