COURSE 4.397 SPECIAL PROBLEMS IN VISUAL ARTS Fall 2004 Meeting room: N51-117 Monday evenings, 5 PM to 7 PM Tuesdays, 10 AM to 1 PM (check schedule below for occasional changes of place and time) Professor: Allan McCollum Email: allanmcnyc@aol.com ( please use my aol address until I figure out the MIT system ) Website: http://home.att.net/~allanmcnyc TA: Renata Filipovic renataf@MIT.EDU Contact List: here COURSE SCHEDULE (Updated 11/29/04) Week 1 Monday, September 13, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM I'm hoping to learn about your backgrounds and your thoughts, so I've written up a sheet of questions. Please download the document (it's in Microsoft Word) and fill out your answers to the questions in your computer (in the fields to the RIGHT of the questions), and email it to me as an attachment by Thursday morning. Please don't include any pictures! We'll do one-on-one discussions and presentations later. Question sheet to download: http://web.mit.edu/allanmc/www/notices/questions.doc I am still trying to work out a course schedule, and hope to have it online by the end of the week. Tuesday, September 14, 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM Learn about Allan McCollum's work, ask questions, maybe learn about each other's work a bit more Assignment: There are many ways to define an artwork. One way is to define it in the context of similar objects. But similar in what way? We could, for instance, compare one painting to all other paintings; or, alternatively, we could define a painting in the context of other "domestic" objects (chairs, beds, lamps). I would like us to compare artworks to other "symbolic" objects. We generally think of artworks as chiefly symbolic -- that is, their "main purpose" is to stand for or represent something else entirely -- usually a philosophical, emotional complex of another order. But there are many other kinds of "symbolic objects" that function similarly, and I believe that if we consider the work of art in relation to them, we will come to a better understanding. Other examples of objects that exist for the primary purpose of symbolizing something else: Monuments Souvenirs Gravestones Religious relics Jewelry Trophies etc. As an exercise, I would like you to create a good list of at least 60 categories of symbolic object that we come into contact with in living our lives -- both personal and public. For this exercise, we will define a "symbolic object" as a physical thing, i.e., something we can touch or carry around. We won't define, for instance, a "word" or a "concept" or a "memory" as a symbolic object! Please think in terms of separate categories -- don't list, for instance, six types of souvenirs: imprinted tee-shirts, key chains, post cards, ash trays, etc. All of these are in the same category: "Souvenirs" -- they will all only count as ONE item in your list. Do at least 60 categories. If you can't think of 60 in one sitting, set the list aside and go back to it later -- more will come to you. Please email me your lists in a Microsoft word document, separated by line breaks (as above -- not in a single line, like Monuments, Souvenirs, Gravestones, Religious relics, Jewelry, Trophies ... but a vertical list). Email the list to me by the end of the day Friday, at :allanmcnyc@aol.com AND: Download and read this excerpt from: Maurice Halbwachs The Collective Memory SPACE AND THE COLLECTIVE MEMORY Week 2 Monday, September 20, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM Discuss list of categories; begin to create hierarchy? Tuesday, September 21, 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM 10:15 AM: Meet in Lobby 7 for tour of rapid prototyping lab, graciously led by Nic Rader Continue discussion from night before, present ideas for art projects using our MASTER LIST Download combined FULL list: HERE OR: Categories of Symbolic Objects—Master List: ONLINE VERSION Assignment: We like to describe artworks as objects with rich reservoirs of symbolic meaning, but all objects can have rich meaning. Some very common objects can develop such a complex array of meanings that they might be said to be competitive with the "elevated" status of an artwork. While objects have no symbolism on their own, once they enter into a social realm they can develop complex meanings; these meanings can change or grow as time goes by. For instance: 1. On a vacation to the beach, a man picks up a sea shell and takes it home: SOUVENIR 2. He gives it to his daughter for her birthday: SOUVENIR/GIFT 3. The daughter puts it on her mantelpiece: SOUVENIR/GIFT/KNICK-KNACK 4. Upon her death, the daughter gives it to her granddaughter: SOUVENIR/GIFT/KNICK-KNACK/HEIRLOOM 5. The granddaughter gives it to HER granddaughter: SOUVENIR/GIFT/KNICK-KNACK/HEIRLOOM/ANTIQUE 6. The granddaughter becomes a famous actress, and sells it to a dealer: SOUVENIR/GIFT/KNICK-KNACK/HEIRLOOM/ANTIQUE/CELEBRITY MEMORABILIA 7. The dealer donates it to a local Chamber of Commerce lottery: SOUVENIR/GIFT/KNICK-KNACK/HEIRLOOM/ANTIQUE/CELEBRITY MEMORABILIA/PRIZE 8. The winner, an amateur naturalist, realizes it is the most perfect example of an long extinct specie of