ARTH 305
Queer Art, Queer Archives
Last Offered Fall 2019
Division I
This course is not offered in the current catalog or this is a previous listing for a current course.

Focusing on a number of recent museum exhibitions dedicated to queer art and artists in the U.S. and abroad, this course critically examines the emergence of queer art histories. How are queer art histories being written and presented? And how is queer art being collected and preserved? We will explore these questions (and others) through the lens of the archive and the research and collecting practices associated with archives. As a class, we will critically examine the role, limits, and possibilities of archives in art historical research, curatorial practice, and museum exhibitions. Course readings will consider various historical, theoretical, and methodological approaches to the archive and curatorial practice. We will also consider artists’ archives and what has been described as an “archival impulse” in contemporary art. This course is being developed in conjunction with Williams College Museum of Art’s presentation of the traveling exhibition Axis Mundo: Queer Networks in Chicano L.A., the first historical exhibition on queer Latinx art. Select assignments and student presentations will encourage first-hand experience with artworks in the exhibition.