Syllabus – Complete – last updated Sep 17, 2010
17 09 2010Introduction to Visual Practice – ARTSVIS 54.01 (Fall 2010)
Department of Art, Art History, and Visual Studies – Duke University
Instructors: Pedro Lasch & Bill Seaman
Pedro Lasch
Office 220, Smith Arts Warehouse, Bay 12, East Campus.
Tel: 684 3308. E-mail: plasch@duke.edu (prefered)
Office hours: Wednesdays 11:00am-1:00pm, or by appointment.
Bill Seaman
A238 Smith Warehouse (Bay 11)
Tel: 684 2499. E-mail: bill.seaman@duke.edu (prefered)
Office hours: Monday 9:15-10:15 or by appointment
Syllabus. Fall 2010
Smith Arts Warehouse, Rooms 228 (2:50pm) & 200 (4:05pm), East Campus.
Tuesday, 2:50pm – 5:20pm (our class will divide into Group 1 and Group 2 for most sessions, one working in each room and then switching). Our default meeting place is Room 228.
Synopsis:
This class introduces students to the basic principles and methods of a large variety of visual and multi-modal practices. Exercises, readings, and student projects are designed to lay down a foundation for future intermediate and advanced visual arts classes, as well as any advanced work in the field of visual and media studies, as well as visual culture. Conceptual and experiential work will focus on basic 2D & 3D composition, drawing, color theory, photographic and architectural principles, as well as basic work in time-based or kinetic media such as, film, video, and performance. Both linear and non-linear approaches will be discussed. This broad set of practices recognized as ‘visual and media arts’ will be complemented by exercises that address the more widespread uses of visuality in everyday life, as well as their deep impact on a large variety of fields of knowledge. Examples of the latter may include various kinds of mapping, virtual simulations, graph theory, and other methods practiced by professionals who use visuality (and relational multi-modal practices) but are not considered artists. They may also include work inspired by so called ‘vernacular’ or ‘amateur’ visual practices.
This class is mostly for first and second year students. It is the prerequisite for all intermediate and advanced Visual Arts & Visual Practice classes. It is also a requirement for the Visual Studies major and the Visual Arts major.
Theoretical Framework: Experiments in Art and Science
Our exercises, assignments and discussions will be divided in three sections derived from the above overarching concept. (see Calendar for more on each section)
Section 1. Objects of Study and Production: Visual Perception, the Multi-modal, the Rhyzomatic and other structures
Section 2. Visuality and the Multi-modal as Process and Methodology
Section 3. The Social Sphere: Communication, Visuality, and the Multi-modal as Collective Construct
Reading Assignments
All readings will be provided in advance as electronic resources (pdf files, online sources, scanned materials, etc).
Responsibilities:
Each student will be required to actively participate in presentations and discussions, develop a substantial body of visual and/or media productions through class exercises and weekly assignments, most of which will be incorporated in independently produced projects based on a self-selected topic. All of this material will be submitted to the instructor on the dates indicated on the syllabus. Keep up a blog (or alternate containment mechanism documented on the blog) which each week makes observations about relationships/qualities you are noticing.
Grading:
Hybrid Media Project (IVP #3) %25
Independent Visual Productions (IVP # 1 & IVP #2) %35
Portfolio (4 compositions) %20
Participation during class and group critiques %10
Blog / Book of Notice %10
All late submissions will cause a one-grade drop
Smith Warehouse Building Access:
M – F (normal) 7:30am to 11:00pm
Sa-Sun & Holidays 9:00am to 9:00pm
Warehouse Computer Lab Access (Room 228 – use ID to enter) and Drawing Studio Access (Room 200 – door code is 1 then 2 then 4 then 5) (see also additional labs on campus e.g. the link): Check posted schedule. You can use lab as long as there is no class, or faculty teaching a class at any given time are OK with you being there. Other than that, you have access as long as the building is open.
Door code for printing studio and individual studios is 1 then 2 then 4
Calendar
Theoretical Framework: Experiments in Art and Science
Our exercises, assignments and discussions will be divided in three sections derived from the above overarching concept. During each section a corresponding set of Keywords, Methods, and Questions will be provided to explore the topic. In some cases, these will be distributed as separate handouts or online materials for each week. Sections 1 & 2 will each end with students producing an INDEPENDENT VISUAL PRODUCTION with that section’s focus (IVP # 1 & IVP #2). Section 3 will end with students producing their final project (IVP #3)
Section 1. Objects of Study and Production: Visual Perception, the Multi-modal, the Rhyzomatic and other structures.
Section 2. Visuality and the Multi-modal as Process and Methodology
Section 3. The Social Sphere: Communication, Visuality, and the Multi-modal as Collective Construct
Tuesday August 31
General Introduction (drop-add movement)
Objects of Study and Production: Visual Perception, the Multi-modal, the Rhyzomatic and other structures.
