Online Art Course. What Do We Mean by Contemporary Sculpture?

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The online art courses of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao offer accessible yet rigorous training in key concepts and topics in the history of modern and contemporary art, addressed from current perspectives.
Drawing on contributions from experts in specific fields, these courses are based on the Museum Collection and its dynamic art program.
According to The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the word sculpture means: 
a: the action or art of processing (as by carving, modeling, or welding) plastic or hard materials into works of art 
b     (1): work produced by sculpture 
(2): a three-dimensional work of art (such as a statue)
Upon reading these definitions, works like the Venus de Milo, Michelangelo’s David, or even that equestrian statue in a town square come to mind. However, as an artistic discipline, sculpture has changed significantly over the past 150 years, so that its scope today goes well beyond the traditional works we are familiar with that we identify as sculptures.
This course offers an answer—one among many—to the question “What do we mean by ‘contemporary sculpture’?”
Objetives 

This online course is aimed at:
<ul>
<li>Providing the key concepts to understand the development of sculpture from the late 19th century to the present.</li>
<li>Analyzing a series of formal and technical issues that are essential to understand this development, such as taking sculptures off their plinths or using new materials.</li>
<li>Exploring new forms of creation in today’s sculpture, in terms of both object and space, and analyzing the ways in which they interact with the viewer.</li>
<li>Shedding light on women artists and their real contributions, thus giving them the place they deserve in the history of 20th- and 21st-century art.</li>
</ul>
Conducted by: 
Brigitte Leal, Emeritus Deputy Director, Musée national d’art moderne – Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris <a href="http://cms.guggenheim-bilbao.eus/uploads/2023/09/CV-Brigitte-Leal.pdf">[+ info]</a>
Structure and Contents <a href="http://cms.guggenheim-bilbao.eus/uploads/2023/09/WEB-CURSO-ARTE-ONLINE-ESCULTURA-PROGRAMA-FINAL.pdf">[+info]</a>
Language: 
Spanish
Duration: 
The course will be available online for three months. Students will be able to access the course wherever they are, progressing at their own pace. Upon completing a module, they will be able to move on to the next one.
Target audience: 
People over 18 who are interested in broadening or updating their knowledge of contemporary sculpture or in getting a few key references. No prior knowledge required. Members of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao Community will have priority over other applicants to access the 50 places available.
Hatoum credits: 
Mona Hatoum, Home, 1999 
Wood, galvanized steel, stainless steel, electric wire, crocodile clips, light bulbs, computerized dimmer switch, amplifier, and speakers 
76.2 x 198.1 x 73.7 cm (table) 
Overall dimensions variable 
Guggenheim Bilbao Museoa
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The online art courses of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao offer accessible yet rigorous training in key concepts and topics in the history of modern and contemporary art, addressed from current perspectives.

Online Art Course. What Do We Mean by Contemporary Sculpture? | Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

