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FIELD TRIP to Chelsea art galleries
(Friday Sept. 11 — see news)
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First group project: VISUAL ARTS — CONTEXT
DUE DATE:
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Working in small groups, students will choose a museum or similar cultural institution to visit, and will give a short report in class on the nature and purposes of the institution (further details of assignment will be distributed). Each group will present for approximately 15 minutes. Presentations should include a multi-media component. Written submission required after the presentation, on the class website.
20% of grade (all members of a group receive the same grade for the total project)
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SUGGESTED INSTITUTIONS
(other choices are possible, subject to instructor approval):
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Manhattan:
Whitney Museum of American Art
Grey Art Gallery, New York University (Washington Square)
Queens:
Queens Museum of Art (Flushing Meadow Park)
Museum of the Moving Image (Astoria)
P.S. 1 (Long Island City)
Isamu Noguchi Museum (Long Island City)
Brooklyn:
Long Island Historical Society
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WHAT TO THINK ABOUT AND INCLUDE IN YOUR PROJECT
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This project has several goals. Your presentation will be evaluated for how well it achieves these objectives:
1. Ability to describe the purposes, activities, and physical environment of a cultural institution clearly and concisely, and to demonstrate understanding of relevant terms and concepts in the visual arts.
Example: “The Wombat Museum in Dingadong, Australia is a large, imposing, modern-style building dedicated to presenting information and images about the Australian wombat, an endangered species, in order to raise public awareness about them and thus promote conservation.”
2. Understanding of the nature and function of patronage and audience, and their effect on the kinds of materials exhibited and the ways that material is presented.
“The Wombat Museum is funded by the state government of Tasmania, where most remaining wombats live, in order to preserve tourism. Visitors are mostly lay tourists from around the country, not professional zoologists, and exhibits concentrate less on complex scientific data than on photos of cute baby animals that appeal to pet lovers and motivate them to make donations.”
3. Developing an awareness of the visual, social, and intellectual experience of visiting an arts venue, and an ability to describe your individual experience in relation to more general goals and issues of that institution.
“Although the Museum’s goals are admirable, the displays were too popular and simplified, and didn’t provide enough real information for me to fully understand the animals’ problems.”
4. The quality of your actual presentation: Clarity, accuracy, and economy of writing and speaking. Ability to combine abstract generalizations with revealing anecdotes and personal observations.
“I sympathize with the Museum’s goals because they are related to wide issues of broad socal concern such as climate change and declining natural habitat, but when one of these sweet, furry creatures licked my hand, I was surprised to discover that these victims of impersonal global forces are also cuddly and likeable, which makes them more than a scientific problem.”
