60-331 Critical Studies: Disordered Attention, Reordered Self: Art and Identity Onsite

9 units, Carnegie Mellon University

This interdisciplinary seminar investigates how ubiquitous, networked technologies, such as smart phones, have reshaped the conditions of spectatorship and the construction of selfhood in contemporary art. Anchored by Claire Bishops recent book, Disordered Attention How We Look at Art and Performance Today, the course explores how digital platforms, algorithmic feeds, and hybrid exhibition formats have disrupted traditional modes of viewing and engagement, giving rise to fragmented attention and new forms of subjectivity. Through critical readings, animated seminar discussions, artist case studies, and written analyses of online and onsite exhibitions, students will examine how artists respond to and reflect the shifting dynamics of attention, presence, and identity in a mediasaturated world. This course emphasizes discursive modes of interpretation and will help students hone their critical thinking skills and ability to translate developments in visual culture into meaningful discourse.

Prerequisites: none listed

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