for Rachel - Lothar Baumgarten

Jeremy Huchison

http://www.jeremyhutchison.com/work/project2.html
http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2011/june/jeremy-hutchinson

Agnes Meyer-Brendis/ Republic of the Moon:
http://www.artscatalyst.org/projects/detail/moon_goose_analogue_agnes_meyer_brandis/

revised lists

Please see below for REVISED mon/wed class lists! If anyone is able to volunteer to attend Mondays rather than Wednesdays that would be a great help as we're slightly off-balance between the two sessions.

H

n.b. ABSTRACTS are due with presentations next week, as part of work in progress

Catch up/ extra info (repetition of email)

class lists for critique on Mondays/ Wednesdays are on the previous post. 

Since there are 5 projects in 10 weeks, we will alternate between
the smaller groups for critique sessions (week of Jan 30th, Feb 13th, Feb
27th and March 12th), and the larger group for general class/ discussion.

I posted on the blog about beginning a 'dictionary of Cruz' - pulling from
the lectures and related readings etc, beginning to define a list of terms
that we can become familiar with as a group and utilize as a common
language as we discuss and write about work. This will be useful to all,
and also interesting as a portrait of Teddy sorts, a dictionary of his
vernacular.
This isn't a formal assignment, but I'd like you to contribute as and when
you can (think of this as part of the 'participation' criteria and grade).
If a term crops up in Lecture that you're unsure of, research it's
definition - and lets go deeper, etymology too (the linguistic origin of
the word, this search is good: www.etymonline.com) - and send it to me on
email. I'll pop them up on the blog as they arrive. Also if you do
research a term, bring it to class and let us know. Artists tend to like
to contort and re-appropriate language, for better or worse, so you might
have to dig a little to locate the meaning in this context - and of
course, can go straight to the horses mouth and ask Teddy for his own
definition.

A little confusion has emerged over 'Work 2'. I realize you have little
time to complete a project before next week so am asking you to present
work in progress - ideas, sketches, first stages of the experiment. Feel
free to bring in any materials or half-finished works too. This gives us
the chance to discuss and critique the work before it reaches fruition,
which I think should be productive. If you want to present digitally let
me know and I'll book a projector, bring work on your computer along with
a projector-adapter cable that fits your comp (can get from the bookstore,
and useful to have).
I want to hear about your working methodology, the material processes you
plan to employ and WHY, bringing it back to your own motivations and
interests. Forget about making something that seems like 'art'. Just
follow the brief intuitively and with as much integrity as possible.

Have a good weekend

Hermione

Monday/ Wednesday Class Lists (REVISED)

IF YOU ARE NOT ON THIS LIST PLEASE EMAIL ME!

MONDAY critique group:
Cardona, Rachelle Lynn
Doan-Ha, Kathleen
Hem, Anthony Rattana
Hunt, Hallie Meredith
Kim, Jamie Jemee
Lee, Han Nah
Man, Ka Hing
Morefield, Hilary Jana Damore
Morrison, Janise Angela
Murphy, Nathan Michael
Nguyen, Clare Minh-Chau

Wong, Mandy

Alexis Selleck

WEDNESDAY critique group:
Shen, Chia-Chia April
Song, Sean Stephen
Stewart, Haley Michelle
Stratton, Deanne Nicole
Subrahmanyam, Chitra
Toven, Kasey Anthony
Tung, Christopher S
Weil, Hannah Jeanne
Wu, Yijing
Xie, Hanwen
Ye, Minsi
Navarro, Alexa-Rae
Leo

Diaz, Erika Raphaela 

Justin Hoang

WORK 2 - brief in full

WORK 2 – WHAT

Subject to Change

 A recurring theme in lecture is the roll of the artist as interpreter, as a figure able to adopt new perspectives, invert the expected, transform the everyday-expected into surprising new forms.

