Category: ASSIGNMENTS (Page 1 of 2)

Your final is available here: Arts in NYC 2019 final exam

We will begin our 12/3 class with STEAM presentations.

This is your chance to turn your proposals into dialogue with an audience. Your presentation should cover:

• The concept or idea motivating the project
• The materials and methods of making the artwork, and the relationship of those materials/methods to the motivating concept
• What you hope the audience will engage with, ask about, and take away. (NOTE: since you have your first audience on hand, you might in fact ask for their reactions. Q&A is a totally acceptable presentation tactic!)
• Anything else of interest: problems you’ve encountered and solved; the narrative of the project’s evolution; a plan of the work left to do; influences/artworks you’ve seen (or criticism you’ve read) that inspired you

You must have some part of your project–an object, a recording, a set of sketches–completed and ready to display to the class.

Everyone in your group should contribute, out loud, during the presentation. 

Presentations will take up 30-45 minutes. Therefore, every group should bring something STEAM-related to work on for the remainder of class. If you plan to work outside the classroom, please tell me where, for how long, and why an alternate space works better for you.

Whereas your initial proposal was a mixture of laying out ideas and–perhaps especially–thinking through the project’s logistical and material needs. In this moment–before most of you have started actively creating, but after you’ve had two weeks to think, talk, and rethink–you are poised to write a proposal emphasizing the project’s conceptual dimension. 

By Sunday at 9 pm, write and post a proposal of 3-4 paragraphs (~750-900 words). The proposal should give your project a title. Beyond that, it should lay out  (1) your project’s central concept(s)–partly captured in the title!–(2) the relationship of its proposed material form to those concepts, (3) how you hope to communicate those ideas to your audience (without, of course, coming out and saying them!), and (4) what you hope viewers/readers/spectators will take away from their encounter with your work of art. Include an image in your post: it can be of your group at work; of your materials; or of something in the world–another work of art, perhaps–that inspires or influences your project.

Questions to spark thoughts as you draft/redraft/write:

-What is our project’s central concept, its driving idea? Is it an idea about New York–a thesis or claim about the city itself? Is it an idea about the world–about something that needs changing or fixing or simply more attention? Is the idea a question? Or a thesis, a claim? Is it a message for the viewer?

-How does the material form of the project communicate its concept? How does the object we’re creating embody a concept of the city, or expose a problem, or —? (Most of your projects contain myriad elements. Ask yourself: how do the pieces, together, create a coherent whole? And at the same time, how does the irreducibly multiple nature of this project form a crucial part of its form, and its message?

-How will viewers interact with the object? What do you expect them to notice first? How do you expect a prolonged encounter between a viewer and the artwork to develop–what will they interact with, wonder about, tinker with, be delighted or shocked or intrigued by? What affective (emotional) response do you hope to provoke in the viewer? What cognitive response? What do you hope lingers in the viewer’s eyes, or mind, after they have moved on–what do you want them to take away?

NOTE: Do not write a bullet-pointed, blow-by-blow response to these questions. Rather, write an internally coherent standalone statement. To do this, you’ll need to pick which questions (and which answers) are most important and relevant for your project, and carefully choose the order in which to discuss them. All proposals should convey a strong sense of the driving concept, the material form’s relationship to that concept, and audience interactions; beyond that, it’s up to you. 

NOTE 2: All group members should contribute. Divide the labor, and work together (Google docs is a great way to do this collaboratively). Ultimately, the proposal will be written in your collective voice–that is, in the first person plural (ie, “With our project, ‘Whitman 2019,’ we hope to foster attention to the city’s transit hubs as spaces of connection. Combining poetry and photography, we imagine Walt Whitman traveling in time to today’s New York, and writing about–and documenting–his experiences in ferry terminals, subway stations, and busy footpaths. Inspired by ‘Crossing Brooklyn Ferry,’  our goal in this work is not simply to _____, but also to _______.”)

We are now over halfway through the semester—which means it’s time to start thinking about final projects. For your final projects, you will make a work of art. You have a lot of freedom, here, but here are the mandatory elements to consider before jumping in:

• You will be working with a group of between 2 and 5 people. You may choose your own groups, but I reserve the right to do some integrating/re-shuffling. (i.e., if two small groups propose similar projects, I might ask them to work together).
• Each member of the group must have a defined role and set of tasks. You’re a unified team, but you aren’t all necessarily doing the same thing. Dividing up the labor is a huge part of the task, here.
• Your work of art must in some way be related to what we’ve read and what we’ve experienced this semester, and you should be able to articulate what that relationship is.
• Your work of art must be displayable—since it will be on display at the STEAM festival. So, if you’re, say, creating a series of lion paintings in different styles, or a model art gallery, your task is pretty easy here! But if you’re doing, instead, a handmade book of poems or a researched investigation of the economics of a particular segment of the art world (which are also totally acceptable projects), you’ll want to think about how to display your work—how to make your project visually accessible to passers-by.
• Your work of art will be the basis of your own final piece of writing for the class: a reflective essay due at the end of term.

