AN INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY THROUGH ART, DESIGN, & FILM

Jeffrey Stuker

Description

Key concepts in modern philosophy introduced through the analysis of creative work in the visual arts, film, and design. , Marxism, feminism, structuralism, and poststructuralism will be examined in relation to modern and interdisciplinary movements in the arts, including cubism, surrealism, arte povera, pop, minimalism, conceptual art, performance art, video art and narrative cinema, the pictures group, and the current relational aesthetics movement. While this course requires a general curiosity about philosophy and the arts, no previous formal study of either field will be expected.

Structure

The first half of the semester will be dedicated to the interpretation of foundational ideas and texts of critical theory by Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, and Saussure. The second half of the semester will be spent gaining an understanding of the re-interpretation and re-reading of these thinkers, after the Second World War, by Althusser, Rancière, Lacan, Foucault, Barthes, and others. The corresponding works of art considered in relationship to the foundational texts of critical theory will be taken from the era of the the historical avant-gardes; the artists paired with the the "re-readers" of foundational texts will be taken from the neo-avant-garde, which springs up, simultaneously, in the post-war context.

Introduction

Pass out syllabus, micro-reading assignment, first slide presentation with discussion. Introduction to two modes of critical perception: "performative" philosophical writing, "reading" images.

Charles Baudelaire: "Loss of a Halo," Spleen: New Directions. Honoré Daumier: from Croquis Parisiens

Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard (Grandville): "Literature being reeled off and sold in chunks"

M A R X

Readings:

Karl Marx, "The Power of Money in Bourgeois Society," Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 Karl Marx, "The Fetishism of the Commodity and its Secret," Capital, Vol I: Penguin Karl Marx, "Preface," A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy: International Publishers Etienne Balibar: "Ideology or Fetishism: Power and Subjection," The Philosophy of Marx: Verso(we will focus on pages 56-79 in this essay). Tom Bottomore (ed): "Commodity" and "Commodity Fetishism," A Dictionary of Marxist Thought: Blackwell

Works Considered:

Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard (Grandville): Un autre monde, Le loup et le chien, Une promenade dans le ciel; Eugène Atget: photographs of Paris covered in advertisements; Stéphane Mallarmé: La dernière mode

F R E U D

Readings:

Sigmund Freud: "On Dreams," The Freud Reader: Norton : from The Interpretation of Dreams (Irma), The Freud Reader: Norton Optional: entries under "Ego," "Id," and "Super Ego" in the The Language of Psychoanalysis by Jean Laplanche and J.-B. Pontalis: Norton Works Considered:

Max Ernst: Woman with a Thousand Heads; Erté: Monograms, Raoul Ubac: l'Opera, Objets possibles, Penthésilée, and Triumphe; Hans Belmer: various untitled photographs

N I E T Z S C H E

Reading:

Friedrich Nietzsche: The Birth of Tragedy: Cambridge University Press

Works Considered:

Tristan Tzara et al, "Cabaret Voltaire"; Johannes Baader: Running for the Reichstage in Saarbrücken, founding Christus GMbH; Phillipe Souppault: Spitting on priests, arrest, and newspaper as presented in La Révolution Surréaliste; Breton, Aragon, Ernst: Banquet in honor of Anatole ; Arthur Cravan: Arthur Cravan vs. Jack Johnson, and the disappearance of the former in the Atlantic Ocean.

S A U S S U R E

Readings:

Ferdinand de Saussure: "The Object of Study," "General Principles, Chapters I and II," Course in General Linguistics, Open Court Classics Press Optional: Jonathan Culler, "Saussure's Theory of Language" Ferdinand de Saussure, 37-55, Cornell University Press

Works Considered: René Magritte: Les Mots et Les Choses, Le clef des songes, Je ne vois pas la cachée dans la forêt, Le Palais des rideaux, Miroir Magique, Miroir Vivant, Tree of Science, La Trahison des images.

