Decolonisation
discuss decolonising strategies as modes of disruption.
Monday, 18 February 2019
Relational Aesthetics and Participatory Art
Relational Aesthetics and Participatory Art
Consider the rise of relational aesthetics and participatory practices in the 1990s and 2000s as precursors to contemporary activist initiatives.
The Art of Resistance
The Art of Resistance
explore the notion of 'resistance' through addressing social, historical, cultural and political issues affecting Indigenous people globally. Explore ways in which Indigenous artists use art as a form of resistance; using their practice as a tool to advocate for these issues.
Consider
Frontier wars (Lecture): Introduction into the frontier wars and artist responses.
Key artists: Judy Watson (Names of Places), Fiona Foley.
Stolen generations (Lecture): Artists remembering the stolen generations.
Key artists: Julie Dowling, Tony Albert, Bindi Cole.
The art of the Manifesto (Lecture): Exploring manifesto's. What are they and how to write them.
Always was Always will be... (Lecture): Exploring land rights, native tile including the freedom rides.
Key Artists: Richard Bell, Vernon Ah Kee, Brenda Croft, Mervyn Bishop.
Assimilation (Lecture): Assimilation and the politics of skin: exploring the Andrew Bolt case and other discussions around Aboriginal skin colour and authenticity and artistic responses.
Key Artists: Bindi Cole, Megan Cope, Bianca Beetson, Archie Moore.
The art of Protest (Lecture): Exploring the history of Posters and T-shirts in Activism around the world.
Taking it to the streets (Lecture): Exploring the role of performance art and activism from around the world.
Key artists: Anthony Fernando, Richard Bell, Pussy Riot, Pussy Beanie movement, Coco Fusco, Yoko Ono.
Cultural Sovereignty (Lecture): What is is Cultural Sovereignty? How can we assert our cultural Sovereignty? unpacking the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and how can we use it to inform our practice?
Occupied (Lecture): Looking at the occupied movement and artist that respond to notions of the Occupied movement. This also links to the Sovereignty movement in Australia.
Thinking Globally (Lecture): Thinking globally, creative activism that spans the globe such as Black lives matter, Me too, the ice bucket challenge, the woman march against Trump.
Reconcillation (Lecture): Reconciliation or wreck the silly nation? What does it really mean to reconcile? How can we move forward together as a nation?
explore the notion of 'resistance' through addressing social, historical, cultural and political issues affecting Indigenous people globally. Explore ways in which Indigenous artists use art as a form of resistance; using their practice as a tool to advocate for these issues.
Consider
Frontier wars (Lecture): Introduction into the frontier wars and artist responses.
Key artists: Judy Watson (Names of Places), Fiona Foley.
Stolen generations (Lecture): Artists remembering the stolen generations.
Key artists: Julie Dowling, Tony Albert, Bindi Cole.
The art of the Manifesto (Lecture): Exploring manifesto's. What are they and how to write them.
Always was Always will be... (Lecture): Exploring land rights, native tile including the freedom rides.
Key Artists: Richard Bell, Vernon Ah Kee, Brenda Croft, Mervyn Bishop.
Assimilation (Lecture): Assimilation and the politics of skin: exploring the Andrew Bolt case and other discussions around Aboriginal skin colour and authenticity and artistic responses.
Key Artists: Bindi Cole, Megan Cope, Bianca Beetson, Archie Moore.
The art of Protest (Lecture): Exploring the history of Posters and T-shirts in Activism around the world.
Taking it to the streets (Lecture): Exploring the role of performance art and activism from around the world.
Key artists: Anthony Fernando, Richard Bell, Pussy Riot, Pussy Beanie movement, Coco Fusco, Yoko Ono.
Cultural Sovereignty (Lecture): What is is Cultural Sovereignty? How can we assert our cultural Sovereignty? unpacking the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and how can we use it to inform our practice?
Occupied (Lecture): Looking at the occupied movement and artist that respond to notions of the Occupied movement. This also links to the Sovereignty movement in Australia.
Thinking Globally (Lecture): Thinking globally, creative activism that spans the globe such as Black lives matter, Me too, the ice bucket challenge, the woman march against Trump.
Reconcillation (Lecture): Reconciliation or wreck the silly nation? What does it really mean to reconcile? How can we move forward together as a nation?
Memory and Trauma
Memory and Trauma
How might we begin to think and represent traumatic events? What is the relationship between trauma, memory and mourning? Examine the representation of trauma and memory across a range of mediums including film, photography and visual art. Topics examined include: the limits of representation, authenticity, post-memory, affect and reparative aesthetics. Students will be introduced to theories of memory and trauma drawn from art history, feminist theory, history, literature, postcolonial studies and psychoanalysis.
