*NEW COURSE* Professor Jennifer Nelson will teach AH 103 “Seeing Through Conspiracies” in Spring 2022 on Monday/Wednesday, 12:05–12:55pm, Conrad A. Elvehjem Building, Room L140. Fake news is not a new problem. This class takes a trendy issue and moves it back in time before living memory (to avoid the deadening effect of feedback loops within today’s media world). How do conspiracy theories work? Do they fall into consistent patterns? How can we recognize them? If they are empowering, how should we think about that power?This course examines case studies in human culture around the world from the Egyptian pyramids to Surrealism and the birth of “modern” art in the twentieth century, case studies in which an evidence-based account of the making of an artwork or architectural site has been replaced by a (usually more interesting) story about the true, hidden nature of the artwork or architectural site. This story usually purports to reveal the “conspiracy” of an empowered institution or group to keep the truth away from average people. Of course, the reality is usually much simpler, and the dynamics of power more complex. . . .Enroll here.