This four-week class approaches contemporary art through four questions that have fundamentally reshaped artistic practice over the past fifty years. Rather than attempting a comprehensive survey, each session focuses on a different problem: the relationship between art and life, the changing status of images, the materiality of moving images, and the agency of objects.

Readings are drawn from artists, critics, philosophers, and novelists whose writing continues to shape contemporary art discourse, accompanied by screenings and close analysis of artworks spanning performance, sculpture, photography, painting, video, and digital media. Rather than presenting contemporary art as a succession of isolated movements or recent trends, the course emphasizes the conversations, ideas, and historical developments that continue to inform artistic practice today.

Each class consists of approximately one hour of lecture followed by one hour of discussion. While designed as an introduction, the course assumes a serious interest in contemporary art and is intended for artists, writers, students, curators, and anyone interested in developing a stronger historical foundation for thinking about contemporary practice.

Week One: Art at a 1:1 Scale

Week Two: Meaningful Images Only

Week Three: The Materiality of the Moving Image

Week Four: Objects with Agency

NOTE: Initial contact will be made via the email address attached to your Metalabel account. Please be sure to check that email for onboarding instructions.

Participants must have or create a discord account to participate.

Andy Bennett is a Los Angeles based artist and curator. Bennett received his MFA from The University of California, Irvine in 2022 and BFA from ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California in 2015. Selected solo and group exhibitions include The Meeting (2024); Stove Works (2024); Sara's (2023), Contemporary Arts Center in Irvine (2022); Lambda Research (2032); and Phase Gallery (2022). Bennett has been an artist in residence at Clubhouse 88 (CDMX), Deep End Ranch (Santa Paula, CA) and a fellow at the Arts Research Cooperative (Los Angeles, CA). He founded the gallery Roger's Office in Highland Park, Los Angeles from 2017-2019 and currently co-runs the gallery Timeshare in Lincoln Heights, Los Angeles (2023-Present).