How might we begin to think and represent traumatic events? What is the relationship between trauma, memory and mourning? Examine the representation of trauma and memory across a range of mediums including film, photography and visual art. Topics examined include: the limits of representation, authenticity, post-memory, affect and reparative aesthetics. Students will be introduced to theories of memory and trauma drawn from art history, feminist theory, history, literature, postcolonial studies and psychoanalysis.
Representation: Looking at You, Me and the Selfie
Representation: Looking at You, Me and the Selfie
Images of ourselves and others saturate our experiences of contemporary life. In Tinder pics, advertisements and Police mugshots, we automatically and unintentionally read signifiers of race, class, gender and sexuality. Yet how, and why, do we interpret these? This course engages with examples of representation drawn from the diverse fields of art, photography, popular culture (film, television and video games), news media and social media to enable students to critically assess images of their own and others' making. Drawing on theories of looking, with attention to the gaze and the construct of the Other, students will explore self-portraiture and representation in the age of the selfie.
The Society of the Spectacle (Seminar): In 1967, Guy Debord penned The Society of the Spectacle, opening the text with this first, prescient, thesis: "In societies dominated by modern conditions of production, life is presented as an immense accumulation of spectacles. Everything that was directly lived has receded into a representation". This seminar unpacks Debord's ideas before expanding into the questions: What are the implications of living in a society governed by images? What are the legacies of Debord's ideas? What role can image-makers play in perpetuating or disrupting the spectacle?
Semiotics (Seminar): This seminar introduces semiotics - the science or theory of signs - pioneered by Swiss linguist, Ferdinand de Saussure and American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce. After drawing out two key principles of semiotics: 1. that language (and images) construct rather than reflect the world; and 2. that distinctions are often made through binary oppositions. Discussions will focus on the implications of these principles in visual culture.
The Male Gaze (Seminar): The feminist film critic, Laura Mulvey, coined the term 'male gaze' in her 1975 essay "Visual pleasure and narrative cinema". This seminar explains Mulvey's concept of the male gaze with attention to Mulvey's focus on who is doing the making, the framing and the looking. Discussions will focus on examples from visual culture that repeat, refuse or complicate the male gaze before turning to bell hooks' important critique of Mulvey via her racialised theory of the Oppositional Gaze.
Heterocentric Visions and other Recurring Tropes (Seminar): This seminar deploys student-led discussion to investigate the relationships between overused cliches (especially as they relate to race, gender, sexuality, class and ability) and issues of invisibility/lack of representation. Student will bring pre-selected examples to class for a speed-dating style discussion.
Coded Messages and Resistant Readings (Seminar): This seminar explores polysemy in visual culture, that is, the potential for different audiences to read multiple, even conflicting, meanings in a text according to coded messages and resistant readings.
Female s(h)eroes: Counter-Representation (Seminar): In 1993, Australia's first Cyberfeminist art collective - VNS Matrix - refused to represent their female s(h)hero All New Gen, opting instead to imagine her as a powerful, feminine, mist. In this seminar, we'll discuss counter-representational strategies including redeploying existing images and inserting new bodies into old narratives.
Screening: Soda_Jerk, Terror Nullius, 2018.
Anger and Repair (Seminar): In her book, Reparative Aesthetics, Susan Best articulates the possibility for political art to eschew its critical tendency in order to provide a method for healing. In this seminar, we'll explore the emotional affect of visual culture.
Selfies, Self-Portraiture and Self-Representation (Seminar): African-American abolitionist, Frederick Douglas, was the most photographed man in the 1800s. He recognised in photography the potential to author a more accurate image of African Americans. In this seminar, we'll encounter an extraordinary suite of artists, activists and image-makers who have similarly turned the camera on themselves, and their surroundings.
Screening: Caroline Garcia, Imperial Reminiscence, 2018
Masquerade (Seminar): Cindy Sherman famously photographs herself over and over, not as a form of self-portraiture but as a form of masquerade. Her repetitions expose images as a construct and identity as performance. With attention to Judith Butler's Gender Trouble, in this seminar, we'll discuss image-makers who perform for the camera, often without us knowing.
Ethical Conundrums and Contemporary Debates (Seminar): In this final seminar, we will explore some of the ethical quandaries and contemporary debates raised by this course. Students will lead discussion on debates that divide opinion yet offer fruitful engagement. These may include: #yourfaveisproblematic: fandom in the age of critique, representing violence and desire in the age of #metoo, when is it unethical to take a selfie? What should/shouldn't be censored online? How/can Capitalism and Intersectional ethics coexist? etc
Art & Consumer Culture
Art & Consumer Culture
Jean Baudrillard’s
assertion that postmodern consumer society is saturated with
aesthetics to the point where art is no longer possible and that
postmodern consumption should be understood as the consumption of
signs. In order to illustrate these ideas the lecture will focus on
artists who have celebrated the commodification of art, have
fetishised the everyday and have established themselves as celebrity
brands.