Online Course in Art: What Materials Tell Us about Modern and Contemporary Art

The Museum’s online art courses offer a unique chance to gain accessible, rigorous training on key themes and concepts in the history of modern and contemporary art from today’s perspective.
Drawing on contributions from experts in specific fields, these courses are based on the Museum’s Collection and dynamic art program.
The study of the materials used in art–their composition, their chemical properties, and their transformation–is a concern with many artists. This course focuses on the stories behind the use of certain materials and the scientific phenomena associated with them, analyzing why they are used to make art, how they are obtained, what their practical applications are, and how they influence aesthetic perception.
Objetives
The learning objectives of this course are:
<ol>
<li>Offering the keys to the use of materials in modern and contemporary art–their importance, the reasons why they are used, and their technical and aesthetic implications.</li>
<li>Providing basic scientific concepts to understand how the history of art runs parallel to the history of science, and how the developments in the science of materials, in chemistry, physics and engineering have changed the course of modern and contemporary art, and the other way around.</li>
<li>Introducing the materials artists resort to as part of the code of symbols they use to communicate.</li>
<li>Discussing the importance of color and its effects on the perceptions of art.</li>
<li>Shedding light on women artists and their real contributions, thus giving them the place they deserve in the history of 20th- and 21st-century art.</li>
</ol>
Taught by 
Deborah García Bello, chemist, science communicator, and researcher of the materials applied to modern and contemporary art. <a href="http://cms.guggenheim-bilbao.eus/uploads/2023/10/CV-DEBORAH-GARCia-BELLO.pdf">[+ info]</a>
Structure and contents <a href="http://cms.guggenheim-bilbao.eus/uploads/2023/10/WEB-PROGRAMA-CURSO-DE-ARTE-ONLINE-MATERIALES-.pdf">[+info]</a>
Language 
Spanish
Availability 
The course will be available online for three months. Students will be able to access the course wherever they are, progressing at their own pace. Upon completing a module, they will be able to move on to the next one.
Target audience 
People over 18 who are interested in broadening or updating their knowledge of modern and contemporary art or in getting a few key references. No prior knowledge required. Members of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao Community will have priority over other applicants to access the 50 places available.
FAQs <a href="http://cms.guggenheim-bilbao.eus/uploads/2023/10/Preguntas-frequentes.pdf">[+ info]</a>

The Museum’s online art courses offer a unique chance to gain accessible, rigorous training on key themes and concepts in the history of modern and contemporary art from today’s perspective.

Online Course in Art: What Materials Tell Us about Modern and Contemporary Art | Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

Onsite Course: An Introduction to Contemporary Art

APPROACHING ART VII: How to Look at Contemporary Art with Your Own Eyes
The onsite course series Approaching Art is an introduction for those who want to get basic knowledge and references in contemporary art.
Approaching Art VII offers the tools you need to appreciate and enjoy contemporary art—or maybe reject it—on the basis of rigorous criteria.
The Museum’s art program and other examples from the international art scene will be used to illustrate some of the concepts discussed in the course, which will focus on the origins and background of what we understand as “contemporary art,” review the formal and technical disruptions that resulted from the introduction of certain technologies in late-19th-century artistic practices, and finally analyze the situation of art today, from those approaches that seem to validate anything as art to those that challenge the reality of today’s global art.
Objetives 

<ul>
<li>To give an overview of Western modern and contemporary art using basic concepts and a specialized lexicon that enable participants to feel confident in the field, building their own criteria and critical views.</li>
<li>To share knowledge of specific artists and works as well as critical figures in the contemporary art scene, along with their influences and contributions, and their artistic, socio-political, and historical context.</li>
<li>To discuss the origins and background of contemporary art, the revolutionary technologies associated to it, and its development into today’s global art.</li>
<li>To shed light on women artists and give them the place they deserve in the history of 20th- and 21st-century art.</li>
<li>To encourage participants to look at art “with their own eyes,” experiencing the works physically, and to share new knowledge in practical ways during exclusive guided tours of the Museum exhibitions.</li>
</ul>
Conducted by: 
<a href="http://cms.guggenheim-bilbao.eus/uploads/2023/09/CV-Andere-Larrinaga.pdf">Andere Larrinaga Cuadra</a>, Professor of the Department of Music and Art History of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU); faculty member and Vice-Chancellor for Quality in the UPV/EHU School of Fine Arts.
<a href="http://cms.guggenheim-bilbao.eus/uploads/2023/09/APROX.-ARTE-VII-ESTRUCTURA-Y-PROGRAMA-WEB.pdf">Structure and Contents</a>
Photo credit: 
Robert Rauschenberg, Barge, 1962–63 
Oil and silkscreen ink on canvas, 203 x 980 cm 
Guggenheim Bilbao Museoa

The Approaching Art classroom course series is a non-academic introduction for those who want to get basic knowledge and references in contemporary art.

Onsite Course: An Introduction to Contemporary Art | Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

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