5002-MFA Survey 2017
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2 Course structure Each three-hour session will consist of lectures, museum visits, and discussions of images and texts. Students will be evaluated on the basis of their comprehension of course materials, attendance and preparation, critical engagement with ideas presented in the course, and the ability to synthesiZe key issues developed throughout the semester. (See further logistics below.) Readings: There are no textbooks for the course. All readings will be posted as PDFs on Canvas. The list of required readings may be adapted throughout the semester in response to class discussions. Any new readings will be made available to students at least five days before the day they will be discussed. Students should note that readings will supplement, but not duplicate, the content of lectures, and topics will be covered in lectures that are not in the texts and vice versa. Evaluations at midterm and final will be drawn from both course lectures and readings. For further background information, additional artists associated with movements/contexts, and preliminary research, students may wish to consult the open-access online encyclopedia The Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ Museum visits: As a group, we will be making regular museum visits to the Art Institute of Chicago during which time we will spend hour-long sessions in the galleries. Any students who needs accommodations for this motile activity should discuss this with the professor as soon as possible. Evaluation All assignments must be completed on time in order to receive course credit (CR). In addition, work on all criteria should meet the standards of the course as established by the professor. There are no “extra credit” options. Students will be evaluated according to the following four criteria: 1. Participation (including attendance) (20%) All students are expected to attend class meetings prepared to discuss the required readings. Participation is predicated on attendance, and the student will be evaluated on both. Mere attendance without participation is not considered adequate and does not warrant a passing grade for this criterion. Students should regularly, respectfully, and productively contribute to in-person class discussions. Attendance at all class meetings is essential. More than two missed classes may be grounds for a “no credit.” 2. Examinations (25%, 25%) There will be two examinations held in class. These examinations will be based primarily on class lectures, museum visits, readings, and discussions. Class lectures do not follow the organiZation of the readings, and successful exams will demonstrate comprehension of topics from both lectures and outside readings. Unless otherwise noted, laptops are not allowed at any point on days with examinations. 3. Writing Assignment: Manifesto! (10%) We will read many manifestos written by artists over the course of the semester. For midterm, write a manifesto about your practice or about the status and future 3 of contemporary art. Your manifesto should be 300-500 words and should clearly (and Zealously) articulate your concerns and aims. This is not an artist’s statement but a polemical call to arms. You should pattern your rhetoric on some of the manifestos we read in the first half of the class. In addition to the manifesto, you should write an additional 500-word statement about a text we have read for the course with which your manifesto is in dialogue, that offers context for your manifesto, or that otherwise served as the catalyst for your manifesto. You may love it, hate it, or be ambivalent about it, but you should clearly discuss why and how this text we read spurred you to write your manifesto. In preparing this supplement to your manifesto, you should research the relevant artist, movement, or period. You must cite at least three additional (non-website, non-encyclopedia / books or journal articles only) bibliographic sources on your chosen statement. The full document is due in class on DUE 18 OCTOBER 2017 IN CLASS. 4. AIC Collection Research Paper (20%) In the closing weeks of the course, students must spend a two-hour period in the modern and contemporary collections of the Art Institute of Chicago. Students should choose two works from the collection that relate to their own practice and write a paper of 1500-2000 words that concisely argues for these connections. The two works should have been made during the chronological period of the course (ca.1880 to the present) and each should have been created on a different continent. Your paper may trace a common theme between these two works and your practice, or it may find productive contradictions between them and your own work. It can be as formal or personal in content or form as you choose, but regardless of these decisions, your paper should evidence research into the artist/maker. You must provide a bibliography of five scholarly sources on artist or context for each work. Acceptable sources are books, exhibition catalogues, and articles from scholarly journals