Steve Fagin went further to speak of this as an obligation –to push hard against the boundaries of convention and ambitiously attempt the impossible/invisible/as yet unthinkable. He spoke of the Art World as a space of ‘contradiction and hypocrisy’, and the benefits of working within institutions that are malleable and subject to change.

Anya’s block of ice in the pump house elegantly demonstrated the power of combining unexpected elements, to activate a process that combines conflict, chaos, interactivity and elements of grace in a site-specific context.

The formal simplicity of this work thrusts one’s focus onto the materiality of ice and salt, and contradictions of hot Vs cold, drawing the viewer into the process of decay and it’s broader implications.

Marcus Erre did something comparable, forcing us to reconsider the relationship between opposites (good/bad, self/other) afresh. He adopted multiple character perspectives, unfolding his own complex personal history into three figures of uncertainty and contradiction.

For this second project I want you to create a similar system of de-familiarization. Take something familiar and subject it’s meaning to change: re-arrange its elements, alter its function, challenge its value, its usefulness, its form.

Two crucial guidelines:

1. The object/behavior/institution that you choose to reconsider MUST bare direct relationship to your own interests and motivations. Locate an urgency: What do you need to change (personally, socially, academically, politically?) What frustrates you? Why are you in this class?

You must begin with the need to explore or challenge, with the urgency that Steve mentioned.

2. Simplify. The potency of a work does not necessitate complexity or lots of ‘stuff’.  Of course some artworks are highly complex and materially diverse, but here, given the short period of time you have to produce this project (and as a general rule) use only those components - both conceptual and material – which are absolutely necessary to activate the work and demonstrate your system.

Abstract

 Use this week’s abstract to diagram your process. What does it look like when reduced to elements and their interrelationships? This could be dense and full or incredibly simple. 

Also, a short piece of text outlining the specifics that demand and make sense of your particular process and outcome.

Work-in-progress and abstracts due Mon 30^th/ Wed 1^st for critique. Final outcome to be finished and documented by next Monday’s class (Feb 6^th)

The week of the 6^th we will have two non-critique based sessions in the larger group.

work 2

Art, What?

The questions of representation, materials and things

The agency of objects

Between the metaphorical and the performatic

Between the symbolic and the operative

Between images and processes

Between abstraction and figuration and beyond

Between aesthetics and ethics

The triangulation of idea, material, object, image and scale

PROMPT

Can you represent-interprate-translate the meaning of something, the sensation of something, the experience of something into something else? using an unexpected medium? tool? narrative?

i.e., how to ‘experience’ sound without voice or hearing?

* think of Anya's ice into water in the London pump room, or countries of the world cut out of  and thrown into new archipelagos. This is an exercise in process, in passing one system through another

MORE INFO TO COME! This one due for critique monday/wednesday. We will split into two groups - keep up with the blog for more on this too

Dictionary of Cruz

- I think we should construct one. 30 mins into lecture and already I have

Vicissitudes

Triangulation

Assemblage

Eccentricity

Metaphorical

Operational

Abstraction 

Figuration

Extrusion

... So, to collaboratively construct a list of terms and definitions. Building a common language we can use to apply to work in class/critique, yes? Please take note of interesting/ complex words from lecture. Add them to note-cards for the end of lecture, and/or research and email me with definitions

Enjoyed the first works. Thanks folks

Think of these objects as temporary gifts:

"a gift increases in vitality the more it is given"  - Lewis Hyde

Please bring this vitality to critique on Monday, ready to present your work. 1st abstract due Wednesday.

WORK 1

Topic

Art, Why?

The questions of art, today

The issues and conditions that frame art, theory and practice

The question of meaning and the world

Why a concept? Why new aesthetic experiences?

Between ideas and actions: Why to experiment?

The triangulation of idea, method, medium, process and distribution

PROMPT

1. Each student selects an object that is ‘meaningful’ to him-her.

2. You bring the object to section class

3. Objects will be placed on table

4. Through a lottery people will end up with an object (not their own)

5. Each person will inject ‘meaning’ into the selected object: Each person will say something about the ogject, fictionalizing why this object might be ‘meaningful.’

