Art History 145B Modern Architecture from 1933 to 2024

This course will survey principal developments in architecture and urbanism from 1933 to the present. It will begin with a consideration of the role of architecture in Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia and then explore the global diffusion of western modernism, the development of the metropolis and megalopolis, suburbanization, the emergence of postmodernist and critical regionalist traditions, architectures of the welfare state, the quest for sustainability and green buildings, and the imbrication of the built environment in the political, social, and cultural changes accompanying the coldwar, the civil rights and anti-war movements, the counterculture, and decolonization. Architects and urbanists to be studied include Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Kahn, Walter Gropius, Oscar Niemeyer, Robert Venturi, Denise Scott-Brown, Gunther Behnisch, Alvar Aalto, Alison and Peter Smithson, Archigram, Superstudio, Frei Otto, Alvaro Siza, Gunnar Asplund, Sigurd Lewerentz, Jorn Utzon, Frank Gehry, Carlo Scarpa, Buckminster Fuller, Clorindo Testa, Lina Bo Bardi, Charles and Ray Eames, Richard Rogers, Renzo Piano, Richard Meier, Aldo Van Eyck, Peter Eisenman, Bruce Goff, Paul Rudolph, Norman Foster, Tadao Ando, Charles Correa, Arthur Erickson, Paolo Solieri, Constant, Jean Nouvel, James Stirling, Wang Shu, Charles Moore, Michael Graves, Kongjian Yu, Balkrishna Doshi, Kenzo Tange, Steven Holl, Kengo Kuma, Francis Kere, Herzog and de Meuron, Peter Zumthor, Arata Isozaki, Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas, Enrique Norton, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, and Candilis, Josic, and Woods. Assignment structure: Weekly reading assignment questions, take-home midterm, and final research paper.  Instructor: Edward Dimendberg.
Days: TU TH  05:00-06:20 PM

ES 100B / GLBCLT 191/ HIST 114
How Nations Remember | Winter 2025
Professor Anke Biendarra (abiendar@uci.edu)

Just as different nations have individual histories, they select and organize what they want to remember about their pasts in different and often specific ways. This seminar takes a comparative look at models of remembrance and the memorialization of specific historical and political events, mostly of the 20th century, in various countries and regions (Germany, France, Poland, and South Africa). We will ask how these events are represented in political discourse, public art works and museums, as well as in literature and film. What happens when different historical and political perspectives and memories confront each other in the public sphere? How can different groups stake their own claims for recognition and justice within a given national and political framework? What role do memorials, museums and public artworks play in the process, and how democratic are they?
Days: TU TH  11:00-12:20 PM

The aesthetic, industrial, and socio-historical development of digital media. May include history of video games, computing, and social media. Materials fee.

Prerequisite: Satisfactory completion of the Lower-Division Writing requirement.
Days: TU TH  05:00-06:20 PM

Survey of major directions in film and media theory. Various theories of mass culture, realism, auteurism, semiotics, feminism, cultural studies, and theories of other media, with an emphasis on developing the student’s ability to analyze and articulate a theoretical argument. Materials fee.

Prerequisite: FLM&MDA 85 and FLM&MDA 86 and FLM&MDA 87 and (FLM&MDA 101A or FLM&MDA 101B or FLM&MDA 101C or FLM&MDA 101D or FLM&MDA 101E). Satisfactory completion of the Lower-Division Writing requirement.
Days: MO WE  01:00-02:20 PM

This seminar introduces students to thories about race, ethnicity, and media. It explores U.S. race and ethnicity—as social categories and markers of identity/identification—and systemic racism and racial capitalism—as structures of power, inequality, and domination—from the lens of media and popular culture. We will develop conceptual and theoretical tools to analyze media and entertainment, with an emphasis on developing the student’s ability to analyze and articulate a theoretical argument.
Days: TU TH  03:30-04:50 PM

Emphasis/Category: Inter-Area Studies, Global Middle East
This course examines how Palestinian makers use film & digital storytelling objects to understand identity, culture, history, memory and belonging. History surveys, literature, poetry, and political documents will provide context for the film and digital media objects centered in the syllabus.
Days: MO WE  01:00-02:20 PM

Emphasis/Category: Inter-Area Studies
In this course, Global Cultures majors will explore the intersection of technology, emotion, and cultural understanding through virtual reality.  By immersing students in VR simulations that evoke diverse emotional experiences, this course invites critical discussions on how emotions shape cultural identities, power dynamics, and social inclusion.  Participants will engage in hands-on VR activities designed to foster empathy and reflect on emotional narratives across different cultural contexts.  Through collaborative projects, students will design and analyze VR-based scenarios that highlight emotional experiences tied to migration, displacement, discrimination, and belonging.  By integrating theories with immersive practices, this capstone equips students to critically examine the role of emotions and embodiment in fostering inclusive communities and global citizenship.
Days: T TH  02:00-03:20 PM

Emphasis/Category: Locating Europes and European Colonies, Inter-Area Studies
Just as different nations have individual histories, they select and organize what they want to remember about their pasts in different and often specific ways. This seminar takes a comparative look at models of remembrance and the memorialization of specific historical and political events, mostly of the 20th century, in various countries and regions (Germany, France, Poland, and South Africa). We will ask how these events are represented in political discourse, public art works and museums, as well as in literature and film. What happens when different historical and political perspectives and memories confront each other in the public sphere? How can different groups stake their own claims for recognition and justice within a given national and political framework? What role do memorials, museums and public artworks play in the process, and how democratic are they?
Days: TU TH  11:00-12:20 PM