Fall 2026

Foundations of Contemporary Art

Foundations of contemporary art exploring principal ideas of influential movements and artistic concerns.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Fall 2026 Douglas Rosenberg4.0/5Anastasiia BulatovaEmma Harris +1 more

Summary

1 / 7

Workload varies significantly; some students report minimal effort is needed beyond attendance and note-taking, while others find the reading assignments heavy and difficult to interpret. Exams are described as straightforward because the professor explicitly outlines exam content during lectures, not because of the study guides.

Grade history

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average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

None

  • None
ART 108 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • None

Professors

Fall 2026
/5Adjusted rating
/5RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.23/5 from 22 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

For this course: 4.2/5 raw quality · 2.1/5 difficulty · 15 reviews

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Douglas Rosenberg teaches ART 108 with mixed reception. Some reviewers find his lectures boring, unorganized, and reliant on slides, while others praise his passion and clear analysis of contemporary art. He is generally described as kind, accessible, and helpful, though some note the workload can be heavy or the reading difficult.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.76 GPA, 88.2% A/AB (n=152 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.81 GPA, 90.8% A/AB (n=153 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.80 GPA, 87.5% A/AB (n=152 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Historical reviews of Gregg Perkins, Kelly Murray, Michael Jay McClure: Douglas Rosenberg instructs the course, though reviews focus on past faculty. Gregg Perkins delivers disorganized lectures requiring heavy memorization, while Michael Jay McClure is engaging but criticized for inappropriate comments. Kelly Murray provides bland, script-reading lectures and strict management, though some find exams easy due to provided content.

DOUGLAS ROSENBERG is recorded teaching in Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

KELLY MURRAY is recorded teaching in Fall 2021. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MICHAEL J MCCLURE is recorded teaching in Fall 2006, Fall 2007, Fall 2008, Fall 2009, Fall 2010, Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Fall 2026

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction136 / 1800
DIS 301Classroom Instruction18 / 200
DIS 302Classroom Instruction18 / 180
DIS 303Classroom Instruction22 / 200
DIS 304Classroom Instruction13 / 180
DIS 305Classroom Instruction15 / 180
DIS 306Classroom Instruction14 / 180
DIS 307Classroom Instruction7 / 200
DIS 308Classroom Instruction18 / 180
DIS 309Classroom Instruction11 / 180

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Douglas Rosenberg is generally viewed as a passionate and knowledgeable instructor who makes the course an easy A for attentive students. While some find the lectures engaging and clear, others describe them as boring or poorly organized.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.76 GPA, 88.2% A/AB (n=152 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.81 GPA, 90.8% A/AB (n=153 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.80 GPA, 87.5% A/AB (n=152 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Workload varies significantly; some students report minimal effort is needed beyond attendance and note-taking, while others find the reading assignments heavy and difficult to interpret. Exams are described as straightforward because the professor explicitly outlines exam content during lectures, not because of the study guides.

Students value the helpful TAs and the professor's passion for contemporary art, though some find the lecture style scripted or tiresome. Success depends on attending lectures and discussions, as the material is not always clear from the readings alone.

Topics

  • Principal ideas of art movements influencing contemporary tendencies

Skills

  • Develop formal, technical, and expressive artistic concerns

Grades

Historical instructor

Fall 2026 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.10 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Fall 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Fall 2025 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1320 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records
ART 108 · Fall 2026

Foundations of Contemporary Art

Recorded 2026-09-07
Raw records
[
  {
    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "semester": "1272",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1272:168:001067",
    "course_id": "ART 108",
    "course_uid": "course_fdef830aff4400abc523bbb9",
    "term_id": "1272",
    "source_course_id": "001067",
    "source_subject_id": "168",
    "title": "Foundations of Contemporary Art",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-09-07

Download the original dataset
Model outputs & technical records
nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

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Model & dataset provenance
{
  "model": "nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4",
  "model_revision": "1355db6a052410cfd62085d94b58866fd0f2c3c5",
  "task_version": "14",
  "output_id": "3ea168f9818084140e844616dd9c991c78993e2a9561b77e2d1e1fee9a872981",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00"
}