As a reminder, here are some topics we’ve thought about this semester, and that we WILL think about

• New York City – as the subject matter of art, and as a space of displaying and consuming art
• Lions, and the representational strategies artists use in creating them
• Public art: art in places; art as space; ‘new genre’ public art
• Gallery space: white cubes (and other modes of display)
• Photography (as spectators, as practitioners)
• Walt Whitman, especially “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” 
• The material book; the book as object
• Poetry; erasure poetry
• Opera and performance
• Political art – art that seeks to change people’s minds / change the world (this unit is upcoming)

For next week’s blog post I am asking you to write up and post a preliminary proposal. Your preliminary proposal will be a relatively short (500-600 words) document consisting of:

1. The names of the group members
2. Your preliminary idea for a work of art you might create for your final project/the STEAM festival. For each one, describe:

– What you might make
– How it relates to the themes and readings of the semester
– How you imagine (at this point) displaying it at the STEAM festival

– A list of the materials you will need, and where you plan to obtain these materials

NOTE 1: This assignment is all about brainstorming. You may include several ideas, rather than committing to just one, if that’s more productive for you. But for each one, tell us what you might make, how it relates to the themes and readings of the semester, and how you imagine displaying it at the STEAM festival.

NOTE 2: You may at this stage post a proposal solo (though you are encouraged to find a group). We will work on integrating you into a group—either of other solo folk or a group that matches your interests. Groups are in part necessary because of the structure of the STEAM festival, as designed by Macaulay, but within those groups members may have very different tasks. (So, for example, if you’re continuing to explore lions in art: one of you might paint a series of lion pictures; another might write and perform music inspired by lions; a third might create a lion graffiti wall.)

Due on the blog Sunday at 9, with category Blog Post 7. Your title should contain group members’ first names plus a description (suggestive or factual, clever or straightforward) of your project idea.

For this week’s blog post, you will create an erasure poem.  You may start with any text–another poem, an official document, a page of a textbook, an article from the newspaper, a cereal box, a book jacket, a brochure from the dentist. For this assignment, use a physical, material version of the text you choose (rather than an electronic one), and do your ‘erasing’ by hand. In crafting your erasure, keep in mind that there are many techniques for blocking out words.

Your poem–the final poem–might draw out, sharpen, or clarify the meaning of the original text. Or it might ironize or complicate that meaning. It can consist of very few words, or a substantial number. There are no requirements, here, beyond perhaps the suggestion that your poem should “move in a lyrical way” (to borrow a phrase from the poet Donika Kelly).

ON THE BLOG: post a photo of the finished product and a photo of the original, unaltered text.  Let us know the name / source of the original text, if that’s not clear from the image. Don’t write anything else. Due Friday by 9 pm. 

IN THE COMMENTS: Choose an erasure poem by one of your classmates. Write a 200+ word analysis of the new poem. You should consider its sound and structure and other formal elements, its relation to the original text, and its visual appearance. Note: while praise is always welcome–poets love it–that is not the point, here. Your task is to analyze the erasure poem; to figure out how and why it works, and communicate your findings to the reader. Treat it with rigor. Due Monday by 9 pm.

This week, you will work on two creative assignments:

(1)     Instagram: Add 5-7 more images to the Instagram account. You may continue to develop the vision you discussed in your IG presentation/artists’ statement, or you mgiht consider trying something narrowly focused—a focused series on subway portraits or signage; photography dedicated to people interacting with public art, etc. Please post your images by FRIDAY at 9 pm (this is a slight change from the usual Sunday deadline!)

(2)     Blog post: Word and image.

STEP ONE: Read the Walt Whitman poems and article(s) for next week. These are posted under “Reading.”

STEP TWO: choose an image posted on the class IG after today (ie, from the second batch of pictures)—an image by one of your classmates.

STEP THREE: In the style of Walt Whitman, write a poem inspired by the image.

STEP FOUR: Post your poem + the image (or a link to it) on the blog.

This exercise is an imitation (a mimesis, though maaaaybe we’re stretching Aristotle’s original sense of things a bit here!) in two ways: you will recreate the photograph in words, in some way, and you will copy Whitman’s style of writing: his rhythms, his sentence and line structure, his manner of punctuating, his use of the first person, of nouns, etc. Attend closely to the details of how his poems are constructed, and borrow his techniques to create your own.

I am not setting a precise word count for this–make it over 200 and under 1000 (Whitman’s style, as you will see, lends itself to expansiveness!)

Due Monday at 9 pm (so that you have time to look through the IG and craft your poem)

For the next two weeks, you will be not only reading about and viewing art—you will be making it. Each of you will become an active urban street photographer. Here’s what’s involved:

