Rather than presenting a chronological and complete assessment, the course will examine the main historical moments that led to the formation of the critical and contextual framework that still continues to shape contemporary art practice and criticism. The course, which will begin by focusing on the hegemonic role of the New York Museum of Modern Art in America during the Cold War and Greenberg's formalist understanding of modernism, will then continue with the discussion of minimalist and conceptual trends and alternative art movements in the 1970s and 1980s. He will then refer to the "end of art" claims and link this debate to the debates on the West-centrism of art, which have become more intense with postcolonialism and globalization. Finally, the course will open up biennials as the main exhibition formats that define the global art discourse, with an emphasis on contemporary art as a global art.