1. Jean Baudrillard
The Object Value System: Consumption practices are based on
‘symbolic exchange’ value – that is an object’s value is
related to its sign value (what it means socially, personally,
individually to the consumer)
2. For Baudrillard
the density, seemless, all encompassing extent of the production of
images in society means that the distinction between reality and
image has become effaced and everyday life has become aestheticised
and so ‘art is everywhere’ - this creates a synthetic
environment of desire for the consumer product
3. Artists including
Jeff Koons, Sylvie Fleury and Haim Steinbach have used ready-made
consumer objects as a vehicle to explore ‘commodity fetishism’
(displaced value of the product)
4. Artists including
Damien Hirst and Takashi Murakami have harnessed the power of the
celebrity system to expand their reach outside the world of art into
the wider world of commerce and popular culture.
5.
Luxury brands have employed the ‘cultural capital’ (power and
social standing achieved through cultural knowledge and concepts of
taste) associated with art to symbolically improve the status of the
product and the consumer
Art Games
Art Games
Serious
Games and Art Games are video games that promote alternative
experiences in a video game environment. Serious games are used for
everything from education to pain therapy to military recruiting. Art
games blur the boundaries of gaming and art and don’t tend to
follow the conventions of competitive or task-based gaming.
Bio-art
Bio-art references work that utilises biotechnologies and biological systems in the context of art practice.
Cybernetics
Cybernetics
Cybernetics, cyborgs, transhumanisms and posthumanisms all focus on the connections and transactions (and power dynamics) that exist between biological forms and electronic/digital forms.
Cybernetics, cyborgs, transhumanisms and posthumanisms all focus on the connections and transactions (and power dynamics) that exist between biological forms and electronic/digital forms.
New Media
New Media
Focuses
on concepts of New Media and Postmedia. We will discuss the
relationships between technology, art and power. The lecture will
cover a number of specialised terms and concepts associated with New
Media and Postmedia including cybernetics, cyborg,
parahumanism/transhumanism/posthumanism and bricolage. The lecture
will then look specifically at controversial bio-art projects and at
the serious game and art game genres of video games.
- Although New Media has been conventionally understood as an art practice that utilises electronic technologies, it can be more broadly thought of as inclusive of interdisciplinary practices that combine forms of art, design, electronics and digital technologies.
- Postmedia references a process and a circumstance in which traditional disciplines, values and histories have collapsed into a single mediatised sphere. It no longer is relevant to distinguish between different ‘types’ of media. All art (and cultural practice) is now postmedia. (This doesn’t mean ‘after media’ as if media has ceased to exist.)
- Cybernetics, cyborgs, transhumanisms and posthumanisms all focus on the connections and transactions (and power dynamics) that exist between biological forms and electronic/digital forms.
- Bricolage is a term derived from the French word for ‘tinkering’. It has been used in art practice to reference works that are ‘cobbled together’ from whatever is ‘at hand’.
- Bio-art references work that utilises biotechnologies and biological systems in the context of art practice.
- Serious Games and Art Games are video games that promote alternative experiences in a video game environment. Serious games are used for everything from education to pain therapy to military recruiting. Art games blur the boundaries of gaming and art and don’t tend to follow the conventions of competitive or task-based gaming. Several powerful cultural institutions, most notably MoMA, have started collecting video games as examples of New Media.
Postcolonialism in theory and practice
Postcolonialism
in theory and practice
focuses
on concepts of Postcolonialism. Key terminology of postcolonial
studies will be introduced: the Other, alterity, subaltern,
Orientalism, globalisation, diaspora, mimicry, and hybridity.
Postcolonial studies is a discipline that contends with the
consequences of colonial and imperial power structures, specifically
the relationships between the colonisers and the colonised in which
issues of hegemony are paramount. By surveying key writers in
postcolonial studies — Said, Fanon, Spivak, Bhabha — and works by
artists that engage specifically with colonial and postcolonial
discourses — Moffatt, Bell, Shonibare— this lecture will give a
broad overview of the terms and concerns of postcolonialism in
contemporary art practice.
- The Other: a philosophical concept, the Other is an individual (or collective concept) that exists outside of the centre/norm; or an ‘alien’ self that is incoherent to the self. Alterity is the quality of Otherness. The subaltern: a marginalised individual or collective that exists without agency.
- Frantz Fanon’s work in the Caribbean, France and Algeria is considered seminal for postcolonial studies. Fanon advocates for ‘total liberation’ from the rule and influence of the coloniser, and he advocates violent revolution. His theories of the coloniser/colonised relationship remain prevalent.
- Edward Said’s book Orientalism is also a foundational text in postcolonial studies. It describes the process by which the West Others the non-West. The West (Occident: Europe/America) constructs, romanticises, stereotypes, and dominates the East (Orient: the non-West).
- Diaspora: from the Greek word for ‘scatter’, diaspora refers to the migration and/or dispersion of people from their homelands. Historically, diasporic migrations have often been violent and forced.