1. Complete the initial readings on photography (Barthes, Bresson, Jardin). Pay particular attention to Cartier-Bresson’s theoretical definitions of a strong photograph–our class Instagram account takes its name from his writing–and to Jardin’s practical tips for taking photos in an urban environment today.
2. Start taking photos! Use your phone, or a digital camera so that your pictures can be uploaded to Instagram easily.
3. Spend a few days taking frequent photos as a way of framing your experiences of the city. Consider what subject matter you’re drawn to: are you taking portraits? Photos of people aware (or unaware) that they’re being snapped? Or are you more drawn to images of storefronts, or urban vegetation, or signage? Do you like to take pictures in the subway, or are you drawn to open-air spaces, like parks? Do your images highlight contrasts—a trash mound waiting for pickup in front of a row of upscale buildings, say—or are they suggestive of narrative scenarios: a kid’s birthday party in the park; a person feeding a duck; a group of tourists looking at public art? Do you like to be up close to your subject matter, highlighting texture, shadows, light? Or do you step back, to create a composition made up of multiple elements? NOTE: You don’t have to set out with a pre-conceived notion of what kind of photographer you are. But, as you work, notice the kinds of pictures you’re creating.
4. After a few days, choose some photographs you’d like to share with the class. Be selective—choose your best work (whatever your criteria for that might be). Post your chosen photos to the class Instagram account: www.instagram.com/nycdecisivemoment/. (The password will be emailed to you). After you have a sense of yourself as street photographer, you may start posting as soon as you know you’ve taken a great photo, or you may save up a bunch of photos in order to select the strongest ones later.
5. Make sure to include a photo credit for yourself: traditionally, a camera emoji followed by a colon and your name, or your own Instagram handle if you have one. E.g. ?: @profkolb (if you have your own Instagram and wish to share it) or ?: Prof. Kolb (if you do not). Use hashtags and tag your location, to say something clever about your picture, and to invite a wider audience. And feel free to caption or title your photo.
6. By Sunday, 10/20, you should have posted 5-7 pictures to the class Instagram. By Sunday, 10/27, you should have posted between 10 and 15, total. Remember to post to the class account, but to identify the photos as your own.
7. In class on October 24—halfway through your photo-posting process—you will give a brief oral presentation—a spoken “artist’s statement”—in which you describe your photographic practices: your subject matter, style, and methods. You will illustrate this discussion with images. You must cover the following three areas:
   1. VISION. What is your goal, as a photographer? What motivates you to take pictures? What subjects do you seek out, and what do you want your spectators to notice, or take away? Illustrate this part of your presentation with an image or two that best captures your photographic artistry.
   2. PROCESS. How do you work? Do you take hundreds of photos, and select just one? Do you crop? Use filters? Do you go on long rambling photo walks, or do you go to a specific spot to take pictures? Illustrate this part of your presentation with images that demonstrate your process–including at least one image that did not make it to the class IG page.
   3. INFLUENCES. Please discuss at least two influences: one reading (Jardin, Barthes, Cartier-Bresson) and one photographer or photograph (you will need to do some independent research for this portion). What in the reading inspired you, or challenged you? What photograph or body of work shaped the way you see–and the way you take pictures?

NOTE: Your presentation will be brief–5 minutes only! (We have to stick strictly to the time limit to make sure everyone has a chance to present). Keep your notes to about a page, and choose 4-6 photos to illustrate. Stick to the three points outlined above, and limit the number of photos you use to illustrate each. And, above all, practice your presentation–and time yourself practicing it!!

I will make sure the projector is up and running before class, but please let me know if you have any special technology needs. I recommend using PowerPoint for this assignment. You may email me your presentation in advance for easy classroom access.

For this blog post, you will record some of your reactions to reading Barthes’ text. Please post:

• One passage from Part One that you would like to talk about in depth in class, for any reason. Let us know where this appears (include the page number) and type out the passage (or, if it’s very long, include language like “the long paragraph beginning with the wrods…”). Write a few sentences about why you chose this passage: does it seem crucial to the argument? Is it confusing to you, but feels important? Or is it NOT confusing—does it help you, as a reader, understand the text more generally?
• One passage from Part Two that you would like to talk about in depth in class, for any reason. Same deal.
• One question about Camera Lucida that you think might spark a strong class discussion.
• An image—any image! This can be a photo you took at Night at the Museum, or a photograph that you think pairs well with the reading. Be creative, have fun.
• OPTIONAL: Include a map of Part Two of Camera Lucida (see Prof Kolb’s map of part one for a model)

Finally: Prior to class, please COMMENT on at least two of your classmates’ posts. Have a discussion! (Do not comment on a post that already has 3+ comments, unless you cannot find one with fewer).

Pick two (or more) galleries from your gallery crawl. If possible, these should be markedly distinct from each other. For instance, one might be a “white cube” of the kind described by O’Doherty—clean, spare, blank—whereas another might have colorful or jumbled walls. One might be dedicated to photography; the other to sculpture. One might be jam-packed with pictures; another displaying one canvas per wall. One might be large and museum-like, filled with myriad works by famous artists; the other might be an “upper-floor” gallery, showing a single artist’s work.

Once you have picked your galleries, write a 500-word (or more) reflective essay answering the following question: How does gallery space affect the viewer’s experience of individual works of art? Use specific examples from each of your chosen galleries to demonstrate your points—examples of particular works of art, and of how the space of the gallery affects these artwork’s aesthetic impact. NOTE: Always include specifics—gallery name and location; artist’s name and artwork’s title—when discussing your examples.

Include at least two photographs as illustration.

NOTE: Since you traveled in groups, it’s fine if you write on the same galleries, or even the same artworks, as your peers.