IDC 1001H / Seminar I

Fall 2012 – Tuesday/Thursday 2:30-3:45

 

Professor Bridgett Davis

Office: 7-265, Vertical Campus

Office Hours: Thursdays 11-12:30, Tuesdays 10-11 & by appointment

Phone: 646-312-3927

Email: Bridgett.Davis@baruch.cuny.edu

 

Instructional Technology Fellow: Amanda Favia

Office Hours: Tuesdays, 10:30-2:30 / 17 Lexington Ave, Weinstein Honors Lounge, Room 903

Virtual Office hours: Wednesdays 9:30-11:30pm via gChat: (amanda.favia@macaulay.cuny.edu)

 

 

THE ARTS IN NEW YORK CITY

 

This course will introduce you to the rich diversity of arts in New York City, thanks in part to the MHC Cultural Passport. During the city’s Fall ‘12 cultural season, we will attend theatre, opera, film and literary performances as well as visual arts exhibits.

 

By writing reviews and essays of these and other performances and exhibits of your own choosing, you will expand your critical thinking and critical writing skills alongside your appreciation for a wide range of artistic expression. All of your responses will be written on our class blog, http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/bdavis12/

 

This course’s theme is The Politics of Art & Authenticity.

 

For the purposes of this course, we will define authenticity as: “genuineness, a real and true quality.”

 

How does an artist construct an authentic self?  What’s the political risk? How is the artist’s evolving-self reflected in the art he or she creates? Is all art political? How do we know political art when we see or hear it?

 

What’s the role of the critic in gauging art’s authenticity? And what is the role of the audience/appreciator?

 

We will discuss these questions in light of the artistic works we experience this semester. We will further discuss how multi-media art, in particular, allows an artist to explore resonant themes in his or her life. When an artist assembles a work of art by combining, for instance, video installation with dance or live music with literary readings, what is the impact? How does the juxtaposition of these separate art forms tell a cohesive, authentic narrative?

 

You will respond to the aesthetic of multi-media art in three ways: (1) By writing critical responses to the works in the form of reviews modeled on those written by arts critics; (2) by dialoging with classmates as well as yourself through classroom and blog discussions; (3) through the creation of your own piece of authentic multi-media art. You may create a film, photography, visual art, musical composition, dance, a play or literary narrative.  In creating your original work, you must combine two or more art forms. You will present your artwork to the class, and also articulate your process in the creation of it.

 

Learning Objectives:

 

1. To explore some of the city’s rich cultural offerings, and engage in informed dialogue about an artist’s work

2. To become proficient at writing arts critiques and essays, using each art form’s vocabulary

3. To explore the creative process, and how disparate elements come together to create a cohesive whole

 

Required Texts:

 

Carmen libretto, Giacomo Puccini, Opera Journey Libretto Series, Paperback, Burton D. Fisher, author (purchase online)

 

In lieu of additional required texts, you will be asked to purchase tickets to cultural events totaling $20 to $30.

 

**

 

COURSE OUTLINE:

 

COMMON EVENT: Night At The Museum: Macaulay Night At The Brooklyn Museum

 

Tuesday, 8/28:  Introduction to course & student survey; discussion of Night At                                         The Museum

                            Student surveys

                       

Thursday, 8/30: discussion of syllabus & monologues

 

Tuesday, 9/4: Monologue “Show & Tell” Presentations – 5 minutes each: Sharing an authentic moment in your own life

 

Thursday, 9/6: Monologue Presentations cont.,

 

TICKETS GO ON SALE @WWW.FILMLINC.COM  –Sunday, September 9th @ noon

 

 

Tuesday, 9/11: Amanda Favia, ITF, visits

 

Due: First post: “show & tell” — text and photos (bring laptops and images for uploading to class)

 

 

UNIT 1: FILM IN THE CITY: INDEPENDENT SPIRIT

 

Thursday, 9/13: Screening of MORE discussion of short film as a genre

 

Tuesday, 9/18: NO CLASS

 

Thursday, 9/20: The “auteur” theory: in-class screening of WASP

 

Due: Blog response to director’s auteur aesthetic

 

Tuesday, 9/25: NO CLASS

 

Thursday, 9/27: Discuss indie film & group project / choose groups

 

NYFF BEGINS:  9/28 – 10/14

 

Tuesday, 10/2: Amanda visits, discuss tech options for presentations

 

Thursday, 10/4: GUEST SPEAKER: Jody Sperling, Time Lapse Dance Company, 17 Lexington Ave., 14th floor, room 1404

 

Tuesday, 10/9: CLASS ATTENDS DOC FILM SCREENING DURING CLASSTIME: (TBD)

 

Thursday, 10/11: Discuss film & film critiques

 

OCTOBER 11TH — SNAPSHOT DAY

 

**FRIDAY, Oct. 12TH: NYFF Screening of BWAKAW @  LINCOLN CENTER, ELINOR BUNIN MUNROE FILM CENTER, 144 W. 65TH STREET

 

**Some students will attend the 10/10 or 10/7 screenings.

 

*Tuesday, 10/16:  Discuss Bwakaw

 

Due 10/16:  5 Group presentations on contemporary independent filmmakers — each an auteur known for his or her authentic aesthetic:

 

 

Wes Anderson

Spike Jonze

Sophia Coppola

Jim Jarmusch

Spike Lee

*You may use Power Point, illustrations, still photography, video, iMovie, or other forms of visual storytelling for all group presentations

 

Due 10/17: FILM CRITIQUE

 

UNIT 2: OPERA IN THE CITY: THE METROPOLITAN OPERA

 

Thursday, 10/18:  In-class reading of Libretto

 

10/18: MHC OPERA EVENING, METROPOLITAN OPERA, CARMEN @ LINCOLN CENTER, 7:30 PM

 

DUE10/19: Blog response: YOUR EXPERIENCE AT THE OPERA (upload photos!)

