The Art of Global Cities

Overview

What you will study

Can Byzantine Constantinople be considered a cultural capital of the Medieval Afro-Eurasian world? How can Naples tell a different story of Italian Renaissance Art? Under what circumstances did Isfahan’s architecture become a marker of global interactions? How does the art of Lucknow offer insight into the British Empire?  

For centuries, cities have been sites of artistic exchange and encounter, functioning as cultural centres where artists, ideas, knowledge, materials and objects interact. Cities could occupy a central place in empire building, operating as the symbolic seat of power or they could sit at the peripheries, as boundaries or frontiers. The Art of Global Cities course offered by University of Oxford will bring together a range of scholars with expertise on art and architecture from across the globe. By focusing on six cities, you will explore how art could be both productive and destructive, revealing the tensions, anxieties and creative possibilities of global interactions.