This course is designed to give you a rigorous grounding in experimental Contemporary art history and practices:
- ‘Experimental’ means we work outside of the traditional art forms of painting, sculpture, and drawing – even though you can still make art in those ways for this class.
- ‘Rigorous’ means we will look, read, think, make, and write in ways that can be challenging.
- ‘Contemporary’ means that we will deal with art and practices of this moment and the recent past.
Before we become enmeshed in the complex web of perspectives, ideas, and practices involved in Contemporary art, I want to ensure that you’re familiar with the skills required to succeed in this course. Find below:
- Links to the course syllabus and our first set of readings;
- Portfolio requirements;
- Due dates for ALL assignments to help you organize your time.
Syllabus
Visual Technology Syllabus 2018-2019
Section 1 Readings
Breton: Manifesto on Surrealism, 1924
Maciunas: Fluxus Manifesto, 1963
McLuhan: The Medium is the Message, 1964
McLuhan: The Medium is the Massage, 1967
Portfolio
Work in Visual Technology must reflect issues related to 2D design and 3D design. These works may include traditional as well as experimental approaches to 2D design and 3D design. Drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, collage, artists’ books and ‘zines, mixed media, installation, video and film, and performance art are all appropriate means for expressing design principles.
Visual Technology Portfolio 3D: minimum 18 works of art
Visual Technology Portfolio 2D: minimum 24 works of art
See the syllabus for specific details.
Assignments and Due Dates
Six (6) Formal Meetings with Instructor, three (3) each semester
Intermittent Peer Check-Ins on Tuesdays or Thursdays
Bi-Weekly (every two weeks) Check of Thrice-Weekly (three each week) Visual Journal Assignments for the duration of the course
2018
Section 1
Week 2 — Readymade
Week 3 — Five Easy Pieces: Chance, A Proposition
Week 4 — Concentration Conference 1
Week 5 — Collage/borate by Mail
Week 7 — Dream Sequence (Series Based on 5 Dreams)
Week 8 — Concentration Conference 2
Week 9 — A Set of Limitations: Five Conceptual Pieces
On-Going — Assigned Paired Dada and Fluxus Artist Presentations
Section 2
Week 10 — Ritual for Performance Art
Week 11 — The Gaze or Recipe for…
Week 12 — Finalized Concentration Conference 3
Week 13 — What’s Happening? or You Complete Me
Week 15 — All the World’s a… or How Am I Not Myself?
On-Going — “The Case For…” Group Presentations on Terms
Section 3
Week 18 — Identify 10 Potential Portfolio Pieces
Week 18 — Golden (Silent, Black and White Video) or Tear Down That Wall! (Break the 4th Wall)
2019
Section 4
Week 19 — Concentration Conference 4
Week 20 — Finders Keepers (Found, Manipulated Video) or Look, Ma; No Hands! (Lens-Free or Animated Video)
Week 22 — I Want My MTV (Music Video) or Variations (Series of Five Original Videos)
Week 22 — Identify 15 Potential Portfolio Pieces
Section 5
Week 24 — Il Était Une Fois (A Collection of Fairytales or Myths) or DIY (‘Zine series)
Week 25 — Concentration Conference 5
Week 25 — Identify ALL Portfolio Pieces
Week 26 — Common Sense (Take on Paine’s Pamphlet) or Propo-sals (A Series of Posters)
Week 28 — POV (Photobook) or AP: Artist’s Proof (Artist’s Book)
Week 30 — Final Conference
04/15: Final Portfolio Due
04/29 – 05/10: Portfolio Presentations and Oral Defense