The course represents an opportunity for students in the Graduate Art program to consider and articulate together the varied discussions happening within the program and the contemporary at world more generally. Emphasis will be on the "contemporary," but this ongoing conversation will move between present and past, and between artists talks, critical assessment, art historical periodization, and theoretical elaboration. The format of the course is seminar-style, and discussion will be driven by student responses to exhibitions, artists visits, and strategically assigned short (and sometimes long) texts.