New opportunities to study the works of David Alker and Peter Liddell. Course details: Center for the Integrated Studies in the Arts and Humanities (CIS-AH) at Michigan State University. Module IAH 209: Art, the Visual and Culture. Section: 740 (50% online). Professor: Robert Kolomyski. Focus: Contemporary Art and Today's Global Climate. How do contemporary artists create work that speaks to today's global issues? What strategies do they use to generate, transform and exchange large ideas through and across an ever-increasing diversity of voice and vision? These questions and more will be addressed through a hybrid of lecture and web-based instruction compelling students to research and analyze the work of contemporary artists from multiple disciplines, Lisa Sanditz, David Alker and Peter Liddell, Los Carpinteros and others will be analyzed through the lens of leading critics such as Barry Schwabsky, Arthur Danto and John Calcutt. The methods used by these and other contemporary artists for engaging the expanding diversity of form and content available today will be the major focus. The culmination of the course will engage students in collaboration, via web and group sessions, on the selection and distillation of a current idea or issue. By applying their research on contemporary artistic strategy, the group will propose a detailed plan for site-specific work that conveys their collective purpose.