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Why do visual artists write? What purposes do their writings serve? The course considers these questions in both historical and current artistic contexts. Beginning with early twentieth-century manifestos and extending to artists’ statements, correspondence, and interviews, it examines the vast literature in which artists have discussed their intentions and values and have elaborated, theorized, and contextualized their own work. It also considers language-based conceptual art, where text is presented as the "art object," and experimental forms of artists’ writings that resist categorization.