Global contemporary

Heads up! This course may be archived and/or unavailable.

This course is a part of AP®︎ Art History, a 13-course Topic series from Khan Academy.

Global contemporary art is characterized by a transcendence of traditional conceptions of art and is supported by technological developments and global awareness. Digital technology in particular provides increased access to imagery and contextual information about diverse artists and artworks throughout history and across the globe.

This course contains 27 segments:

Christo and Jeanne-Claude, The Gates

Maya Lin, Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Maya Lin, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, 1982, granite, 2 acres within Constitution Gardens, (National Mall, Washington, D.C.), speakers: Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker

Song Su-Nam, Summer Trees

Essay by Dr. Hannah Sigur

Magdalena Abakanowicz, Androgyne III

Essay by Dr. Mary Kinnecome

Xu Bing, Book from the Sky

Xu Bing, Book from the Sky, c. 1987-91, hand-printed books and ceiling and wall scrolls printed from wood letterpress type; ink on paper, each book, open: 18 1/8 × 20 inches / 46 × 51 cm; each of three ceiling scrolls 38 inches × c. 114 feet 9-7/8 inches / 96.5 × 3500 cm; each wall scroll 9 feet 2-1/4 inches × 39-3/8 inches / 280 × 100 cm (installation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2014), collection of the artist, © Xu Bing Speakers: Allison Young and Steven Zucker

Jeff Koons, Pink Panther

Cindy Sherman, Untitled #228 from the History Portraits series

Essay by Christine Zappella

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Trade (Gifts for Trading Land with White People)

by Dr. Suzanne Fricke

Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Earth’s Creation

Essay by Allison Young

Shirin Neshat, Rebellious Silence, Women of Allah series

Essay by Allison Young

Osorio, En la barberia no se llora (No Crying Allowed in the Barbershop)

Essay by Dr. Maya Jimenez

Nam June Paik, Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii

by Tina Rivers Ryan

Bill Viola, The Crossing

Frank Gehry, Guggenheim Bilbao

Frank Gehry, Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, 1992-97 essay by Dr. Matthew A. Postal

Mariko Mori, Pure Land

Essay by Katrina Klaasmeyer

Kiki Smith, Lying with the Wolf

Kara Walker, Darkytown Rebellion

Yinka Shonibare, The Swing (After Fragonard)

El Anatsui, Untitled

El Anatsui, Untitled, 2009 repurposed printed aluminum, copper, 256.5 × 284.5 × 27.9 cm as installed (Smithsonian National Museum of African Art) Speakers: Dr. Peri Klemm and Dr. Steven Zucker

El Anatsui, Old Man’s Cloth

Julie Mehretu, Stadia II

Ringgold, Dancing at the Louvre

Wangechi Mutu, Preying Mantra

Essay by Dr. Shawnya Harris

Doris Salcedo, Shibboleth

Zaha Hadid, MAXXI National Museum of XXI Century Arts, Rome

Zaha Hadid, MAXXI National Museum of XXI Century Arts, 1998 -- 2009 (opened 2010), Via Guido Reni, Rome. A conversation between Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker

Ai Weiwei, Kui Hua Zi (Sunflower Seeds)

Essay by Megan Lorraine Debin

Ai Weiwei: Sunflower Seeds

This video brought to you by Tate.org.uk In the process of crafting millions of porcelain sunflower seeds, Chinese artist Ai WeiWei creates a work of art as well as a positive social project for the village in rural China he employed to make the seeds. Follow Sunflower Seeds on its remarkable journey from conception to delivery, and hear the artist talk about his unique socio-political approach to making art.