The class will examine various phenomena of "Diasporic Practices in Contemporary Art", such as fragmented histories, the question of origin(ality), the limits of translation and opacity, social belonging and kinship, and spirituality. In class we will discuss readings by (a.o.) Stuart Hall, Gloria Anzaldúa, Éduard Glissant, Trinh T. Minh-ha, Toni Morrison, and Hito Steyerl. Students will be asked to present on contemporary artists highlighting their diasporic strategies, while also producing creative works through assignments that employ diasporic strategies and that will be discussed in class.
By analyzing examples of artists, as well as participants’ creative materials under the lens of Diasporic Practices, we will work towards naming and defining the various approaches both as phenomena, and possibly as conscious strategies of creative production. Participants will be equipped with a new set of vocabulary to contextualize their own work and practices, and to intentionally embed it in discourses around Diaspora.
Taking the Rorschach Test as a point of departure, participants will analyze the Intuitive Forms they create, which will serve as "ambiguous stimuli". Through timed exercises participants will produce quickly and intuitively in two immediate materials: unfired clay and drawing. The making will take place in class and most materials will be recycled to underline the focus on process as opposed to product. There will be short lectures throughout the quarter to discuss methods of association and interpretation, and to give an introduction to the Rorschach Test as a method of Psychoanalysis. We will discuss readings by (a.o.) Mónica Guinzbourg de Braude, Marion Milner, Mignon Nixon, and Amy Sillman. There will be short written assignments to include language and naming as a medium of intuition and an element of analysis. Throughout the quarter we will welcome a guest speaker affiliated with the Psychoanalytic Institute of Chicago, and we will go on a field trip to attend a guided meditation.
This class will provide an introduction to critically think about 3D form. The class is structured into 3 chapters: Designed objects, emotional objects, and art objects. In each chapter we will discuss readings / films, welcome a guest speaker, and have assignments. The readings and assignments are a challenge to closely examine the object based world around us. Demos will be given for technical inspiration for assignments. Students will be provided with a basic material kit at the beginning of the quarter. We will attempt to work “green” and use the materials available to us in our households and classrooms including waste materials. If students wish to purchase materials for their projects, they may do so.
Each student will present their work twice during the quarter. For all sessions 4 students will be presenting for 30min (+5min). Each week we will welcome different outside guests, meaning outside the institution / city. The presentation slots are not scheduled in regular order, instead each session is curated.
Learning perspectives are
-detecting, articulating, defining greater meaning behind the works and ideas
-discussing the correlation between form and content
-development of theoretical discourse around art works
-making various perceptions of presented works heard
As an attempt to experience art making as a profession and as a practice, participants will spend 3 consecutive weeks as an intensive course off campus. As a class we will visit exhibitions, meet people behind the scenes (curators / artists / gallerists / collectors / handlers / fabricators), and allow for informal time together to give space to questions that arise from our shared experiences. Participants will be asked to prepare reports of our various planned activities. There will also be a tight selection of readings that will be in relation to our activities.