Q U O T I D I A N M A D N E S S

Readings:

Maurice Blanchot: "The Madness of the Day," The Station Hill Blanchot Reader Roger Caillois: "Mimesis and Legendary Psychasthenia," October, 31: (Winter, 1984) Georges Bataille, "The Bourgeois World," The Accursed Share (Volume I), Zone Books

Works Considered:

Duchamp: Belle Haleine; Man Ray: Photograph of Rrose Sélavy; Robert Desnos: "Rrose Sélavy"; Dorothea Tanning: Rêve

T H E P O L I T I C S O F A E S T H E T I C S

( P A R T I )

Readings:

Walter Benjamin: "The Work of Art in the Era of its Technical Reproducibility," The Selected Writings of Walter Banjamin (Vol II): Harvard Belknap Theodor Adorno "Gold Assay," "Auction," and "Wolf as Godmother" from Minima Moralia: Verso Walter Benjamin: Letter to Adorno Paris, 27 February 1936, Adorno and Benjamin: The Complete Correspondence: Harvard Belknap Theodor Adorno: Letter to Walter Benjamin: London, 18 March1936, Adorno and Benjamin: The Complete Correspondence: Harvard Belknap

Ernst Bloch: "Entfremdung, Verfremdung": The Drama Review, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Autumn, 1970)

Film Event:

Jean Vigo: À Propos de Nice: René Clair: A Nous La Liberté

R E - R E A D I N G M A R X T H R O U G H S A U S S U R E

Readings:

Roland Barthes: "The New Citron," "Operation Margarine," "African Grammar," and "Myth Today," Mythologies: HIll and Wang

Works Considered:

Marcel Broodthaers: Musée d'Art Moderne, Départment des Aigles, Van Laack, Industrial Poems; Jacques Offenbach: Orpheus in the Underworld

R E - R E A D I N G F R E U D T H R O U G H S A U S S U R E

Readings:

Jacques Lacan: "The Mirror Stage as Formative of the Function I," Écrits: Norton : The Agency of the Letter in the Unconscious or Reason Since Freud, Écrits: Norton Optional: entries under "Letter," "Language," "Metaphor," "Metonymy," "Unconscious," and "Mirror Stage," in Dylan Evans: An Introductory Dictionary of Lacanian Psychoanalysis: Routledge.

Works Considered:

Gustave Courbet: L'Origine du monde; Mary Kelly: Post Partum Document,

T H E I M P O S S I B L E P E R S P E C T I V E

Readings:

Michel Foucault: "Las Meninas" The order of Things Jacques Lacan: "Anamorphosis," The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis: Vintage Barthes: "Diderot, Eisenstein, Brecht," Image, Music, Text: Hill and Wang

Works considered, as discussed in the readings:

Diego Velazquez: Las Meninas; Hans Holbein: The Ambassadors; Sergei Eisenstein: various film- stills; Bertolt Brecht: photographs from Mother Courage in Barthes' collection

R E - R E A D I N G M A R X T H R O U G H S A U S S U R E, F R E U D, A N D L A C A N

Readings:

Louis Althusser: "State and Ideological State Apparatus," Lenin and Philosophy and other Essays: Verso Louis Althusser: "Contradiction and Overdetermination," For Marx: Vintage Louis Althusser: "Philosophy-Ideology-Politics," Sur la philosophie: NRF, Gallimard (my translation)

Works Considered:

Mel Bochner and Robert Smithson: In the Domain of the Great Bear; Dan Graham: Homes for America; Michael Asher: Renovation=Expulsion (Lyon, France); Sylvia Kolbowski: The Windows of Harry Winston Jewelers

T H E P O L I T I C S O F A E S T H E T I C S

( P A R T II )

Readings:

Guy Debord: "Seperation Perfected," "Unity and Division within Appearances," The Society of the Spectacle: Zone Books Jacques Rancière: "The Red of La Chinoise: Godard's Politics," Film Fables: Berg Situationist International: "The Role of Godard," "Cinema and Revolution," Situationist International Anthology:

Film Event:

Jean-Luc Godard: La Chinoise, and 1PM (selections); Harun Farocki: Ein Bild R E P R E S E N T I N G W O M E N

Readings: Barbara Johnson: "Muteness Envy," The Feminist Difference Carol Jacobs: "Playing Jane Campion's Piano: Politically," Skirting the Ethical: Stanford

Film Event:

Tuesday, April 21st, 8:00 PM Jane Campion: The Piano

Nature and amount of work to be required

a. Number of pages of reading: By its nature, this is a reading-intensive course. Students should expect to read 50-70 pages per week, which we will discuss in class in reference to relevant works of art. b. Midterm feedback: Midterm feedback will be achieved through a 5 page paper that clarifies a chosen set of ideas from the course material. (40% of final grade) c. End-of-term work End-of-term work will be a final paper of 10 pages that connects one essay from the course material to an artist not yet discussed in class. (40% of final grade) d. Additional Requirement: 500 word responses to the reading each week as part of the participation grade. This can be posted to the chat room on the V2 site for our class. Responses to the comments of other students also count. This weekly assignment will be part of the participation grade. (20% of final grade)