           

Tuesday, 10/23: Discuss opera; discuss Vaz’ excerpt & C/C paper

 

10/23: A Reading and Conversation with the Fall 2011 Harman Writer-in-Residence, Katherine Vaz, Baruch, Newman Vertical Campus Building, 14th Floor, Room 220. Reception @ 5; Reading @ 5:45

 

DUE 10/24:  blog response to Vaz

 

UNIT 3: THEATER IN THE CITY: OFF-BROADWAY

 

 

Thursday, 10/25:  Discussion of off-Broadway theater vs. Broadway

 

**10/25: House/Divided, BAM Harvey Theater, Next Wave Festival, 651 Fulton Street, Brooklyn (Q&A follows)

 

DUE 10/27:  blog response to House/Divided

 

Tuesday, 10/30: Discuss House/Divided & Wild With Happy

 

 10/30: Wild With Happy, World Premiere, The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street

 

Thursday, 11/1  — Discuss Wild With Happy, discuss group project, groups meet

 

Due: 11/1: blog response to WWH

 

**Tuesday, 11/6  — GUEST SPEAKER: Max Flatow, photographer, 17 Lexington Ave., 14th floor, room 1404

 

**NOV. 6, 2012: ELECTION DAY — VOTE!!!

 

Thursday, 11/8 –groups meet

 

Tuesday, 11/13: Due: Group Presentations on theater production

 

 

UNIT 4: VISUAL ART & DANCE

 

 

Thursday, 11/15: Class visit to MOMA to view Edvard Munch’s 1895 version of “THE SCREAM” & New Photography 2012 Exhibit

 

11/15: The Barnard Fall Project  — New York Live Arts, Bessie Schonberg Theater, 219 W. 19th Street, Chelsea  — 7:30 p.m.

 

Tuesday, 11/20: Discuss final projects — former students’ projects viewed

 

Thursday, 11/22: Thanksgiving, no class

 

DUE 11/25: Final project proposals 

 

Tuesday, 11/27: Screening of more former students’ projects; student evaluations; proposals returned

 

Thursday, 11/29: Amanda visits: iMovie tutorial

Tuesday 12/4:  Final multi-media art presentations

 

Thursday 12/6: final multi-media art presentations

 

Tuesday, 12/11: Final class discussion/course critique

 

Due 12/11: Online Cultural Passport Journals (two of your choosing)

 

**

 

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

 

• Attendance is mandatory. Repeated, unexcused absences will lower your grade, as will repeated tardiness
• Late posts are marked down 1/2 grade for every day they are late.
•  

      Required Assignments/Final Grade Percentages:

 

      1)  BLOGGING RESPONSES — You are to respond in blog posts to events

and screenings and presentations experienced throughout the semester,

and provide at least  TWO COMMENTS per assignment to classmates’

posts. — 10%

 

2) CULTURAL PASSPORT BLOGGING– You are required to visit TWO of

the city’s cultural selections, of your choosing, preferably using your cultural

passport -dance, photography, music, literary readings, gallery visits, etc.

You must provide a blog post on each — an informed, comprehensive

response to the experience.  — 10%

 

Provide an image, title and link with your posts. Provide a photo credit.

 

Oral Presentations – There are 2 group presentations; every member of the group receives the same grade  – 20%

1)    Reviews/Essays – There are TWO required, all written online as blog posts. Grammar, spelling must be without error; each essay requires images, title and links – 40%

2)    class participation & homework – 10%

3)    Final, Multi-Media Presentation –5- 7 minutes  — 10%

 

Academic Honesty:

 

Cheating and plagiarism are serious offenses.  The following definitions are based on the College’s Academic Honesty website:

 

Cheating is the attempted or unauthorized use of materials, information, notes, study aids, devices or communication during an academic exercise. Examples include but are not limited to:

• Copying from another student during an examination or allowing another
•  to copy your work
• Unauthorized collaborating on a take home assignment or examination
• Using unauthorized notes during a closed book examination
• Using unauthorized electronic devices during an examination
• Taking an examination for another student
• Asking or allowing another student to take an examination for you
• Changing a corrected exam and returning it for more credit
• Submitting substantial portions of the same paper to two classes without
•  consulting the second instructor
• Preparing answers or writing notes in a blue book (exam booklet) before
•  an examination
• Allowing others to research and write assigned papers including the use of
•  commercial term paper services

Plagiarism is the act of presenting another person’s ideas, research or writing as your own, such as:

• Copying another person’s actual words without the use of quotation marks and footnotes (a functional limit is four or more words taken from the work of another)
• Presenting another person’s ideas or theories in your own words without acknowledging them
• Using information that is not considered common knowledge without acknowledging the source
• Failure to acknowledge collaborators on homework and laboratory assignment

My policy is to give a failing grade to any assignment that has been plagiarized. In addition, I am required by College policy to submit a report of suspected academic dishonesty to the Office of the Dean of Students. This report becomes part of your permanent file.

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