only. A good place to start (with access to online journals and other texts) is the “Art History Research Guide” at http://libraryguides.saic.edu/arthistory . Websites, blogs, or encyclopedias (online or otherwise) are not acceptable sources, and your research should evidence your use of the Flaxman Library, the Ryerson Library, or its vetted online resources (e.g., the full-text access to scholarly journals). You should plan your museum time early enough to do adequate research for your final paper. DUE 29 NOVEMBER IN CLASS. Accommodations for Students with Disabilities Registered with the DLRC SAIC is committed to full compliance with all laws regarding equal opportunities for students with disabilities. Students with known or suspected disabilities, such as a Reading/Writing Disorder, ADD/ADHD, and/or a mental health condition who think they would benefit from assistance or accommodations should first contact the Disability and Learning Resource Center (DLRC) to schedule an appointment. DLRC staff will review your disability documentation and work with you to determine reasonable accommodations. They will then provide you with a letter outlining the approved accommodations for you to deliver to your instructors. This letter must be presented before any accommodations will be implemented. You should contact the DLRC as early in the semester as possible. The DLRC is located within the Wellness Center on the 13th floor of 116 S Michigan Ave. and can be reached via phone at 312.499.4278 or email at [email protected] . 4 Classroom behavior Smartphones should not be used during class time, with the exception of taking photographs of the screen for notetaking purposes. Laptops: Students will be allowed to use laptops for taking notes, but they should not use it for other purposes during lectures. Any student who does so will be considered “absent/non- participating” for the class session. More than two absences (for any reason) are grounds for No Credit. Tardiness, especially repeated tardiness, may be considered “absent/non-participating.” More than two absences (for any reason) are grounds for No Credit. Plagiarism and Academic Misconduct Any degree of plagiarism will result in “No Credit” for the course and additional institutional disciplinary action. Academic integrity is expected in all coursework, including online learning. It is assumed that the person receiving the credit for the course is the person completing the work. SAIC has processes in place that protect student privacy and uses LDAP authentication to verify student identity. The SAIC Student Handbook defines Academic Misconduct as follows: “Academic misconduct includes both plagiarism and cheating, and may consist of: the submission of the work of another as one’s own; unauthorized assistance on a test or assignment; submission of the same work for more than one class without the knowledge and consent of all instructors; or the failure to properly cite texts or ideas from other sources. Academic misconduct extends to all spaces on campus, including satellite locations and online education.” Plagiarism is a form of intellectual theft. One plagiariZes when one presents another's work as one's own, even if one does not intend to. The penalty for plagiariZing may also result in some loss of some types of financial aid (for example, a No Credit in a course can lead to a loss of the financial aid, merit scholarships, etc.), and repeat offenses can lead to expulsion from the School. Specific procedures for faculty to follow in the case of academic misconduct are detailed in the Student Handbook. For more guidance see the Flaxman Library’s Quick Guide “Avoid Plagiarism” at http://www.saic.edu/webspaces/library/plagiarism_quickguide.pdf . 5 Course calendar All discussion reading assignments must be completed by the date under which they are listed. New readings may be added or changed as necessary, with notice. 30 August 2017 The Politics and Aesthetics of Accuracy in European Art of the Late 19th Century Required reading Daniel Buren, “Function of the Museum,” Artforum 12.1 (September 1973): 68. 6 September Modern gambits leading to the twentieth century Required reading Daniel Buren, “Function of the Museum,” Artforum 12.1 (September 1973): 68. Auguste Rodin and Paul Gsell, “Realism in Art [1911],” in Art: Conversations with Paul Gsell (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984), 8-12. Vincent Van Gogh to Theo Van Gogh, 28 October 1885 (#537): online at http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let537/letter.html Paul Gauguin, “Primitivism [1896-97]” and April 1903 letter to Charles Morice, in H. Chipp, ed., Theories of Modern Art (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968), 83-86. Allen Ginsberg, excerpts re: CéZanne from “An Interview from the Paris Review [1966]” in Dorothy Wolfberg, Scott Burton, and John Tarburton, eds., Exploring the Arts (New York: Visual Arts Press, 1969), 117-23. Henri Matisse, “Notes of a Painter [1908],” in Charles Harrison and Paul Wood, eds., Art in Theory: 1900-1990 (Oxford: Blackwell, 1992), 72- 78.