clam that has ever been found: SOUVENIR/GIFT/HEIRLOOM/ANTIQUE/CELEBRITY MEMORABILIA/PRIZE/TYPE-FOSSIL 9. The winner needs money, so he sells it to a collector: SOUVENIR/GIFT/HEIRLOOM/ANTIQUE/CELEBRITY MEMORABILIA/PRIZE/TYPE-FOSSIL/COMMODITY 10. The collector's wife sues him for divorce, and for spite demands the shell as part of the settlement: SOUVENIR/GIFT/HEIRLOOM/ANTIQUE/CELEBRITY MEMORABILIA/PRIZE/TYPE-FOSSIL/COMMODITY/TROPHY etc., etc. Describe or draw a simple picture of two different objects (imaginary or actual), and write two brief narratives about them (imaginary or based on real events) in which they change from one category of symbolic object to another category of symbolic object -- using our master list of categories. Feel free to take stories from your personal experience, if you like (I think this would be especially interesting). The objects must transform from one category to another 6 times each. The stories can be well-written, funny, mysterious, or as boring as the one above. NOTE: I know that each of you has a developing body of ideas related to your own studies (i.e.: architecture, film, media, etc). I want a few sentences written at the end of your two stories the RELATE THEM TO THESE IDEAS. Email them to me by Friday. We will exchange these stories verbally and share the pictures next week. INSTEAD: I didn't receive all the assignmnents, and I must leave 1/2 hour early this night -- so I'm devoting the class time to a talk by Lori Gross from the Museum Loan Network, based here at MIT. If you're curious to visit the MLN website, it is at: http://loanet.mit.edu. We will put off the discussion of the stories until next week. ALSO: please email me the ideas about "how to use the master list for a project" that we discussed on the 21st -- some of you forgot to include this in your emails. We will also discuss the Maurice Hawlbachs text next week; I'm interested to hear your thoughts. I chose this text because many of us are studying the subjectivity of space, of course! It seemed to me that it has something to say to architects as well as artists. AND Reading assignment, for optional discussion next week, and for required discussion in two weeks (on October 4th and 5th): From: Vladimir Propp Morphology of the Folk Tale CHAPTER TWO: THE METHOD AND MATERIAL and CHAPTER THREE: THE FUNCTIONS OF DRAMATIS PERSONAE             Download Propp diagram: here ALLAN WILL BE ABSENT ON SEPTEMBER 28 NEXT WEEK In the meantime, please download and read: From: D. W. Winnicott Playing & Reality TRANSITIONAL OBJECTS AND TRANSITIONAL PHENOMENA Week 3 Monday, September 27, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM For this evening I have invited in a guest, Lori Gross, who is the director of Museum Loan Network, sited in our building at MIT; she will give us an introduction to the organization's activities, beginning at around 5:00 PM. The MLN organizes and facilitates loans between museums all over the U.S -- they maintain a database of over 13,000 museum objects that travel from place to place, a true pioneering organization in the "circulation of symbolic objects." Their website is: http://loanet.mit.edu. AND at 6:30 PM, upstairs at the MIT Center for Advanced Visual Studies (3rd Floor): You are all invited to a CAVS presentation: Artist Hope Ginsburg presents her work: ". . . Immersing herself in the varied worlds of beekeeping, textile design, home shopping, sustainable agriculture and product development, her investigations into each of those fields reflect a set of concerns about the nature of art and where one looks for it." Tuesday, September 28, 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM I will be absent today. Assignment: Next week we will discuss the texts we've read (Hawlbachs, Propp, and Winnicott -- SEE ABOVE) and our STORIES. For those of you who haven't sent them, please email me last week's assignments (the stories) right away, and the ideas about how to use our list. -- Allan Week 4 Monday, October 4, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM I'm expecting that we can discuss our reading assignments. I'm interested to find out if you all find that the three texts have some themes in common, and I want to get each of your reactions. I assigned them to you in an intuitive way, figuring that they would coalesce into a whole; in reviewing them this week, I felt they did. None of the texts are specifically about art, of course. I'm expecting to hear a little from each of you on what the message of each individual text was, and how you might apply to artmaking. The three texts were: From: Maurice Halbwachs The Collective Memory SPACE AND THE COLLECTIVE MEMORY: http://web.mit.edu/allanmc/www/hawlbachsspace.pdf From: Vladimir Propp Morphology of the Folk Tale CHAPTER TWO: THE METHOD AND MATERIAL and CHAPTER THREE: THE FUNCTIONS OF DRAMATIS PERSONAE From: D. W. Winnicott Playing & Reality TRANSITIONAL OBJECTS AND TRANSITIONAL PHENOMENA Tuesday, October 5, 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM We can share our stories and discuss our next assignment, so we can all agree on its terms: I'll be asking each of you to design a project that