Review ‘What is Visual Practice?’ and the notion of the Multi-Modal. Rhizome exercise
Tuesday September 7 (Seaman & Lasch)
Keywords: P1 Visual Practice (intro), Visual Studies (intro), Visual Perception, Image/Picture (intro), Representation (intro), Abstraction (intro), Design (2 DD, 3DD, 4DD), Composition, Line (Direct, Implied, & Quality of L), Shape, Scale, Proportion, Balance (Static & Dynamic), Texture, Light, Tonality, Contrast, Movement, Rhythm, Style, Aesthetic, Process, Hybrid Media – Multi-modal (intro), Entropy, Evidence, Cybernetics, Variable, Hierarchy, Heterarchy, Probability/Chance, Model, Heuristic, Artificial Intelligence, Observer, Program, Simulation, Perception, Cognition, Self-orgainzing system, Induction, Deduction, Abduction, Automata, Nano-technology, Biomimetics
Methods: Creating compositions with line and shape using: 1. only folds and cuts
2. arrangement of objects on surface 3. pencils and/or black&white pens 4. actual objects on scanner and/or copier
Assignments due: Bring 5 to 10 objects that create different kinds of lines when laid flat
Tuesday September 14
Keywords: P1 Explanation of 1st IVP criteria. Mass, Volume, Depth & Basic Architectural Principles (Perspectival, Isometric and other Spatial Representations or Conventions: Foreground, Middleground, Background), Basic Photographic Principles (Light Sensitivity, Shutter Speed, Aperture, Depth & Focus), Resolution, Basic Computational Principles P2 Color Theory (Optical & Physical, RGB & CMYK)
Methods: P1 Observation, Analysis, 2DD Basic Architectural Composition, P2 Color Wheel & Physical Color Mixing, Basic Photographic Processes (optional), Scanning (optional), Basic Digital Image Editing, Processing and Printing (optional). Building color with light (video + Computer) emitting light sources. Assignments (will be handed out /emailed previous week) Bring your digital camera or borrow one if possible.
Assignments due: Composition #1 & #2 (Unlikely Chart or Diagram).
Tuesday September 21
Keywords: P1 & P2 Color Theory & Practice (Optical & Physical, RGB & CMYK), Expressionism, Formalism, Static Art (Drawing, Printmaking, Painting, Sculpture, Photography, Graphic Design, Architecture/Architectonic Sculpture
Methods: P1 & P2 Relational Color Work & Optical Color Mixing, Color Charts, Digital Color Layering and Processing, Basic Digital Image Editing, Processing and Printing (optional).
Assignments due: Composition #3 & #4 (Creating Color with Light). Bring at least 100 color physical coloer samples (Book of Notice). Bring your digital camera or borrow one if possible.
Tuesday September 28
P1 – GROUP CRITIQUE – 1st Independent Visual Production
P2 Explanation of 2nd Independent Visual Production = [ongoing collection of observations via blog]
Assignments due: 1st Independent Visual Production
II. Visuality and the Multi-modal as Process and Methodology
Tuesday October 5 (Seaman & Lasch)
Keywords: P1 Visuality as Language (Seeing as Reading), Fields of Meaning Force (multi-modal summing), Visual Explanations, Information Design, Visualization, Sonicization, Hapicization, Olfactorization, Internet and Web Projects, Interface Design, Books and other conventional, Mechanical Reproduction, Machines and Factories of the Visual, Scientific Method, communication as Visual Form (Artists Books), installation, P2 Maps as Statements/Performatives/Propositions, Non-Linear Time/Space/Narrative, Titles and Qualifying texts, Cybernetics
Methods: P1 producing work that focuses on the merits and interest in the process rather than the product, mapping techniques (google-earth and/or previous methods), P2 Visit by Lee Sorensen: How to Use Visual Databases & CIT: Intro to Google Earth; introduction to the Database Aesthetic
Assignments due: Bring sketched out idea for IVP #2
Tuesday October 12 – FALL BREAK / NO CLASS
Tuesday October 19
Keywords: P1 Synesthesia (substitution of the senses), Incorporating Non-Visual Perception into the Visual, The Body as Tool, multi-modal (multi-sensory) intra-action P2 Kinetic Art, Process Art, Conceptual Art, Film & Video (Motion Pictures), Time-Based Media, Performance, New Media, Story Boards for Video and Film (linear and non-linear), Subjective Time – Expansion/Contraction, Suspension.
Methods: Story-boarding, producing time-based work in various media, Intro to powerpoint and I-movie
Assignments due: Draft version of 2nd IVP
Tuesday October 26
P1 GROUP CRITIQUE – 2nd Independent Visual Production
P2 Introduction to IVP # 3 criteria
Assignments due: 2nd Independent Visual Production
III. The Social Sphere: Communication, Visuality, and the Multi-modal as Collective Construct
Section methods: Productions to be developed for and placed or distributed in different social contexts (fact or fiction: the classroom, the gallery, the web, the street, the mall, the wedding party, the political protest, the natural landscape, etc), productions that insert themselves into already existing structures of circulation in any given way or for any particular reason (by fact or fiction).
