A broad explanation of why Visual Cultural Studies is taught at Edinburgh College of Art rather than a more conventional Art History

1. Why not study art history? Robert Rauschenberg (1953) Erased De Kooning

2. Bestist! Second Bestist Third Bestist

3. Carol Gwizdak (2007) Hyacinth Ring (Seed Head, Silver ,Porcelain)

4. Marianne Brandt (1924) Tea infuser and strainer.

5. Damien Hirst (2007) Spot Painting

6. Suitable for Mass Production Not Suitable for Mass Production

7. Marianne Brandt (1924) Tea infuser and strainer. Marcel Breuer (1927-8) Wassily Chair. Walter Gropius (1938-9) Breuer House

8. Rational forms Turbid, Organic Forms

9. Sol LeWitt (1968[?]) 142, Metropolitan Museum of Art

10. Functional Useless

12. Individual Homogenous

13. Environmentally Conscious

14. Mitchell Joachim (2006) The Fab Tree Hab

15. Art for Art’s Sake Anonymous (and commonplace)

16. Jenny Holzer (1986) Protect me from what I want. From the Truisms series. Spectacolor electronic sign. Times Square, New York

17. Why not study art history?

18. Moving towards ‘flatness’ Impure

19. Clifford Still (1948) Clifford Still [?]

20. Exhibit ‘Grace’ Overworked

21. Art History Privileges Painting (and Sculpture) Aesthetic (concerned with forms and styles) Great Artists Linear Development (Taste) Art History?

22. Values

23. “I can’t wait to get into a position to make really bad art and get away with it. At the moment if I did certain things people would look at me and say ‘Fuck off’. But after a while you can get away with things.” Damien Hirst 1990, quoted in (Stallabrass 1999, p.31)

24. Fame ≠ Good Artist/ Designer/ Craftsperson ££££££ ≠ Good Art/ Design/ Craft

25. “Hirst said that he only painted five spot paintings himself (there are about 300) because, ‘I couldn’t be fucking arsed doing it.’ He described his efforts as ’shite.’ ‘They’re shite compared to … the best person who ever painted spots for me was Rachel. She’s brilliant. Absolutely fucking brilliant. The best spot painting you can have by me is one painted by Rachel.’” Stephen Foster, Blog (2007)

26. Question Values

27. Canon: A list that champions key designers, craftspeople or artists, key texts and keys works over and above others.

28. Ideology: An interpretative scheme made up of values that shapes the way we organise information.

29. Institutions and ‘sharing’ values

30. Discourse: the total some of (organised) information on a particular subject.

33. Why not study art history?

34. From left: Raine Hodgson (2009) [photo John McGregor]; Julie Chapman (2009) Ephemeral Pleasures [photo John McGregor]; Lottie Lindsay (2009) Hills Emit Hope [photo Tom Nolan].

38. Farty?

40. Why not art history? ECA students are creative in lots of different ways The world is full of visual representations Traditional Art History might not help your understanding of contemporary art Studying Art History (alone) wouldn’t prepare you for being contemporary practitioners Visual Cultural Studies could include aspects of Art History, but as part of richer and broader field of study

41. Why not study art history?

43. First Published in 1957

47. Eduardo Paolozzi, BUNK! (1971)

48. Andy Warhol (1968) Brillo Box. First Exhibited in a series in the Stable Gallery, New York.

49. Clockwise from top left: Caravaggio (1602-3) Doubting Thomas. Potsdam. Jackson Pollock (1952) Blue Poles number 11. Turner, JMW (1842) Streamer in a Snowstorm. Tate London. Diego Velazquez (1656) Las Meninas. Prado Madrid

50. Andy Warhol (1968) Brillo Box. First Exhibited in a series in the Stable Gallery, New York.

51. Marcel Duchamp (1917) Fountain

52. Neither of these books contained a single reference to female artists when first published!!! First Published in 1961 First Published in 1962

53. Mary Beth Edelson (1972) Some Living American Women

54. “The feminist critique of art history began by berating the discipline for its discriminatory exclusion of women artists. This was a necessary but limited tactic. For art history as a discourse actively produces its meanings by exclusion, repression and subordination...” (Pollock 1988, p.128)

56. “The modern system of art is not an essence or a fate but something we have made. Art as we have generally understood it is a European invention barely two hundred years old.” (Larry Shiner 2001, p.3) Gustave Courbet (1855) The Painter’s Studio

57. Lots of other important things... !!!

58. Criticisms of Art History Narrowness of its subject matter Concentration on individual artists Restricted methods: Style Iconography Quality Canon Dating Biography Uniformity of Curricula Ignoring social context of art Inattention to theoretical change (Fernire 1995)

59. To be continued ... by you!

60. References Fernire, Eric (ed.) (1995) Art History and Its Methods. London, Phaidon Press Ltd. Pollock, Griselda (1988) Vision and Difference. London, Routledge Shiner, Larry (2001) The Invention of Art. London, The University of Chicago Press.