involves quantity production of an OBJECT and it's wide distribution. The proposals will be formally presented in two weeks, on Monday, October 18th, and should include diagrams, a production plan, a distribution plan, and a public relations plan. The caveat: the objects have to make sense also in an ART MUSEUM. Your proposal will need to describe what "community" (or communities) you are addressing with your proposed project, and consider how your project fulfills needs of the community (or communities) that receive it. The proposal should also consider how community support might be engaged in order to facilitate the project, and how you might raise the funds needed for all of its aspects. We will begin presentations of your projects on our Monday evening, October 18th class, and finish them on the next day, Tuesday the 19th. Please notify Renata by Friday, October 15, what equipment you will need for your presentation, so we can group them together without having to swich equipment. According to our discussion a week ago, we'll go in reverse alphabetical order, with Matt presenting on Monday (due to time conflict on Tuesday). If you're wondering where your presentation will fall see the list below: 1. Mathew Laibowitz 2. Nomita Sawhney 3. Nicolas Rader 4. Naveem Mowlah 5. Oliver Lutz (or Tuesday depending on time) .................... 6. Marie Law 7. Katice Helinski 8. James Forren 9. Elliot Felix 10. Lilly Donohue 11. Dan Adams In addition to your class presentations, I will also need the proposals in digital form (in a Microsoft Word documents or PDF files), so I can review them at home. Week 5 Monday, October 11 -- COLUMBUS DAY - HOLIDAY Tuesday, October 12, 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM We will visit the Busch-Reisinger Museum and enjoy a special tour (just for our class) of the exhibition "Dependent Objects," given by the curator, Kirsten Weiss. We are meeting at 10:30am in front of the Fogg. Please be prompt, as we have a tour arranged with the curator. The Fogg Art Museum is located in Cambridge at 32 Quincy Street and Broadway, next to Harvard Yard. The Busch-Reisinger Museum in Werner Otto Hall is located behind the Fogg Art Museum on Prescott Street, and is entered through a doorway on the second floor of the Fogg. The Museums are one block away from the GSD, but if you still have doubts of how to get there please use the mapquest. Please remember to let Renata (renataf@MIT.EDU) know what equipment you need for next week's presentation BEFORE FRIDAY!!! Week 6 Monday, October 18, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM Make presentations as follows: 1. Naveem Mowlah 2. Mathew Laibowitz 3. Elliot Felix In addition to your class presentations, I will also need the proposals in digital form (in a Microsoft Word documents or PDF files), so I can review them at home. Tuesday, October 19, 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM Make presentations as follows: 4. Nicolas Rader 5. Oliver Lutz 6. Marie Law 7. Katice Helinski In addition to your class presentations, I will also need the proposals in digital form (in a Microsoft Word documents or PDF files), so I can review them at home. Week 7 Monday, October 25, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM Make presentations as follows: 8. Nomita Sawhney 9. James Forren 10. Lilly Donohue In addition to your class presentations, I will also need the proposals in digital form (in a Microsoft Word documents or PDF files), so I can review them at home. Tuesday, October 26, 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM Make final presentations as follows: 11. Dan Adams While we're at it: Take a look at Minerva Cuevas' website: MEJOR VIDA CORP Related: MUSEUM-L: VOLUNTEER APPRECIATION Assignment: Three texts to read for next week: By: Lilian Tone RUBENS MANO ON LIGHT AND POWER and: From: Jaques T. Godbout The World of the Gift INTRODUCTION: DOES THE GIFT STILL EXIST? and: From: Jaques T. Godbout The World of the Gift PART ONE, CHAPTER 4: THE SITES OF THE GIFT: THE GIFT BETWEEN STRANGERS [EXCERPT]: A MODERN GIFT and PART ONE, CHAPTER 5: THE GIFT AND MERCHANDISE Optional reading: For those of you who may be especially interested in the history of the critical analysis of the gift, here are two chapters from the very famous and influential 1925 book by Marcel Mauss, "The Gift." Mauss's book was one of the iniating forces behind modern anthropology, it has influenced many artists, and is quoted throughout the Godbout texts above: From: Marcel Mauss The Gift: Forms and Functions of Exchange in Archaic Societies INTRODUCTORY and CHAPTER ONE: GIFTS AND THE OBLIGATION TO RETURN GIFTS From: Marcel Mauss The Gift: Forms and Functions of Exchange in Archaic Societies CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSIONS Also Optional: If you are planning to attend the From Object to Context lecture tonight at Sackler Lecture Hall, you might be interested to read this recent text by Hans Haacke, who is one of the speakers and whose work we saw in the "Dependent Objects" exhibition: From: The Society of Control: The Academy and the Corporate Public SYMBOLIC CAPITAL MANAGEMENT OR