6. Sign non-damage claus

7. Each student will retain the selected object (not their own) and will ‘produce’ a visual work with it (this is due during next section meeting)

8. The evolution of this visual work, its format and medium will be guided by TA’s during section.

BRIEF

continue narrating the biography of your ‘object’ gift. What do you want it to be, and to do? What does it suggest to you?... Particular placement, useage, ritual treatment? Visible or invisible? Shared, displayed, hidden? Played with, worked with, talked to, abused? what are it’s origins? How was it made,  and out of what? It is up to you to decide on the space-time context in which to situate this imaginary. Try to veer away from a conventional/ stereotypical portayal of the object: be inventive and challenge these associations.

Playfully research and visually document the object’s alternative history, in a way that is surprising and convincing.

Possible mediums include film, photography, diagram, collage, performance – or any other material/process that feels appropriate.

You may wish to adopt/adapt the guise and method of an ‘object specialist’ who works in a particular way and on a specific scale in time and space (i.e. archaeologist, anthropologist, architect, mechanic, neuroscientist.)

Perhaps your own non-art discipline suggests a particular apporach, in which case, feel free to adopt this languge and roll with it.

n.b. The object must be returned to it’s owner on Monday in its original state (i.e. not damaged/ altered in any way).

Due to slow beginnings, the abstract for this work will be due shortly after critique on Wednesday 24^th Jan. You may therefore find it helpful to begin drafting written abstract (500 words max) over the weekend, along with the production of physical work.

Syllabus:

VIS 111 / Structures for Art 

Section 08 Mon/Wed 4-5.50pm, Mandevile B 115B

www.structuresforart.blogspot.com

TA Hermione Spriggs; hfsprigg@ucsd.edu; VAF studio 273

Office Hours: Monday 3-4pm (or by appointment)

What is this course/our section about?

Art Practice, the broader social sphere, the physical environment and how they overlap.

We are attempting to address; the Who, What, When, Where, How in your work in relation to content and context.

The projects involve three key elements:

1. concept: idea and motivation

2. process: means of researching/investigating/experimenting

3. execution: the material form, presentation and communication

Materials: This is not an art history course or discussion-based seminar, you will be expected to make stuff, present stuff and talk about other peoples stuff. You will need to buy supplies for your projects.

Particularly crucial:

A devoted journal/skectchbook/notebook. You need to have a journal for the class, a place to gather ideas, sketch, collect images, sources, notes etc.

I recommend you make this your notebook for the lecture as well so you can pull together course material and your own thoughts and findings. This course focuses on process as much as the final product, so having it all in one pooling place helps reflect the work you are putting into it.

Pay heed to the materiality of your every-day observations. Select a sketchbook (and basic writing/drawing materials) with care – you will spend a lot of time together.

The assignment/your project ideas will determine suitable methods for your individual projects. Appropirate materials, tools and techniques will be discussed on a project-specific basis in class, but these descisions remain ultimately yours.

Grading: Remember that a crucial part of engaged art-making is challenging existing norms and forms of categorization. As such there is no pre-existing criteria for the production of ‘good’ or ‘bad’ art. Nor is there a straight-forward route to attaining an ‘A’. Bearing this in mind, higher grades will be awarded for work that embodies risk-taking and experimentation – work that astonishes, enchants and engages the viewer, by adopting unique perspectives and novel interactions with the world.

50% Finished Projects:

The five project assignments and written abstracts will be nominally graded as we go, and reconsidered as a whole at the end of the quarter. You will also receive verbal feelback from myself and others during section critiques.

***No work will be accepted for credit after it’s due date***

20% Written Abstracts + Journal/notebook

30% Lecture and Section attendance and participation :

This class will function through a mutual exchange of ideas, be they half-cooked, seemingly dumb, brilliant or whatever. Everyone has at some point struggled (or is struggling) with the ideas we are considering. If you don’t make your reactions and thought known somehow, it will be assumed you aren’t taking the time or making an effort to think about them and you will be graded accordingly. Of Course, you have to show up and speak up to participate.

