Please pay special attention to the schedule below, and be sure to manage your time well: you will need to allow time to read and prepare for the next class, and you must block off the time needed on our travel days. Your weekly schedule will be posted to this page every Thursday, please be sure to bookmark this page and return to it regularly – at the minimum every Thursday.
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DATE | LOCATION/DETAILS | TEXTSTexts below are listed on dates that they will be discussed/used in class. They will be assigned as homework readings for the day before. so that you will be fully prepared. | ASSIGNMENTS & ACTIVITIES |
WEEK 1 - What is Art? What is a Museum? | This week we will explore some of the basic ideas related to art and the sites that we commonly expect to see it: museums. We will go into some depth through reading, discussion and writing. | ||
| Monday Jan 7th - 12-2:35pm | On-campus; What is Art? (part 1) | Jonathan Harris "Art History - The Key Concepts" - This book is on Moodle as a downloadable pdf file. You will read some foundational documents related to the lecture planned for today. Immanuel Kant: On Disinterestedness and Beauty; Dave Hickey: On the Vernacular of Beauty; Mark Cousins: The Ugly; Marylin Minter exhibition review; Dave Beech: Uglyness | We will use this day to lay a foundation of recent western art history (from realism through to contemporary art). This will help you with all subsequent assignments and activities. Your homework today will extend the knowledge gained, and introduce some complexity to inherited opinions about art's basic precepts. |
| Tuesday Jan 8th - 12-2:35pm | On-campus; What is Art? (part 2) | You will read documents related to the construction of the institution of the museum; In preparation for the next phase of this week, you will begin reading exhibition press releases, and completing assigned work related to them. | We will discuss the assigned readings and begin to appreciate the wider context of art today - among its institutions. This will help with the next section, and with your subsequent museum visits. |
| Wednesday Jan 9th - 12-2:35pm | On-campus - What is a Museum? (part1) Visit to Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art (12:15pm) | Dennett "The Birth of the Museum" - This book is on Moodle as a downloadable pdf file. This text goes into greater detail and provides a good theoretical grounding. | We will discuss assigned readings, and begin to deconstruct the institution of the museum in order to better understand it. |
| Thursday Jan 10th - 12:00-2:35pm | On-campus; What is a Museum? (part 2) Class Visit - Praba Pilar | Please review the following materials before this class visit: 1. Enigma Symbiotica -read and annotate this short Scholar & Feminist Online article (watching video is optional); 2. Cult of the Techno-Logic read this short document, again watching the video is optional. Texts assigned today include Brian O’Doherty: The ideology of the White Cube, Introduction and Part I: Notes of the Gallery Space, in addition to various press materials. | On this last day of the first week, we will continue to discuss the institution of museums, in preparation for the subject area of week 2 and the museum visit on Jan 19th. Praba Pilar will talk about her artwork, what her areas of interest are, and why the materials she chooses are important. You will be introduced to the thought process and working methods of contemporary artists. Your homework will prepare you as you begin to learn about the critique in art, and the critique of institutions by artists. |
WEEK 2 - Critiquing Art/Critiquing society/Critiquing the Museum | In this second week, we will push the theoretical side of art further. This inevitably will bring us initially to the critique whit art, and eventually to the critique artists have brought to the institutions of art. You will continue to work with the various forms of press related to art exhibitions, following instructions. |
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| Monday Jan14th - 12:00-2:35pm | On-campus | Dave Beech: On Critique; Paul Carey Kent: Getting Art; Hans Haacke: The Constituency and The Agent; Andrea Fraser: From the Critique of Institutions to the Institution of Critique | Readings discussed today will include: two short articles on the process of and application of critique in art and documents written by Hans Haacke and Andrea Fraser, both artists whose work is directly aimed at institutional critique. |
| Tuesday Jan 15th | Off-campus: - extended hours (5+ hours including travel time) Tody we will visit SFMoMA | Brian O’Doherty: The ideology of the White Cube, Part II: The Eye and the Spectator and Part III: Content as Context and Afterword. | Texts assigned for today are selected specifically to help maximize the pedagogical value of your trip to SFMoMA. While at SFMoMA, you will be directed to complete specific assignments. These will be explained in due time. |
| Thursday Jan 17th - 12:00-2:35pm | On-campus | Readings covering the tension between artists and curators, along with artist’s writing will be discussed. Anton Vidokle: Art without Market, Art without Education: Political Economy of Ar tand Art without Artists and Responses to Art without Artists; | Given that you have all now visited one museum on campus, and another in San Francisco, the ideas within the documents assigned today will bring clarity to many of the complexities that surround art - an area where theory and practice diverge, yet contradictorily are co-dependent. |
WEEK 3 - Museum Programming: Extending Art, Embracing Pedagogy | The third week takes us toward the aspects of museum programming that are designed to encourage patronage through a range of forms of engagement. | ||
| Monday Jan 21st - 12:00-2:35pm | MLK day - No Classes - This week's classes are shifted by one day to allow for the holiday. | ||
| Tuesday Jan 22nd | On-campus; Class Visit: Dr. Raina León | Please read the following carefully: 1. Dr. León's website to give you some background on our guest speaker; 2. Dr. León would like you to listen to this playlist while you look at these artworks in MoAd NOTE: We will give you a handout of Dr. Leon's poems on Thursday, Jan 17 - you should go through the paintings again while reading the poems. 3. Read the following blog post Ekphrasis: Poetry Confronting Art 4. Read this poem while looking at the artwork that it is related to. 5. Read this poem and then watch David Hammon’s Concerto in Black and Blue | Dr. León will be designing the activities for this day. We will provide you additional information as needed. Please see the Creative Response Assignment for this week. |
| Wednesday Jan 23rd | Off-campus - extended hours (5+ hours including travel time) | Please read through this biographical information on Tongo Eisen Martin | Be sure to take notes in your journal on 1) Tongo Eisen-Martin's talk, and 2) at least two artworks that you'd like to write a creative response to. |
| Thursday Jan 24th - 12:00-2:35pm | On-campus | Please read through the following carefully and follow instructions: Click through each page and enlarge images to see artwork by Kara Walker and read a poem by Toni Morrison 1. Please use the following links to read the attached poems. 2. Look up the paintings mentioned – how does seeing them affect your reading of the poem? 3. How does having the poem affect your interaction with the painting? (NOTW: these questions separate; one is not the inverse of the other, so write your answers with this consideration.) Why I Am Not a Painter - Frank O’Hara. For example, this is the painting references in this poem: M Goldberg “Sardines” 1955 Having a Coke with You - Frank O’Hara | DUE: Written response to texts -- What do you notice about the interaction of the artwork and the poems for this week? We will discuss these in class and read some aloud, so be ready to read at least one of them aloud and share your thoughts. We will also be reading drafts of your creative work based on an artwork at the MoAD. DUE: Journal |