ART: History+Theory+Cultures


Please ensure you have enrolled in the Fine Art AHTC course in enrolment online.

Art:History+Theory+Cultures courses will not be preferenced for Semester 1. 
Instead, each Year level will have one class option available. You need only enrol into your relevant year level course.
Please remember students doing ART3 can choose to do this unit in either semester 1 OR semester 2 when other subjects will be offered.

(Note: There is a separate page for Fine Art Studio classes and a separate page for Workshop classes.)

The ART: History+Theory+Cultures classes will be offered under the following course codes:

ART1:History+Theory+Cultures HUSO 2399 (1st year students)
ART3: History+Theory+Cultures HUSO 2403 (2nd year students)
ART4: History+Theory+Cultures HUSO 2405 (3rd year students)

Please note that HUSO2399 ART1 & HUSO2405 ART 4: History+Theory+Cultures will only be offered in Semester 1, 2022.

2nd Years - you will need to enrol into a university elective in the semester you are not studying ART3.

To graduate from the  BP201P16 program you must successfully complete four Art: History+Theory+Cultures courses

Please find links to the course guides: HUSO2399 or HUSO2403 or HUSO2405.

Please note: although we would like to offer all of the Art: History+Theory+Cultures options below, classes are subject to viability and may not run if numbers are too low.

Course Information


  • Course Coordinator
  • Teacher
  • Contact hours
  • Location
  • Open to all students

Semester 1, 2022
ART: History+Theory+Cultures


  • HUSO2399: Place, Materiality and Colour
  • HUSO2403: Lens and Screen
  • HUSO2405: Contextualising Practice

    Semester 2, 2022
    ART: History+Theory+Cultures


    • HUSO2401/HUSO2403: Re-shaping worlds: histories, connections and global futures
    • HUSO2401/HUSO2403: Modernisms

    Please refer to semester 2 tab for more course details

      Art1

      KAWS, INSTALLATION VIEW OF THE EXHIBITION KAWS: COMPANIONSHIP IN THE AGE OF LONLINESS, NGV 2019, PHOTO TOM ROSS, SOURCE: https://www.timeout.com/melbourne/art/kaws-companionship-in-the-age-of-loneliness

      HUSO2399: Art, Materiality and Colour


      • Vittoria di Stefano
      • TBC
      • Mondays 1hr lecture followed by a 2hr tutorial (Times TBC)
      • TBC – Face-to-face or online depending on COVID-19 restrictions
      • Year 1 students
      This course introduces you to select themes and practices in contemporary art. You will explore how these themes have been addressed in critical theory and different historical and cultural contexts. You will be introduced to a broad range of ideas, methods and cultures of art practice, including how to analyse, research and write about art. These will provide you with the skills and knowledge to establish a strong critical foundation for your studio practice and will expand your experience of art.

      TERROR NULLIUS, 2018, Soda_Jerk, 55 mins

      HUSO2403: Lens and Screen


      • Ian Haig
      • TBC
      • Mondays 1hr lecture followed by a 2hr tutorial (Times TBC)
      • TBC – Face-to-face or online depending on COVID-19 restrictions
      • Year 2 students
      In this course you will cover the development of photography, cinema & video and the relationship of these media to modern and postmodern ideas, culture and art practice with particular reference to the contemporary context. You be introduced to the central theories and practice of photography, film, video art and digital media, and to their relationship with art practice and visual culture. 

      Contextualising Practice

      RON MUEK, MASS, 2017, INSTALLATION VIEW AT NGV TRIENNIAL (2017). PHOTO SEAN FENNESSEY. SOURCE: https://mymodernmet.com/ron-mueck-mass-skull-sculptures/

      HUSO2405: Contextualising Practice


      • Clare McCracken
      • TBC
      • Mondays 1hr lecture followed by a 2hr tutorial (Times TBC)
      • TBC – Face-to-face or online depending on COVID-19 restrictions
      • Year 3 students
      This course provides you with a critical and theoretical context for your own art practice. It will enable you to critically contextualise your own art practice in relation to specific concepts and theories within art. The class will focus on specialised theoretical and critical approaches and topics to help you to develop a critically reflective approach to art, and will provide you with the skills and methods for applying this to your own practice.