- Homi K. Bhabha’s concepts of mimicry, hybridity and the third space: Mimicry refers to a method of subverting assimilation and the influence of the coloniser through the ‘mis-imitation’ of colonial power. Hybridity and the ‘third space’ refer to cultural exchanges and transactions that create new spaces and possibilities for discourse beyond old essentialist colonial binaries. Most importantly these hybridised spaces blur and defy boundaries and colonial categorisations.
- Broadly, postcolonial studies is also concerned with counter-hegemonic and anti-imperial structures and possibilities. Hegemony: an imperial domination maintained through cultural constructs of ‘natural power’; maintaining the status quo; and the power of institutions and bureaucracies (education, law, religion, consumerism, etc).
Hyper-realism and the fiction of the real
Hyper-realism
and the fiction of the real
‘Realism’ can be
understood as both a movement in art (which began in France in the
1850s) and more broadly, as a style of representation. In its
broadest application, realism refers to works that show ‘reality’,
that is, what is believed to exist. This conception of reality rests
upon the idea that what is real is discovered through the senses
(sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell) and as independent of
representation (in art and literature and theatre etc.) So realism as
expressed through the arts can be said to support that experience of
reality and to reinforce it.
Realism has a strong
connection to ‘truth’ and the art historical idea of ‘truth to
nature’. Typically, realist art addresses everyday subjects and
readily observable situations. It is grounded in the idea of the
faithful representation (that shows things as they are) and committed
to the idea of an objective reality. The popularity of 19th
Century Realism coincided with the invention of photography and its
claim to ever more precise and objective representation as enabled by
the camera.
While realism as a
style of representation has persisted across the arts to the present
day, there have been major challenges to the idea of reality that it
relies upon, and consequently in the art that addresses that concept.
This is particularly pronounced in art from the 1990s when the
widespread application of computers in image making came about. These
new image technologies disrupted earlier conceptions of the real and
faith in images based in realism. Not surprisingly, photography and
screen-based art has had a major role to play in this reassessment of
realism. The paired concepts of simulacra and simulation, as
developed by theorist Jean Baudrillard, have been influential in
shaping debates around these issues. Baudrillard argues that we have
moved from the representation of reality to its simulation, to the
hyper-real, something beyond and outside of reality.
1. Realism as a 19th
C movement in art committed to objectivity over emotion, a major
disruption in art at the time
2. Realism as a
style of representation connected to ‘truth’, truth to nature,
objectivity
3. Realism typically
addresses familiar, everyday scenes but also harsh truths
4. 20th C
image technology sees a major challenge to concepts of the real that
question the possibility of reality
5. Photography and
screen-based art central to exploration of objectivity and realism
6. Hyperrealism
exceeds the realism of photo realism and refuses simple relations
between images and what they represent
7. Sculpture takes
camera-computer based technologies into even more pronounced
hyperrealism and increasingly complex questions of what is real and
what is simulated
Gender Theory.
Gender Theory.
Discuss how Gender theory differentiates between sex and gender and consider some terms of gender theory, such
as patriarchy, heteronormativity, and queer. Discuss alongside feminism those of broader definitions of
gender identities. Visual representations of gendered identities as
shown in films, music videos, art, photography and design practices
will be looked at critically. The aim is in doing so is to
demonstrate how gender is constructed and represented in relation to
the shifts that have occurred in response to feminism.
- SEX and GENDER need to be distinguished from one another in Gender Theory. SEX is understood to be a natural or biological feature (based on male and female genitalia and chromosomal differences). GENDER, is the cultural or learned significance of sex. Gender is the social and cultural roles, personality traits and behaviours that are seen to be socially acceptable for men and women in relation to concepts of masculinity and femininity.
- Gender Theorist Judith Butler states that “Gender norms operate by requiring the embodiment of certain ideals of femininity and masculinity, ones which are almost always related to the idealization of the heterosexual bond” (Critically Queer, p. 22). The splitting of gender binaries in visual culture, social, cultural and political spheres produces two distinct genders and is exclusive of gender variations. These binaries normalises this dual model, after which it becomes naturalised. This is known as heternormativity.
- The development of feminism has seen the development of several eras: First wave feminism (late 19th century until early 20th century), Second Wave feminism (mid 1960s until 1980), Third wave feminism 1980s until late 1990s, Post-Feminism 2000-current.
- Gender theory and gender politics have directly benefited from the advances made by feminists and feminism. Today there is a broadening of the ideas of gender to include LBGTQI (Lesbian, Bi, Gay, Transgender, Queer and Intersex). This group is often spoken about under the umbrella term ‘Queer Theory’.
- Queer artists embrace the subversive possibilities of challenging the hegemony of heterosexuality. The aim is to activate a new set of values, and discourses that allow for such a space to be defined, expressed or explored.