WHAT TO DO WITH THE GOOD, THE TRUE, AND THE BEAUTIFUL By Hans Haacke * * * Tuesday, October 26, 6:00 PM * * * Recommended: M. Victor Leventritt Lectures: From Object to Context Tuesday, October 26 Sackler lecture hall, 6 p.m. Free admission The Arthur M. Sackler Museum (across the street from the Fogg) Sackler Lecture Hall 485 Broadway Cambridge, MA 02138 Map: http://www.artmuseums.harvard.edu/information/directionsmap.html This event will feature two artists represented in the exhibition Dependent Objects. Hans Haacke (b. 1936) and Thomas Schütte (b. 1954), West German artists of different generations, will discuss the considerations and concepts that went into the production of their sculptures in the exhibition. While the ethos of the 1960s led many artists and critics to reject the precious sculptural object, others continued to produce objects that emphasized the physical, social, and political context of production and display. Haacke's entire career has been marked by the concern for the active involvement of the public in his work; Schütte's works from the late 1970s reflect his humorous engagement with earlier conceptual art as well as his interest in the artwork's environment and potential use. A moderated discussion will follow. Week 8 Monday, November 1, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM Assignments to be posted Tuesday, November 2, 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM Today we divide the class into two working groups, "A" and "B" — the constitution of the groups is as follows: Group "A" Dan Adams Lilly Donohue Katice Helinski Oliver Lutz Naveem Mowlah Nomita Sawhney Group "B" Elliot Felix James Forren Mat Laibowitz Marie Law Nicolas Rader Assignment: Each group is to design a project that involves quantity production of a SYMBOLIC OBJECT and it's distribution to (or through) an institution or community outside of our class. The project should be designed to be practically produced within our budget of $150 for each group. The projects are for final review at the end of the semester. Again, the important caveat: the project has to make sense as a presentation in an ART MUSEUM. There will be three steps to be presented in class: Step 1 (due November 15th and 16th): Preliminary proposal in writing, sent to everyone in class (and me) as an email attachment, which should include: • A description of the object to be produced • Diagrams of how the object might look • Diagrams of how and where a report on the final project might be presented and demonstrated visually in a public "display" • A description of the production methods to be used to produce the object • A description of how the budget will be spent • A description of what "community" (or communities) you are addressing with your proposed project • A description of how your project benefits or fulfills needs of the community (or communities) that receive it (i.e., "meaning") • A description of how community support might be engaged in order to facilitate the project • A list of possible institutions or groups to approach for involvement • A description of a public relations plan (i.e., how to make the project known) • A description of how the group plans to delegate the tasks amongst itself WE WILL CRITIQUE AND DISCUSS THE PROPOSALS IN CLASS. Week 9 Monday, November 8, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM Discuss briefly the work of Harrell Fletcher; visit his websites at: Harrell Fletcher and Learning to Love You More Assignment: Explore the Fletcher websites, download Harrell Fletcher texts to read, we can discuss them briefly next week: TOWARDS A TENDER SOCIETY OF THOUGHTFUL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS By Harrell Fletcher and An interview with Harrell Fletcher: MERGING ART, FUNCTIONALITY, AND EDUCATION Interview by Nic Paget-Clarke and I BEEN WANTING TO GO HOME By Harrell Fletcher TODAY we will separate into our groups, present whatever ideas we have developed since last week, discuss the assignment, and work on the Preliminary Proposals during class time Tuesday, November 9, 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM Today we will separate into our groups and work on the Preliminary Proposals during class time NOVEMBER 11 - VETERANS DAY - HOLIDAY Week 10 Monday, November 15, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM Present, discuss, and critique the Preliminary Proposals DOWNLOAD EACH OTHER'S PRELIMINARY PROPOSALS HERE: Group "A" (pdf file) Group "B" (pdf file) Or visit on the web: Group "A" (web version) Group "B" (web version) Discuss each other's proposals in class. Assignment: Explore the artist Andrea Zittel's website at: http://zittel.org and read about her very early "Breeding" units; these works foreshadow all the work that came after. There are a number of other texts and interviews here that should be interesting to all architecture-minded creative types: From: Db artmag, 2004 SOCIAL STUDY: AN INTERVIEW WITH ANDREA ZITTEL By Cheryl Kaplan and Assignment: Read "Placeless Place" by Lilian Tone, a text on the Cuban artist group "Los Carpinteros" and their project Ciudad Trasportable (Transportable City): From: Los