Keep in mind that you could make the most amazing artwork and writing in the world, but if you don’t participate, you will still get a C- in the class at best.

Attendance:

Attendance is crucial in this course. We do not have the time to go over

lecture material in our section, only react to it and disseminate it briefly. Catching up on lecture material is your responsibility by linking up with your classmates. You may miss up to two lectures without penalty. If you miss a third lecture without a major medical/emergency reason, you fail the class. The lectures are not recorded or online, so if you need to miss one, make arrangements with a friend to get the info you need.

You can miss up to two of our sections without penalty. If you miss a third section, you drop a letter grade. I will mark if you are late. If you are late to section by more than 5-10 minutes repeatedly, that is one mark. Two marks and it qualifies as an absence.

Recording attendance: In our Wednesday sections before lecture I will hand out note cards. During lecture, you will write your name and at least one sentence about something you found interesting, liked, learned, blew your mind, etc. At the end of lecture I will collect the note cards at the front of the lecture hall. This represents your attendance. If I do not receive a note card or scrap of paper form you immediately following lecture, you will be marked as absent.

Our section starts at 4pm. On days we are having a critique, you may need to show up early if at all possible to have time to set up your work so we can have as much time to talk about it as possible. 1hr 50mins will fly by.

In general, please respect your own investment and your fellow students and be on time.

Journal/Sketchbook:

The Journal is an integral part of this class. There will be Journal assignments, some relating to the lecture, some not. The main idea is to keep your mind engaged and creating. At various points in the quarter your journal will be reviewed and count towards your final grade.

Abstracts: The abstracts are another way of engaging your work/thoughts. It is a tool to help you form an idea into language and to then support the physical development of the idea. Each abstract should not exceed 1 page of text, double spaced (500 words). The abstracts may well also act as useful prompts for presenting your work in critique.

n.b. The abstracts need not take the conventional form of academic prose. They could for instance be narrative/ poetic/ diagramatic.

Critique: You will be asked to talk about your ideas and thoughts/reasoning in class in front of your peers. If you are shy, its time to speak up and express your thoughts, if you like to talk a lot, focus your comments to be as potent and decisive as possible.

Any artist putting up their work and expecting any feedback from a viewer must also

be able to reciprocate when it comes time to talking about their peers work. Being able to discuss a piece of art, even one you don’t like, will teach you more than you realize and help you in your own work. With constructive and honest criticism, we will explore what the work is doing on its own, why the artist made it that way, how the process informed its making and what might help make it/the next piece evolve and improve.

Give each other HONEST CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM. This can take many forms and may involve statements, questions and abstract thoughts. Sometimes you may feel like you are being very rude when you are just being honest. Please resist the urge to only offer compliments. The cocktail of challenges and support crates forward momentum.

If you have thoughts or concerns about the feedback you receive during critique, please see me at my office hour to discuss it before the end of the following project, while it is still fresh in our memories.

At the end of the course your project grades, journal and abstracts in conjunction with

your attendance and participation will be averaged to determine your final grade.

Extra credit: None. This is a demanding course and requires consistent involvement and effort the entire quarter. If you reasonably commit yourself to each project, you should not need extra credit.

Blog: I have created a blog as a means of communicating with you, and for sharing inspiration and links. The blog www.structuresforart.blogspot.com will serve in place of an e-mailing list. I will post prompts, reminders and requirements for class, so

**please be sure to check the blog in good time before each of our meetings**

Grading Scale

"F" Failure to engage with course material. Lack of effort and participation. Poorly executed/ absent work, without adequate justification or communication of purpose.

“D" Quality and quantity of work in and out of the class is below average and marginally acceptable.

Example: "D" work is passing by a slim margin

"C" Demonstrates a satisfactory comprehension of the subject matter. Accomplishes only the minimum requirements, and displays little or no initiative. Communicates orally and in writing at an acceptable understanding of all basic concepts.