The Body ‘identity politics
The Body
While
the body has been a central concept to art and design practices for
millennia, it is in the postmodern period (roughly 1960 - 1990s-2000)
that artists and designers have turned a spotlight on the body to
express issues relating to identity, especially identity defined in
terms of race, ethnicity, gender or sexuality. Much of this effort
has been undertaken in order to validate and empower groups who have
historically been underrepresented not only in the mainstream art
world, but the world in general. In this process we use the term
identity politics, which refers to the beliefs and activities of
practitioners who target racism, sexism and other forms of prejudice
and draw attention to issues of cultural diversity, social rights and
economic parity.
- Identity is formed within a complex matrix of many variables, including gender, sexuality, ethnicity, class, religion, community and nation.
- Broad generalised or stereotyped interpretations of group identity can be counterproductive and are called essentialism. This term is used when “claims about a group’s identity are based on the notion that the shared qualities are natural or based on biology” (Robertson & McDaniel 2010, p. 46). Notions of diversity contrast with essentialism. Diversity accounts for the complex variables (class, religion, gender, ethnicity etc.) within any group that contribute to the construction of our identity.
- Factors influencing societal changes in the way we view ourselves include: social political scientific changes including rapid technological change, victories for feminist and civil rights causes, the rising world influence of societies beyond Europe and the Unites States, globalisation of economic systems, ever-increasing speed of information transfer, and the influence of feminist, postmodern and postcolonial theories on a range of intellectual and cultural arenas.
- There has been a deep implicit connection between art and identity throughout the Western tradition of art history. The Portrait and self-portrait are two genres that demonstrate this enduring tradition.
- Art practices of the 1960s and 1970s that used the body as material to contest/critique/understand issues relating to identity came to be known as Body Art. This was particularly strong in Performance Art of the 1960s and 1970s.
- What we know of our bodies ‘nature’ is available to us only through the various ideologies that help construct our understanding of the world and our place in it
- Chris Burden TV Hi-jack 1972
- Ai WeiWei Study in Perspective – Tiananmen Square, 1995-2003, Gelatin Silver Print.
Michiko
Nitta and Michael Burton The Algaculture Symbiosis Suit, 2010-
Oppositions
Oppositions
Oppositions to ponder… Oppositional ways of ordering phenomena can result in ‘difference’ being perceived in a judgmental way that forms hierarchical cultural values based on black and white distinctions. And what about the ‘grey’ areas – the merging of the ‘either’ ‘ors’?
EITHER OR
culture nature
conscious unconscious
willful instinct
mind body
analytical irrational
reason emotion
clear obscure
science arts
light dark
good evil
spirit matter
exposed enclosed
exterior interior
masculine feminine
Oppositions to ponder… Oppositional ways of ordering phenomena can result in ‘difference’ being perceived in a judgmental way that forms hierarchical cultural values based on black and white distinctions. And what about the ‘grey’ areas – the merging of the ‘either’ ‘ors’?
EITHER OR
culture nature
conscious unconscious
willful instinct
mind body
analytical irrational
reason emotion
clear obscure
science arts
light dark
good evil
spirit matter
exposed enclosed
exterior interior
masculine feminine
| Virtue | Latin | Gloss | Sin | Latin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chastity | Castitas | Purity, abstinence | Lust | Luxuria |
| Temperance | Temperantia | Humanity, equanimity | Gluttony | Gula |
| Charity | Caritas | Will, benevolence, generosity, sacrifice | Greed | Avaritia |
| Diligence | Industria | Persistence, effortfulness, ethics | Sloth | Acedia |
| Patience | Patientia | Forgiveness, mercy | Wrath | Ira |
| Kindness | Humanitas | Satisfaction, compassion | Envy | Invidia |
| Humility | Humilitas | Bravery, modesty, reverence | Pride | Superbia |
Change
Change
Examine how one thinks of change in viewing the practice of Western Contemporary Art? Are many artists conscious of change, or are they content to just let things flow? How much does an artist accommodate, alter, convert, and modify an idea/ideas through process and change? What about improvements, development, refinement, rearrangement, transformation or transition? What part does change, chance, and/or nature play in the process of creativity–or are they deleted completely in the final process? What of a predetermined, decisive end of process? And then there are other terms to ponder, such as: willful, decide, specific end result, product control, plan, permanent.
Examine how one thinks of change in viewing the practice of Western Contemporary Art? Are many artists conscious of change, or are they content to just let things flow? How much does an artist accommodate, alter, convert, and modify an idea/ideas through process and change? What about improvements, development, refinement, rearrangement, transformation or transition? What part does change, chance, and/or nature play in the process of creativity–or are they deleted completely in the final process? What of a predetermined, decisive end of process? And then there are other terms to ponder, such as: willful, decide, specific end result, product control, plan, permanent.
Permanent/Permanence -Time and Temporality
Permanent/Permanence – Time and Temporality
Can “anything” be permanent? Or is everything in transition?