Tuesday November 2 (Seaman & Lasch)
Keywords: P1 Virtual Environments & Virtual Reality, Intelligent Environments,
Augmented Reality, Locative Media, Artificial Life, The Myth of Total Cinema, Dreams and Unconscious Processes as Visual Sources. P2 Graph & Network Theory, Scientific Uses of Visuality, Open Source, Hardware/Software, Discourse, Epistemologies and the Visual, Interactivity, Cybernetic Loop, Artificial Intelligence, Bots, Meta-gaming as Social Construct, Machinic Sensing, Nano Space
Methods: P1 Understanding virtual environments (possible visit to DiVE) P2 Web 2.0, YouTube (intro), SecondLife, Video Games
Assignments due: Sketched ideas for IVP # 3
Tuesday November 9
Keywords: Visuality and the Everyday, Semiotics of the Visual, The Body as Visual / (Multi-modal) Construct, Distributed Construct, Race, Gender, Social Hierarchies and other Structures, Minority and Majority Visual Culture/Practice, Intervention, Hactivism, Cultural Jamming, Social Media, Locative Media, Multi-perspective approach to knowing (bridging languages), linguistic framing and shared definitions, technology as open systems for expression/knowing (the creation of alternate and new uses)
Methods: P1 Observation and media analysis, culture jamming, cultural camouflage P2 self-publishing
Assignments due: First draft for IVP # 3
Tuesday November 16
Keywords: P1 Psychogeography, Anti-Art, Anti-Formalism & the Informe (Abject) P2 Visual Journalism, Political Uses of Visuality, Collective Visual Dreams, Phantasies, Monsters, Deceptions, Media Events, Social Interaction, Performance
Methods: Conscious incorporation of space by movement, transformation of space by use or movement, collective and individual gestures, distributed gestures, social sculpture, relational aesthetics
Assignments due: Second draft for IVP # 3
Tuesday November 23
Independent Studio Session: Work in class on IVP # 3 with help from instructor
Pedro away / lecture or guest instructor?
Tuesday November 30 – Class rescheduled for Dec 3 or 4
Independent Studio Session: Work in class on IVP # 3 with help from instructor
Individual meetings w/Pedro on Dec 3 and/or 4
Tuesday December 7
GROUP CRITIQUE – 3rd Independent Visual Production
Assignments due: 3rd Independent Visual Production, and all make-up work (compositions or IVPs #1 and/or #2)
LIST OF EXAMPLE MATERIALS (we will discuss the needs of each class and potential options)
| 1 | USB thumb drive (2G or higher, the higher the better) and/or external hard drive and cables REQUIRED |
Qty. Item
| 1 | 18 X 24 Drawing Pad |
| 1 | 11 x 14 Drawing Pad |
| 1 | Set of Pencils (2H, HB, 2B, 6B) |
| 1 | Turquoise Drawing Pencil (2B) |
| 1 | X-acto knife |
| 1 | Art gum eraser |
| 1 | Set of black pens (extra fine, fine, medium point) |
| 1 | 18″ Aluminum Ruler |
| 1 | Pair 8″ Scissors |
| 1 | Set Small Tube Acrylics
(Red, Yellow, Blue, Orange, Violet, Green, B & W) |
| 1 | China Ink (small) |
| 1 | Soft Watercolor Brush Set (extra fine, fine, medium, large) |
| 1 | Hard Brush Set (extra fine, fine, medium, large) |
| 1 | Printing fees where applicable |
Note: We will review all questions regarding materials in class. You will be responsible for bringing all materials announced for each class. For your independent projects you will be allowed and encouraged to use additional supplies. Learning how to select your materials from the large variety of options and industrial standards (and your specific budget) is a key aspect of the practice.
A significant additional cost will consist of color copies and prints, and other digital services or supplies.
Some Art Supplies Stores in the Area:
• Michael’s-Arts and Crafts. 5442 New Hope Commons Dr, North Gate Mall, Durham, 490 4945
• The Studio Supply. 421 W Franklin St, Chapel Hill, 929 5637
• Jerry’s Artarama. 5325 Departure Dr, Raleigh, 878 6782 [www.jerrysartarama.com] (the best store in the area with most complete selection)
• But most important…learn to look around on your own and also buy online
• Pearl Paint (a great supplier for mail orders)
1033 East Oakland Park Blvd.
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33334
www.pearlpaint.com
to order by mail: call 1 800 451 7327 fax 1 800 732 7591
Categories : Syllabus