Less than a year ago we could hardly imagine what life would be like under a pandemic. Overnight much of the world that we knew became different. Our perception of time and space, our practice of physical distance, our understanding of education and work all took on a different form.

During lockdown it became clear that our hearts and minds need nourishment and care—something the world of art, literature, and philosophy provide. Why is art relevant for life? What is the significance of the imagination? How do novel experiences change the way we perceive the world? In this course we will try to understand 20^th and 21^st century works of art through literary and philosophical insights, to get to the core of the lessons they contain.

To understand the surrealist art of Salvador Dali we will turn to Freud’s typography of the mind and Nietzsche’s philosophy of truth and lying; to appreciate the art of Banksy we will turn to Theodor Adorno’s critique of the culture industry and Benjamin’s philosophy of the work of art as a form of political engagement; to reflect on our own experience under a pandemic we will read Camus’ The Plague.

Spending time with various works of art we will explore the significance of creativity in shaping the self and the world. While learning how to write and research we will venture to see the imaginative potential in a structured academic context. Our readings will include the magnificent insights of Nietzsche’s “On Truth and Lying in an Extra Moral Sense, Dali’s writings on art, Freud’s “The Unconscious”, Banksy’s “Exit through the Gift-shop”, Adorno’s “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Deception”, Benjamin’s “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” and Camus’ The Plague.