Reading - Art Which Can't be Art, Allan Kaprow
Think about the essay and be prepared to blog a brief summary and response in the lab on Tuesday September 4.
Also on Tuesday September 4 bring in a digital photo of yourself. You'll be cropping out your face in Photoshop, adding some effects, saving for the web and uploading to your blog.
To be assigned to students in alphabetical order:
1. HAANS HAACKE - Bethany Balmet
2. FUTURE FARMERS - Angelica Bernabe
3. THE YES MEN - Andrew Bramer
4. ART AND LANGUAGE - Kristen Bussell
5. BANSKY - Robert Carter
6. DANIEL BUREN - Eric Caselton
7. ANDREA FRASER - Chris DeBose
8. IRIS HAUSSLER - Alexander Kent
9. GABRIEL OROZCO - Crystal Mosqueda / Peter Macapugay(?)
10. ANA MENDIETA - Taryn McCabe
11. ADRIAN PIPER - Elyjah Mercurio
12. TRACEY EMIN - Monika Chan
13. NAM JUNE PAIK - Peter Macapugay(?)
14. STELARC - Francisco Nakasone
15. CHRISTO AND JEANNE CLAUDE - Suzanne Nguyen
16. MARK AMERIKA - Jason Patten
17. ANT FARM - Roxana Chacon
18. GEORGE LEGRADY - Kati Prescott
19. DAMIAN HIRST - Nicolaus Seppi
20. SURVEILLANCE CAMERA PLAYERS - Arash Sheikholeslami
21. FELIX GONZALEZ-TORRES - Maya Suzuki
22. ROY ASCOTT - Ryan Wong
23. MATTHEW BARNEY - pending
24. FRED WILSON - pending
PowerPoint presentations to be completed in class on 9/25 (half class), 10/2, and 10/9. Present in class on 10/11 and 10/16.
The purpose of this assignment is the further investigation of art and life, the use of mapping as a conceptual strategy, the further development of skills in digital photography and Photoshop, and the use of Google Earth and Panoramio as artististic tools.
Read Guy Debord's "Theory of the Derive".
Go on a "derive" (drift) following the outline given in Debords essay. Record your route either on a map or in writing. Take at least 10 photographs which capture the essence of your experience - ideally these will be photos of things you would not normally notice or new perspectives on the ordinary. Record the locations where you took the photos on a map. The derive should take at least an hour. Try to pay attention to the "psychogeographic" influences referenced by Debord. As emphasised by Debord the derive should NOT be part of your normal daily activity.
In class on Tuesday, 11/9 we will do basic editing on the photos in Photoshop, then use Panoramio to post the images to Google Earth at the location they were taken. We will mark the route of the derive using tools in Google Earth.
Blog instructions for an art idea
that another class member could
complete in one hour maximum.
Think about Yoko Ono's instructions - some are metaphorical, some are thought experiments, and some involve some physical objects.
The instructions will later be allocated randomly for implementation. So you could possibly end up with your own idea!
Here's an example off the top of my head: "Eye piece: close your eyes. Press on the eyeballs with thumb and forefinger of one hand. Wait 5 minutes then with your eyes still closed draw what you see with the other hand."
Read selections from The Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological Anarchy, Poetic Terrorism by Hakim Bey:
The Psychotopology of Everyday Life
Blog an idea for an act of Poetic Terrorism or Art Sabotage, or an idea for establishing a Pirate Utopia or a Temporary Autonomous Zone..
1. Photos
Create an account in Panoramio. Upload and map your photographs following the onscreen instructions. When done, click "show photograph in Google Earth". Panoramio creates a .kml file that is sent to Google Earth. The file, named with your Panoramio username, will appear under "Temporary Places" in Google Earth.
2. Path
In Google Earth click on: 
A window will open. Enter a title for the path. DO NOT CLOSE THE WINDOW. Click around your route until done. You can change the look of the path in the option tabs in the path window. The path .kml file will appear in the "Temporary Places". The path will have the same name as the one you entered in the path window.
3. Final .kml File
You now have two .kml files: one for the photos and one for the path. We want to combine them. Option click (Mac) or right click (Windows) on the path name in Google Earth. Select "save as" and save as my_name.kml (my_name is your choice) file. Open the file in TextEdit (Mac) or Notepad (Windows). Do the same with the photos .kml file and open it in TextEdit (or Notepad). The photos.kml file looks like this: Download file
Repeat this procedure with your path file, which should look something like this: Download file. The numbers are the coordinates of the path turning points. We now need to paste in the Network code so that the photos will show up with the path. Paste everything between
This presentation accounts for 20% of the final grade. The following will be considered in approximately equal weight for grading the presentation:
- Research
- Visual interest and relevance of the Power Point slides and effects (if any)
- The student's performance of the presentation
During discussions in class today, several people asked about content for the presentation. Here are a few guidelines. They're not rigid rules. You can potentially do a very good presentation by completely ignoring them - just some things to think about.
- The main thing to get across is the concept(s) behind the artist's work. How does does this concept relate to the classic ideas of conceptual art developed by Sol Lewitt and others? What are they saying? or trying to say? or are they just in it for fame and fortune (unlikely)? A presentation along the lines of: they did this artwork then they did this artwork, then this one, and oh there was this one, kind of thing isn't going to get rapturous applause (or a very high grade).
- Use various types of visual imagery - not just pictures of the artist's work. For example pictures of the artist, where they work(ed), contemporaries, etc. You can also show video clips in PowerPoint (but, remember you only have 20 seconds per slide).
- Your presentation is likely to be richer if you've conducted research in the library in addition to Google. Google doesn't have access to all information sources (yet). The size and quality of images on the web can be poor. Scanning from publications such as exhibition catalogs may be required. You could also try the Art Department slide library which may have access to good quality scans. It will be obvious if you've relied on low quality images from the web.
- What was happening in the wider culture when the work was made? And how does their work relate to this? For example, much work in the 60's was influenced by the Vietnam War, civil rights issues, etc. Contemporary artists of today might be influenced by the Iraq War, Globalization, the Environment, etc.
- Beware of arbitrary transitions between slides. Ask yourself why you chose that transition and not another one. How does the transition reinforce what you (or the artist) is trying to say. And that goes for backgrounds too. Why are you using that standard rainbow colored PowerPoint background? Why not use white? Or, what about using faint images of the artist or their work slide backgrounds?
- You will need to practice your Pecha Kucha before presenting it in class.. It is unlikely you will do a good presentation unless you've practiced it several times. Remember 20 slides, 20 seconds per slide and that's it. Check out examples of Pecha Kucha on YouTube, or other sources. I also showed you some sites with tips on Pecha Kucha.
- What do you personally think of the artist's work? Have you gained anything from studying them? Ultimately, this class is all about your personal development as an artist (or non-artist).
That's probably enough to think about for now....
Read Mark Dery's essay on Culture Jamming
http://www.markdery.com/archives/books/culture_jamming/#000005#more
Blog an example of culture jamming.
We will discuss in class on Thursday
Read Chapter 7 of Ways of Seeing by John Berger. Download reading
Blog one thing you agreed with and one thing you disagreed with.
We will discuss in class on Thursday, November 1, but you must have blogged on Wednesday.
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