The Course

The Constructed Moment

Texts:
Visual Culture Reader, Ed. Nicholas Mirzoeff
Aesthetic Theory, Theodor Adorno

Class 1 - Saturday, September 29, 2007

Everyone introduces his/her work I(10-15 min. presentations)
Discussion and slideshow: construction as a topic and ideal in art and photography.

Assignments for Class 2:

Introduction to http://constructedmoment.blogspot.com
I will email everybody invitations to sign up. Sign up to be a participant. Suggested ways to participate: Post three of your works. Post a piece of writing relevant to a facet of your artwork (by someone else) or an artist’s work that has influenced you. (Commenting on the works posted by others is encouraged.)

Exercise in Mapping: Map yourself as an artist. Do this in any form that you want. Think about external nonacademic formats: obviously photography seems relevant here, also websites, sculptures, and word-webs are examples of how to structure this map. Think about doing it in a way that directly reflects you (or who you want to be), what you do, or what you like. This is a way to visualize the evolution of your work. This exercise can also be used as a way to BRAND YOURSELF. Present these in the next class.

Readings: “The Decisive Moment,” by Henri Cartier-Bresson.
“Visual Stories,” by Anne Reynolds - The Visual Culture Reader
“On Collecting Art and Culture,” by James Clifford -The Visual Culture Reader
All texts will be posted to the blog. Feel free to post comments.


Class 2 – Saturday, October 13, 2007
Part 1 (2:00 – 3:20PM):
Discuss mapping exercise and readings.

Part 2 (3:35 – 5:00PM):
View the video work of Larissa Sansour and The G77. (Subject to change)
Open discussion with Larissa Sansour, The G77, and Juan Puntes on the topic of construction within artistic interventions and art that deals with the political.



Assignments for Class 3:

Map out your idea for your final project.

Readings: “The Mobilized and Virtual Gaze in Modernity,” by Anne Friedberg – The Visual Culture Reader
“Spectres of Cyberspace,” by Geoffrey Batchen – The Visual Culture Reader


Class 3 – Saturday, October 27. 2007
Part 1 (2:00 – 3:20PM):
We will discuss the final projects and the stages of classmembers’ progress. Participants will present their work in progress.

Part 2 (3:35 – 5:00PM):
Talk about space and architecture, construction and branding with Lance Boge, Shane Brenan and Sarah Wilmer. (Subject to change)
Open discussion on the topics of Construction, Installation, and Space in Art with Lance Boge.

Class 4 – Saturday, November 10, 2007
View and critique final projects

End of Semester Assignment:

Create an immersive space for your work to be shown. Whatever work that you decide to create for this course, be it performance, video, photography installation, intervention, web-based work, or other, the space is extremely important to the perception and viewing of the work. Take chances. In the final class, we will visit and critique each artist’s created space. Consider the architecture, its transformative elements and history, whether the space is public or private, whether it is created by you, whether it is virtual or other architectural attributes. We will discuss recording these projects for the web.


Biographies of outside participants:

Class 2:
Larissa Sansour was born in Jerusalem in 1973, of a Russian mother and a Palestinian father. She lived in Beit Jala for 15 years before the events of the first Intifada forced her to continue her studies in London, England. She attended two art colleges in London and went on to complete her BFA at the Maryland Institute College of Art in America. In 2000, she received an MA in Art from New York University.
Her art (mainly video art) is greatly influenced by the Palestinian situation. In her work, she aims “to set the viewer off balance, breaking stereotypes of ethnicity as well as clichés in the framework of art display”. Her 2007 exhibitions include “In Focus,” Tate Modern, London; “The Dairy,” Center for the Arts, Boulder, CO; “://selfprortrait” a - show for Bethlehem; Macro - Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Rosario, Rosario; “Paranoia,” Freud Museum, London.

Juan Puntes is the director of White Box, a non-profit organization located in the heart of the Chelsea art district in New York. White Box's mission is to show diverse contemporary art in the context of socially relevant issues and to present images and ideas that matter to large audiences. By linking contemporary art with current aesthetic and ethical issues, White Box is also able to provide innovative educational programs for students and adults, including seminars, lectures, readings, performances, and film and video screenings. By presenting truly critical art, White Box acts counter to the surrounding highly commercial environment and seeks to advance creative difference.

The G-77 began in 2003 when a group of visual artists (and contributors including geographers, biologists, writers, musicians, architects, and critical thinkers) convened In New York City to discuss current trends in cultural expression. As a result, this primarily anonymous group chose Aboveground Representatives to be their public voice. The G-77 is committed to seeking out alternative ways of gaining, absorbing, and disseminating concrete and poetic information and to act as a model for society at large.

Class 3:

Lance Boge. As design director for Gensler's retail studio in New York, Lance Boge creates branded environments, specializing in retail and prototype design for leading international retailers, financial companies, and banking organizations. Boge joined Gensler in 2000 with 16 years of previous professional experience. Throughout his career, Boge has worked with creative leaders in fields such as fashion, art, and advertising, creating spatial solutions appropriate to their varied demands. Boge has been a design critic at Yale University, Parsons School of Design, Harvard University, and Columbia University; he has taught at both Yale and Parsons. He earned a bachelor of arts from Boston University and a masters in architecture from Yale University.

Shane Brennan. Shane received a Bachelor of Arts degree in art, critical theory, and media studies from Brown University in 2007. He has worked and interned at a variety of art organizations, including Creative Time and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Shane is currently living in New York City, where he continues to pursue art, writing, and curating.

Sarah Wilmer. I am an image-maker and a storyteller. My process is intuitive and my pictures come from a very personal place. Space, time, mood, isolation and fantasy are common threads in my work. Together they tell narratives of quiet and mystery unified by shadow.