Carpinteros Institute for Research in Art PLACELESS PLACE By Lilian Tone Tuesday, November 16, 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM Begin working on Final Project during class time Week 11 Monday, November 22, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM Discuss Andrea Zittel Group A and B object presentations: • Diagrams, sketches, models and/or prototypes of your object • Description of the production methods to be used to produce the object • Specifics on how and where your final project (due on December 6th and 7th) might be presented and demonstrated visually in a public "display" Tuesday, November 23, 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM Work on Final Project during class time Assignment: Read "Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias" by Michel Foucault (if you haven't read it before!): OF OTHER SPACES: UTOPIAS AND HETEROTOPIAS By Michel Foucault NOVEMBER 26, 27 (THURSDAY, FRIDAY) - THANKSGIVING VACATION Week 12 Monday, November 29, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM Work on project in class. Give Renata all information on wall space required for public display, location ideas, etc. She will seek permissions from the necessary agencies and confirm via email on Tuesday, November 30. NOTE:Remember to save receipts to turn in to Sharon Benedict at VAP, for reimbursement. We will plan to do the installations next Monday, on the 6th, using class time IF NEEDED. I the installation is complex, please work on it Sunday, as well, so that we don't run out of time Monday evening. I would like to be there during the installations Monday, if it runs into the evening. If we are finished early, we can use the ime to discuss the successes of the projects! Assignment: Next Tuesday each group will make final presentations to the other, on the site of the display; if passers-by join in, all the better. These reports should outline the scope of the project, the successes and failures, tell stories about the interactions that took place, discuss the destiny of the project, answer questions, etc. This report should then be given to me in written form (and emailed) for a "permanent record" before next Monday's class meeting.I would like to post the final project descriptions online, maybe in the form of a webpage; digital photos would be great. Assignment: Everything we do in some way recapitulates personal drama -- begin to write a one page (at least) PERSONAL STATEMENT testifying on how the group project you participated in traversed areas and issues in your own life history, i.e., what meanings do you find in the project? Please email this to me before next Monday; we can discuss these during next Tuesday's class time, over coffee or something, after the "public" presentation. Tuesday, November 30, 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM 9:00 AM -- Group "B" makes presentation to Jane Farver and staff of the List Visual Arts Center, to discuss their proposal. 10:00 AM -- Discover how the List Center project works out; if the List rejects idea, discuss "Plan B." Continue working on projects during class time. * * * Wednesday, December 1, 4:45 - 8:00 PM * * * Recommended: ICA Boston 955 Boylston Street, Boston MA 02115 Between This series of conversations focuses on questioning and understanding the relationships between the visual arts and other intellectual disciplines, such as literature, film, history, science, and popular culture, as well as contemporary society. Speakers from a variety of backgrounds offer perspectives and lead discussion in the ICA theater. World AIDS Day Wednesday, December 1, 4:45 pm Boston Premiere of Habit (2001) by Gregg Bordowitz 4:45 - 5:45 pm Conversation with Gregg Bordowitz and Dr. James Meyer 6:30 - 8 pm AIDS activist Gregg Bordowitz's diverse range of work includes documentaries, educational films, and the first regular cable-television show about AIDS. Bordowitz will introduce his acclaimed film, Habit (2001), and speak about his latest book The AIDS Crisis is Ridiculous and Other Writings, 1986-2003 Bordowitz will be joined by Dr. James Meyer, Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Art History at Emory University, to reexamine and contextualize Bordowitz's developing practice and theories about the AIDS crisis. $7 general admission and $5 for ICA members, students, and seniors. Reservations are required. For more information or to make a reservation, please call 617-927-6634 or e-mail lross@icaboston.org Week 13 Monday, December 6, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM Final Project reports due by today. Do installation of public display? Location to be confirmed and posted by Renata. Tuesday, December 7, 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM Make presentation to class in front of public display. Discuss personal meanings. DECEMBER 9 - LAST DAY OF CLASSES Week 14 DECEMBER 13-19 - FINAL EXAM PERIOD Monday, December 13, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM Assignments to be posted Tuesday, December 14, 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM Assignments to be posted DECEMBER 18 - WINTER VACATION BEGINS