Contemporary Art (1960-Present) In what ways can artworks help us see our world and ourselves anew? How does the art of our time open the present for us to explore and critique, just as it offers glimmers of possible futures? In attempting to answer these questions, in this course we will survey major developments in international art practice from 1960 to the present. Throughout we will consider the diverse formal strategies of contemporary art alongside the radical upheavals of the recent past and present, from the world-wide protests of the 1960s to the global crisis of climate change and the connectivity (and isolation) of the digital world.

/Volver a los 17/: Resistance and Memory in Chilean Art and Literature since 1973 In the climate of fear and violence that characterized Chilean society after the military coup of 1973, many artists continued their work of radical imagination and clear-eyed witness. In this course we will consider the ways that artists in Santiago and beyond responded to the brutality and limited freedoms of dictatorial rule. We will look to painting, performance, and video, as well as folk art, film, and literature in exploring the role of cultural production as both on-the-ground dissent and reparative memory work, taking Chile’s local politics and its grim realities during the 1970s and 80s as ground for a case study in the transformative role that art can play under extreme socio-political circumstances.

Senior Thesis: Research and Writing This course is a continuation of HARC 0710 which consists of ongoing, supervised independent research, plus organizing, writing and presenting a senior thesis. (HARC 0301 and HARC 0710).

An Introduction to Global Visual Culture This course is an introduction to the visual cultures of the world, with an emphasis on how images, objects, and monuments are made, experienced, exchanged, and used by groups of people with diverse religious, socio-economic, and cultural backgrounds. We will focus on themes that have been taken up by different cultures and adapted over time, such as monumentality, the sacred, embodiment, science, and technology. Through a close study of these themes, we will consider how materials, cultures, and histories are transformed and negotiated through making and viewing works of art. In the process, we will challenge the art historical canon by shedding light on marginalized periods, regions, and artworks.

Ways of Seeing In this course we will focus on the various methods and theories that can enrich and deepen our understanding of art, architecture, and visual culture. Students will hone their analytical skills, both verbal and written, often with recourse to objects from the College Museum and the campus at large. In general, this seminar will develop students’ awareness of objects of culture broadly construed, and sharpen their understanding of the scope and intellectual history of the field.  To be taken during the sophomore or junior year as a prerequisite for HARC 0710 and HARC 0711.

Hysterical Documents: Fiction, History, and the Art Object In 1827, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe mused: “But what else is a novel but an unheard-of event?” Goethe’s provocative staging of the unknown through narrative interlaces the plausible and the historical in a manner equally appropriate to much historical writing and broad swaths of the visual arts. In this course we will consider the different roles interpretation and imagination—fact, fiction, and the porous space between—play in our engagement with works of art.  We will read recent fiction, history, poetry and criticism as well as writing that purposefully sidesteps these categories not only to engage the limits of the archive and its objects but also to explore the critical and aesthetic possibilities of writing beyond the binary of fiction and nonfiction. Seminar; no prerequisites, though some exposure to art history would be useful.

Museums, Managers of Consciousness: Institutional Critique and The Politics of Display From the 1960s forward, many artists have looked closely at the seeming neutrality of museums and cultural institutions, drawing attention to the colonial, economic, political, and social biases elided in the apparently disinterested construction of such displays and collections. Following a consideration of the initial practitioners of this tendency, known as Institutional Critique, in this course we will then investigate feminist, postmodernist, and more contemporary practices in this mode, including debates on—and artistic responses to—cultural restitution. Attention will also be paid to the “institutionalization” that a course such as this creates. Readings will be drawn from artists’ writings and primary documents, art history, philosophy, anthropology, and sociology. Course meetings will be a regular mix of lecture presentations and reading-driven discussion

Twentieth Century Latin American Art In this course we will survey major developments in the art of Latin America from 1890 to the present. We will explore the rise of avant-gardism and abstraction, Mexican muralism, surrealism, kinetic art, neo-concrete art, and conceptualism, as well as the interaction between Latin Americans artists and their European and North American  counterparts. We will also study the work of individual artists such as Diego Rivera, Joaquín Torres García, Wilfredo Lam, and Lygia Clark, among others. Readings will be drawn from artist's writings, criticism, primary documents, and recent art historical scholarship.

Art’s Worlds: Topics in Contemporary Art The word contemporary is relational; to be con-temporary means to exist with others in time. In this seminar we will explore themes in very recent art, paying particular attention to how various practices draw attention to the constitutive relation of “with” through form. Topics may include artistic responses to social conflict, technological change, expanding global art centers, among others. Specific topics will vary, in part, based on student interests and current debates. Readings will be drawn from critical texts, recent scholarship and artists’ writings. Prior exposure to post-1945 art is helpful, but not required.

Art and the Environment “The land is not the setting for the work but a part of the work.” So did the artist Walter de Maria describe The Lightning Field (1980), a site-specific, environmental work of art built in an isolated part of western New Mexico. In this seminar we will discuss the different ways that recent artists have used, commented upon, and at times altered their surrounding environment. We will take an expansive view of the term "environmental" in our seminar as we explore natural, urban, media-based, and conceptual artistic environments.

Mapping Conceptualism: Art and Idea in International Context In this course we will explore the impact of conceptualism—the notion that an ‘idea’ takes priority over an artwork’s physical form—in a range of historical and geographic contexts from the 1960s forward. Beginning with foundational texts and objects, we will then explore the reach of conceptualist practices through close readings of art and artists in the context of specific artistic milieux and exhibitions from the Americas to Asia. Classes will be a mixture of lecture and more focused discussion. No prerequisites, but some exposure to modern and/or contemporary art is desirable.

Edward Vazquez

Reviews and ratings for Edward Vazquez at Middlebury College.Edward Vazquez teaches ContemporaryArt (1960-Present), Chilean Art under Dictatorship, SNR Thesis: Research/Writing and more.  Explore top rated instructors and find the best for you.Is Edward Vazquez good ? Find out on MiddCourses.

Professor Vazquez's course was lecture focused with 2 lectures and a discussion per week. Starting with a focus on the first works of art and ending in the late 1900s. Exams were very straightforward and focused on identifying the name, date, and the significance of various pieces of art and architecture which makes studying very straightforward. 

Edward Vasquez is a very nice person and funny. He attempts to engage with students, but this class was kind of my hell. It was a 3 hour discussion (in which a student made one point then Vasquez yapped for like five minutes, asked a 3 minute question, went do you understand and then was greeted by silence because we did not in fact understand what he was going on about). The class was overall just very painful and hard to stay focused. The readings were also super long and not always relevant. But it was definitely an easy A, so if you want that I would recommend. 

Contemporary Art with Edward Vasquez is not a great course. The class traces the history of contemporary art and each specific style and form in chronological order. However, I don't think I learned anything of substance and found the class environment to be unfriendly and unwelcoming to anybody outside the art history club. 