Permanent – lasting or tending to last indefinitely; remaining unchanged; enduring. (opposite of temporary – temporal; or pertaining to time. Pertaining to or concerned with the present life or this world; worldly). Is there any phenomenon in existence that does not change? If not, a paradigm (the set of all forms containing a particular element) that presents permanence as reality is in opposition to Nature. The culture’s representations reflect a belief that it can be distinguished from Nature. It follows that a cultural paradigm that does not acknowledge Chance sees itself able to control Nature thorough understanding of and harnessing natural forces.
iscusses an important strain in global visual cultures: the notion of time that is not necessarily linear or chronological and the impact this has on global communities.
Can “anything” be permanent? Or is everything in transition?
Permanent – lasting or tending to last indefinitely; remaining unchanged; enduring. (opposite of temporary – temporal; or pertaining to time. Pertaining to or concerned with the present life or this world; worldly). Is there any phenomenon in existence that does not change? If not, a paradigm (the set of all forms containing a particular element) that presents permanence as reality is in opposition to Nature. The culture’s representations reflect a belief that it can be distinguished from Nature. It follows that a cultural paradigm that does not acknowledge Chance sees itself able to control Nature thorough understanding of and harnessing natural forces.
iscusses an important strain in global visual cultures: the notion of time that is not necessarily linear or chronological and the impact this has on global communities.
Who am I ?
Who am I ?
Create an artwork that discusses who YOU are
“What am I referring to when I say
the word 'I'? This little word, which is somehow the easiest to use
in our daily lives, has become the focus of the most intense - and
at times the most obscure – debate.... Where does my sense of self
come from? Was it made for me, or did it arise spontaneously ? How is
it conditioned by the media I consume, the society I inhabit , the
politics I suffer and the desires that inspire me? When I use the
word 'I' am I using it in the same way as you, when you use it? Am I
a different 'I' when I present myself in different ways to my boss,
my family, my friends, social security, someone I am in love with or
a stranger in the street? Do I really know myself? ... The 'I' is
thus a meeting point between the most formal and highly abstract
concepts and the most immadiate and intense emotions ... This focus
on the self as the centre of both of lived experience and of
discernible meaning has become on of the – if not the- difining
issue of modern and postmodern cultures” (Rochelle Summerfield ,
identity project 2012)
Create an artwork that discusses who YOU are
A Sense of place
A Sense of place
Create a work that discusses "a sense of place"
A sense of: “place is crucial to All
Australians. It is fundamental to the sense of self , sense of
community, sense of morality and sense of destiny” Hugh mackay
Create a work that discusses "a sense of place"
Sunday, 17 February 2019
Death
Death
Create an artwork around the theme of
death with “A Book About Death” in any language somewhere on the
front.
Appropriation - Death of the author
Appropriation - Death of the author
Create a work that uses appropriation and discusses concept of the 'Death of the Author'.
Appropriatioon is a method that takes an existing work and recontextualises it as a 'new' work-often for ironic, comical or critical effect.
Create a work that uses appropriation and discusses concept of the 'Death of the Author'.
Appropriatioon is a method that takes an existing work and recontextualises it as a 'new' work-often for ironic, comical or critical effect.
traceing aspects of
the shift in emphasis from the originality and genius of the artist
(author) that defined so much of Modernism to the rise of the reader
(audience) as active and equal partners, not just in the
interpretation of art, but in its very realization, its making. The idea that the
meaning of a text (written or visual for our purposes) resides not in
its origins, not in the intentions of its maker, but in its reception
and its interpretation by the reader (viewer)(Roland Barthes).
invented artist
Invented artist
research 3 artists whose works or practice is disparate to your own. Create a series of works inspired by their practice that reflect their outcomes.
research 3 artists whose works or practice is disparate to your own. Create a series of works inspired by their practice that reflect their outcomes.
The overlooked
The overlooked
Make an artwork which raises awareness to the concept of everyday occurances or objects that can be overlooked
Make an artwork which raises awareness to the concept of everyday occurances or objects that can be overlooked
verb
past tense: overlooked; past participle: overlooked
/əʊvəˈlʊk/
- 1.fail to notice.
"he seems to have overlooked one important fact"
synonyms: miss, fail to notice, fail to observe, fail to spot, fail to see, leave, leave unnoticed;
informalslip up on"he overlooked a mistake on the first page" - 2.have a view of from above.
"the chateau overlooks fields of corn and olive trees"
synonyms: have a view of, afford a view of, look over/across, look on to, look out on/over, face, front on to, give on to, give over, open out over, command a view of, command, dominate
"the breakfast room overlooks a peaceful garden"
THE HUMAN CONDITION
THE HUMAN CONDITION
choose as aspect of the
human condition which resonates with you and develop this into a
concept for your work
Benevolent and malignant
Benevolent and malignant
The internal struggle between the good
and evil inside us all , in particular an individuals attempt to
contain and control the evil that lies within them.
