Making Meaning:
Understanding and Practicing Contemporary Media Art
Semester Overview
Generally, Mondays are devoted to lectures and discussions, while Wednesdays are spent in technical instruction and in-class work. Each class meeting is two hours long, so the topics indicated for a particular meeting will be covered for two hours of combined lecture/discussion (Monday topics) or demonstration/hands-on work (Wednesday topics). By reading primary and secondary sources and viewing and discussing a wide range of artworks, we will explore three broad themes: But Is It Art? Art and Its Audiences, The DJ in the Museum: Collage, Bricolage, and Appropriation, and Everybody’s An Artist: Art In/As Life.
As part of this final theme, the class will collaboratively develop a proposal for a public art project by Alison Smith at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Work on this project will be interspersed throughout the semester, and if our proposal is accepted, we will travel to Indianapolis for the weekend of April 28 to participate in the public performance of On Procession. In this event, we will need to schedule out-of-class workdays to get our submission ready, and additional readings will be assigned.
Planned Schedule
Subject to change; students responsible for summaries of the readings are indicated in parentheses.
Week One: January 14-18
Monday: Course Introduction
Wiki, del.icio.us, paperwork, professor’s introduction
Wednesday: Discussion and Brainstorming for “On Procession”
Reading Due: Cotter (Jessica)
Bishop “Viewers as Producers” (Lauren)
Unit One: But Is It Art? Art and Its Audiences
Week Two: January 21-25
Monday: Martin Luther King Day
Wednesday: Art and Audience
Reading Due: Weintraub (Phillip)
“When I Say Art You Say” video project assigned
Introduction to the video camera and shooting
Week Three: January 28-February 1
Monday: The Imagined Artist
Reading Due: Temporary Services (Jessica)
Plato (Lauren)
Wednesday: Capturing and editing video
Week Four: February 4-8
Monday: Art, Audience and Society
Reading Due: Hawkins (Phillip)
Sholette, “Some Call It Art” (Jessica)
Wednesday: CLASS CANCELLED DUE TO ILLNESS
Week Five: February 11-15
Monday: Art and Politics
Reading Due: Artforum (Phillip)
Thompson (Lauren)
Discuss plans for "On Procession"
Fixing and mixing audio
Wednesday: Finalize "When I Say Art;" authoring a DVD
The DJ in the Museum: Collage, Bricolage, and Appropriation
Week Six: February 18-22
Monday: Image and Ideology
Critique of “When I Say Art You Say”
Paper
assigned
Reading Due: Sturken and Cartwright (Sean)
Wednesday: View & discuss “Representation and the Media” (video); further discussion for “On Procession”
Week Seven: February 25-29
Monday: Jamming Culture
Reading Due: Dery (Phillip)
“Revenge of the PopCult” photo collage assigned
“On Procession” concept finalized
Wednesday: Photoshop I Demo/Workshop with Antonio Martinez (Professor Kanouse absent)
Week Eight: March 3-7 - Midterm meetings this week
Monday: Soraya Murray Presentation, RM 1032
Following Dr. Murray's presentation, students will work on proposal for "On Procession;" turn in work-in-progress on server
Wednesday: Photoshop II Demo
Workshopping for Project II ideas
Suggested revisions to proposal given out; final proposal due Friday
Spring Break: March 10-14
Week Nine: March 17-21
Monday: Remixing Culture
View Film: Sonic Outlaws
In-class writing exercise: write a response to the film based on questions provided
Wednesday: Critique of “Revenge of the PopCult”
Week Ten: March 24-28
Monday: Paper Presentations
Project Two evaluations returned
Wednesday: Report back on tasks for "On Procession"
Sean: work on timeline of speech repression; sourcing materials; presentation on Net Neutrality
Becky: work on timeline of speech repression; presentation on Net Neutrality
Phillip: sketches for how to build the ethernet "tail"
Lauren: ___________________
Sarah: fundraising, lodging, logistics
Everybody’s An Artist: Art In/As Life
Week Eleven: March 31-April 4
Monday: Happenings, Fluxus, and Social Sculpture
Reading Due: Kaprow “Happenings” (Becky)
Beuys (Lauren)
Professor Kanouse is a visiting artist at University of Wisconsin Madison
Wednesday: Experiments in gestural art—various locations on campus (Courtney Davids, substitute teacher)
Week Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen
Monday: Build "On Procession" project
Wednesday: Build "On Procession" project
Friday: Build "On Procession" project
April 25-27
Present project in "On Procession Street Spectacular" in Indianapolis, IN
Week Fifteen: April 28-May 2
Monday: Meet at Longbranch Coffee House to debrief after parade
Friday: Self-evaluations due