Ontario College of Art & Design

Course Calendar

COURSE DESCRIPTION

LBST 1B14
Things and Texts (NOT OFFERED IN FALL/WINTER 2011-12)
0.50 Credit(s)
Academic Course
(NOT OFFERED IN FALL/WINTER 2011-12)
Although the categories of “art” and “artifact” are familiar as categories of tangible, expressive culture, they need to be understood as product of distinct historical context. There is a case to be made for interrogating and perhaps challenging the traditional taxonomies in favor of a more inclusive model of assessment. Interested in the ways that observers and writers have used language in their efforts to make sense of the material world, this course will survey historical thinking and texts concerned with the classification of human made things in order to ask questions – philosophical and practical -- about how the material world has been observed and described, and why. The course will emphasize the close reading of primary (historical) texts and will emphasize writing as a critical exercise.
Course was last updated May 31, 2011 - 11:22 AM