“People tend to believe evil is
something external to them, because they project their shadow onto
others” , but it dwells deep inside us all waiting for the
opportunity to come out
The dilema of the human condition and
humans and their capacity to perform both good and evil activites
explore this concept
portfolio
portfolio
produce a website which would function as our portfolio, to design and create a ‘portfolio’ website which showcases works produced within the course and/or your ideal profession (ie print journalist, graphic designer, photographer, video editor, etc). The portfolio can be used as an online resume showcasing your skills. The portfolio can be done in any software of your choice, but needs to be handed in as a link, and it was not to be in a CMS . The portfolio needs to utilise creative aesthetic.
produce a website which would function as our portfolio, to design and create a ‘portfolio’ website which showcases works produced within the course and/or your ideal profession (ie print journalist, graphic designer, photographer, video editor, etc). The portfolio can be used as an online resume showcasing your skills. The portfolio can be done in any software of your choice, but needs to be handed in as a link, and it was not to be in a CMS . The portfolio needs to utilise creative aesthetic.
Fantasy world
Create a fantasy world
Answer the following questions
- What/ who is in the image (make up a name for the object or the person)
- What is this object used for? (or what does this person do? Or what is this building’s purpose?)
- Who has power in this society (what is the political structure?)
- What is their religion? (mythmaking)
- What is the weather like?
- What is the main energy source?
- What is the overall geography (draw a map)
- Is there magic in this society? ( If so, what sort?)
- What is the economic system (money? Something else that’s highly tradeable? What are their resources?)
- What do people eat?
- What do people wear?
Try and
assimilate your fairytale story from tutorial one into this world.
Try and assimilate other people’s fairytale into your world.
The Teleportation Tent
The Teleportation Tent
Work backwards. Pretend you’ve just
come up with the idea for this teleportation tent but
- you have no tent
- you have no animation or projectors
- you have no budget to do a making-of video to sell your concept
- even if you had a budget, again, you have no tent
- all you have is an idea of a story and how you see kids interacting with it
How would you come up with the
documentation to explain the idea?
WHAT IS IT?
STORY PREMISE (or the synopsis)
PROPS
Tent: Diagrams and drawings! Concept
art! Go make a tent and take a photo if you are so inclined.
Enchanted Objects: More concept art!
More story details – what do these objects do?
THE MAGIC SPACE
(This is the section on the platform)
USER JOURNEY
I would use
diagrams here to map out different user experiences. In the video,
the user experience was filmed. We saw the child’s delight as she
opened the box and assembled the tent. We saw her interacting with
the octopus, we saw her drawing on the enchanted object.
This explained perfectly how this tent
operates. Think more abstractly – because you don’t have a tent
or even a prototype. How could you explain, the user journey.
Your Story
Your
Story
Create a work which explores significant moments in your life
We have all experienced those turning points in
our lives. When a decision or event re-defines and shifts the course
of our life. Never underestimate the smallest event.
A priest once saved a four year old boy from
drowning, that boy was Adolf Hitler ( warhistoryonline.com 2015 )
The ones we choose are usually exciting
and filled with anticipation: a wedding, a new career, a family
started, a move made. All change the course of events in our lives
from that day on and we step willingly into them.
It’s the other events that haunt us, the life
changing events that we are plunged into without choice or warning.
Individual crisis that most everyone eventually gets a turn at. The
call that a loved one is dying, an accident that changes life
forever, a diagnose, a breakup, a job loss all change the course of
life from that moment on and we find individuals forging on in places
they have not stepped willingly.
We can either keep on cruising on the same old
track, or we can veer off path and forge our own trail. We re-define
our future and write a brand new script for our life ?
Tenebrism
Tenebrism
Tenebrism, from the Italian, tenebroso (murky), also called dramatic illumination, is a style of painting using very pronounced chiaroscuro, where there are violent contrasts of light and dark, and where darkness becomes a dominating feature of the image. The technique was developed to add drama to an image through a spotlight effect, and was popular during the Baroque period of painting.
Tenebrism, from the Italian, tenebroso (murky), also called dramatic illumination, is a style of painting using very pronounced chiaroscuro, where there are violent contrasts of light and dark, and where darkness becomes a dominating feature of the image. The technique was developed to add drama to an image through a spotlight effect, and was popular during the Baroque period of painting.
mementos mori
mementos mori
In art, mementos mori are artistic or symbolic reminders of mortality. In the European Christian art context, "the expression... developed with the growth of Christianity, which emphasized Heaven, Hell, and salvation of the soul in the afterlife."
Memento mori ("remember that you have to die") is a Latin expression, originating from a practice common in Ancient Rome; as a general came back victorious from a battle, and during his parade ("Triumph") received compliments and honors from the crowd of citizens, he ran the risk of falling victim to haughtiness and delusions of grandeur; to avoid it, a slave stationed behind him would say "Respice post te. Hominem te memento" ( "Look after you [to the time after your death] and remember you're [only] a man."). It was then reused during the medieval period, it is also related to the ars moriendi ("The Art of Dying") and related literature. Memento mori has been an important part of ascetic disciplines as a means of perfecting the character by cultivating detachment and other virtues, and by turning the attention towards the immortality of the soul and the afterlife.