Example: "C" work represents average work for the students in a program or class. A student receiving a "C" has met the requirements, including deadlines, of the course.

"B" Grasps subject matter at a level considered to be good to very good. Is an active listener and participant in class discussion. Speaks and writes well. Accomplishes more than the minimum requirements. Work in and out of class is of high quality.

Example: "B" work indicates a high quality of performance and is given in recognition for solid work; a "B" should be considered a high grade.

"A" Clearly stands out as excellent performance. Has unusually sharp insight into material and initiates thoughtful questions. Sees many sides of an issue. Articulates well and writes logically and clearly. Integrates ideas previously learned from this and other disciplines; anticipates next steps in progression of ideas.

Example: "A" work should be of such a nature that it could be put on reserve for all students to review and emulate. "A" work is, in fact, an example for others to follow.

NOTE: Good grades are correlated with regular attendance and with assignments completed and on time. On the other hand, poor grades are often correlated with frequent absences and incomplete and/ or missing assignments.

One last thing, DOCUMENTATION, DOCUMENTATION, DOCUMENTATION. If its worth making, its worth quality documentation, for yourself and the class.

I will grade projects both in critique and through a final revue of finished work. Projects should therefore be phographed, printed and annotated in portfolio form, or photographed and compiled with descriptive text in digital PDF format. Please also document your work for your own records while it is in a well-lit clean environment. If you are not a visual arts major/minor, this may be one of the few times in your life you get to manipulate materials in a purely artistic way. Take advantage of it, have serious fun, and DOCUMENT IT

Critique Criteria

Critique is not a scary thing, it is just people talking about a piece of art in a group. Think of critiques as a continuation of our ‘exchange’ project. In our critiques, the artist will introduce their piece, and then let the viewers make various observations about the work. At the end, the artist can speak about what they were thinking about when making the piece, or respond to some of the comments and observations the class may have spoken about. It is an exercise that teaches you to speak about your work in a clear way to others, and to be able to “read” a piece of art by another artists and vocalize your findings, thoughts, emotions, etc.

Most of the time we will have only about 5-7 minutes to speak about a person’s work in class, which is very quick, but is simply a result of our context. So, be quick to speak and get your comments out on the table.

When in a critique and looking at a piece of art, start to think of some of the following criteria, and respectfully share your opinion.

Presentation: Does the piece appear to be displayed thoughtfully and in a way to further it’s intended meaning?

Form/Material: What does the image/object look like? Is it familiar? Strange? What is it made of? What do the materials used, shape, size and color say about the work/make you think of or remind you of? Is the material appropriate to the concept?

Concept: Can you begin to garner an idea or motivation from the piece? A concept can be conveyed, through the artist, by using materials. Ex: One may use hand-stitching through their art work to convey a concept of domestic skills, mothering, nurturing, etc. If the thread is human hair, that adds a whole other layer to the discussion. Concept + Materials

Craft: Can you tell how much time or care was put into the art? Is this of importance? If the artist did not have the learned skills to make a wooden box, did they use what skills they did possess to convey the same message or alter their plan to make something else work in a similar way?

Participation: I want to hear your thoughts, I want to know your initial feelings when relating to the work. And when it’s your turn to talk about your work, I want to hear what inspired you, relevant process information and what you thought of others ideas during the critique about your piece.

Remember, your participation in critique is a major part of your grade and helps you and the artist grow.

Grading: Everything listed above is what you will be graded on for each project. In this class, Teddy sees letter grades as A for excellent/extraordinary, B for very good, C good. See syllabus for more on that.

Gift exchange: distributed personhood

 'Dividual personhood is understood to be formed and negotiated through the exchange and circulation of bodily substances and other material extensions of the body... these understandings of the person challenge assumptions of the one-to-one mapping of self onto the body, and emphasize other more relationally defined possibilities'
  Zoe Crossland, 'Materiality and Embodiment'