In this course, we’ll explore the relation(s) between philosophy and contemporary art: what joins them, where do they diverge, and what space does each navigate, particularly in relation to the other? Or, as philosopher Alain Badiou referred to it, what is the link between them that has always been “affected by a symptom—that of an oscillation or a pulse?” We will investigate contemporaries in each discipline as well as figures who produce work in both, and consider the politics, authority, and aesthetics of different forms of thinking and making. We will ask what is art? What is philosophy? How can each discipline help us with the other–what does philosophy offer art? What does art offer philosophy? Our approach will necessarily be interdisciplinary, and we will study work from various philosophic and critical theory traditions as well literature, architecture, poetry, music, visual art, and performance. Students will be encouraged to generate their own points of inquiry in and around philosophy and contemporary art.