In art, mementos mori are artistic or symbolic reminders of mortality. In the European Christian art context, "the expression... developed with the growth of Christianity, which emphasized Heaven, Hell, and salvation of the soul in the afterlife."
Memento mori ("remember that you have to die") is a Latin expression, originating from a practice common in Ancient Rome; as a general came back victorious from a battle, and during his parade ("Triumph") received compliments and honors from the crowd of citizens, he ran the risk of falling victim to haughtiness and delusions of grandeur; to avoid it, a slave stationed behind him would say "Respice post te. Hominem te memento" ( "Look after you [to the time after your death] and remember you're [only] a man."). It was then reused during the medieval period, it is also related to the ars moriendi ("The Art of Dying") and related literature. Memento mori has been an important part of ascetic disciplines as a means of perfecting the character by cultivating detachment and other virtues, and by turning the attention towards the immortality of the soul and the afterlife.
The Body as Trace.
Project 1: The Body as Trace.
The Body in Contemporary Art is an overwhelming, vast collection of ideas. It has been derived from many different opposing positions, which have developed over the centuries from many different competing branches of knowledge and institutional frameworks. To think about The Body is to also involve one’s mind, since to make art one requires a body and a consciousness to act. If we assume the ‘mind to be the seat of intellect, then the body is our interface with the world and our senses its line of communication’1. The body’s mind is also inextricably linked to such terms as subjectivity, identity or even the self, since it is these historical constructs which define our understanding of consciousness and the ways in which these institutions have shaped and influenced, who we are today.
In order to frame these vast arrays of information, an arbitrary list of parameters have been drawn up for you to research and for you to even add to in your own time, in and out of the studio. The way I have framed this semester lectures is to simply treat The Body in Contemporary Art as the over-arching term used to describe how artists and their use of representation (language), engage with the topics presented over the course of the semester.
These topics have been broken down into six main areas, although through your own research many more may be uncovered. These are The Body as Absence and Presence, The Body as Text, The Body as Action and Transgression, The Body as Spiritual and Immaterial, The Body in Time, Space and Sound, and lastly, The Body as Trace.
The Body in Time, Space and Sound,
Project 1: The Body in Time, Space and Sound,
The Body in Contemporary Art is an overwhelming, vast collection of ideas. It has been derived from many different opposing positions, which have developed over the centuries from many different competing branches of knowledge and institutional frameworks. To think about The Body is to also involve one’s mind, since to make art one requires a body and a consciousness to act. If we assume the ‘mind to be the seat of intellect, then the body is our interface with the world and our senses its line of communication’1. The body’s mind is also inextricably linked to such terms as subjectivity, identity or even the self, since it is these historical constructs which define our understanding of consciousness and the ways in which these institutions have shaped and influenced, who we are today.
In order to frame these vast arrays of information, an arbitrary list of parameters have been drawn up for you to research and for you to even add to in your own time, in and out of the studio. The way I have framed this semester lectures is to simply treat The Body in Contemporary Art as the over-arching term used to describe how artists and their use of representation (language), engage with the topics presented over the course of the semester.
These topics have been broken down into six main areas, although through your own research many more may be uncovered. These are The Body as Absence and Presence, The Body as Text, The Body as Action and Transgression, The Body as Spiritual and Immaterial, The Body in Time, Space and Sound, and lastly, The Body as Trace.
The Body as Spiritual and Immaterial
Project 1: The Body as Spiritual and Immaterial,
The Body in Contemporary Art is an overwhelming, vast collection of ideas. It has been derived from many different opposing positions, which have developed over the centuries from many different competing branches of knowledge and institutional frameworks. To think about The Body is to also involve one’s mind, since to make art one requires a body and a consciousness to act. If we assume the ‘mind to be the seat of intellect, then the body is our interface with the world and our senses its line of communication’1. The body’s mind is also inextricably linked to such terms as subjectivity, identity or even the self, since it is these historical constructs which define our understanding of consciousness and the ways in which these institutions have shaped and influenced, who we are today.
In order to frame these vast arrays of information, an arbitrary list of parameters have been drawn up for you to research and for you to even add to in your own time, in and out of the studio. The way I have framed this semester lectures is to simply treat The Body in Contemporary Art as the over-arching term used to describe how artists and their use of representation (language), engage with the topics presented over the course of the semester.
These topics have been broken down into six main areas, although through your own research many more may be uncovered. These are The Body as Absence and Presence, The Body as Text, The Body as Action and Transgression, The Body as Spiritual and Immaterial, The Body in Time, Space and Sound, and lastly, The Body as Trace.
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