Course Number: ART 379S Unique Number: #21083 Title: Readings, Writings, and Conversations Times of Class: Tuesdays and Thursdays12:30 to 2:00 pm, Classroom: ART 4.206 Professor Ned Rifkin Office: DFA 2.124 Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:00-3:30 pm (and by appointment) Telephone: 512.232-5406 Office email: [email protected] COURSE OVERVIEW The goal of this course is to provide learning experiences to undergraduate studio students through reading, discussing and writing about what modern and contemporary artists themselves had written or said. Each student will write about these readings and make make individual presentations—both oral and written--on a selected topic. All students will be expected to participate in these discussions actively. Assignments will include passages of interviews or essays by many of the key artists of modern art, including Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Marcel Duchamp, Andre Breton, Kurt Schwitters, Kasimir Malevich, Piet Mondrian. In addition, students will also read writings by mid-20th century artists Jackson Pollock, David Smith, Louise Bourgeois, Yves Klein, Ad Reinhard, Agnes Martin, Alice Neel, Chuck Close, Leon Golub James Turrell, Bruce Nauman, Ann Hamilton, Martin Puryear, and Jenny Holzer, Yoko Ono, Joseph Kosuth, and John Baldessari. For the most contemporary voices, we will screen a number of documentaries featuring interviews with living artists. Among these could be Do-Ho Suh, Mel Chin, Julie Mehretu, Catherine Opie, Paul Pfeiffer, Doris Salcedo, Marina Abramovics, Laurie Anderson, Janine Antoni, Matthew Barney, Cai Guo-Qiang, Michael Ray Charles, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Ellen Gallagher, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Kiki Smith, Arturo Herrera, Teresa Hubbard & Alexander Birchler, Alfredo Jaar, William Kentridge, Mike Kelley, Jeff Koons, Glenn Ligon, Maya Lin, among others. FORMAT Classes will be based on the readings assigned in the previous class meeting. Following spring break (midterm), participants in the class will begin making presentations of readings undertaken independently after consultation with the professor. These oral presentations will consist of a shared bibliography developed in tutorial sessions with professor annotated with summaries of insights found in this research. This will form the basis for the end of term paper, written by each student. REQUIRED TEXTS: o Chipp, Herschel B., Theories of Modern Art: A Source Book by Artists and Critics (Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: The University of California Press, 1968) o Stiles, Kristine and Selz, Peter, Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A Sourcebook of Artists’ Writings (Berkeley and Los Angeles: The University of California Press, 1996) GRADING . Short Written Papers: Students will be assigned to write short papers about the shared readings and viewings. For example, the class will be assigned to go visit the Harry R. Ransom Center to look at the photographic image by Niecephore Niepce on view there. These will constitute 20% of the final course grade. Attendance: Because so much of this class involves exchanges between and among students with the professor, attending class will be given significant weight. Two excused absences will be permitted, but after that, points will be deducted from the students’ grades. This comprises 15% of final course grade. Participation: In addition to attending, each student will be graded according to his/her active engagement of discussion as well as serving as a “respondent” to a classmate’s oral presentation. This aspect of the course constitutes 20% of the final course grade. Oral Presentation: Each student will read and research a subject that will be seleted in consultation with the professor. This subject will mean that each student must create a bibliography approved by the professor. This will be the foundation for the oral presentation on the subject and form the core for the term paper. The compiling of the bibliography and presentation represents 20% of final grade. Term Paper: Due at the penultimate class meeting on Tuesday, May 1. For everyday past this date that a student’s paper is submitted, it will be downgraded a “+” or “-“ sign. Should anyone wish to submit their term papers early, a comparable reward will be given, i.e. a “+” or “-“ step up will be awarded. The term paper is computed as 25% of grade. Details will follow. THERE IS NO FINAL EXAMINATION FOR THIS COURSE. The grade scale equivalents are: A (4.00) A- (3.67) B+ (3.33) B (3.00) B- (2.67) C+ (2.33) C (2.00) C- (1.67) D+ (1.33) D (1.00) D- (.67) F (0.00). STATEMENTS: According to the General Information catalog, “the value of a university degree depends on the absolute integrity of the work done by each student for that degree, a student should maintain a high standard of individual honor in his or her scholastic work” (page 98). Students who violate University rules on scholastic dishonesty are subject to disciplinary penalties, including the possibility of failure in the course and/or dismissal from the University. Since such dishonesty harms the individual, all students, 2 and the integrity of the University, policies on scholastic dishonesty will be strictly enforced. Students with disabilities may request appropriate academic accommodations from the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement, Services for Students with Disabilities, 471-6259 or via http://www.utexas.edu/diversity/ddce/ssd/ 3 LEARNING APPROACH: Dr. Ned Rifkin Professor, Department of Art and Art History It is my deep belief that the role of the teacher is to open the individual student to subjects by modeling inquiry, fostering curiosity, and creating an environment for learning. In the end, the value of a course taken is to introduce subject matter through its ultimate applied value to life. Memorizing facts is useful, but in the end learning how to think differently or beyond what one already knows is of essential value. As your professor, I can only lead you through a process; I cannot implant insights or ideas into you. You must be open to learning for learning to be transacted. As a result of this approach to teaching/learning, I believe that the first period of our class should be a discussion about this idea and to make a determination that is mutually agreed upon for the balance of time we will share. Of course, the responsibility for leading the class is with the professor. However, the responsibility for actual learning is with each student. (Obviously, there are many areas where these functions overlap and even merge.) College learning is set up so that it models how to teach yourself for those years following your formal studies as you become a “life-long learner.” To understand, appreciate, and begin this process, our class will focus not only on the subjects at hand, but, perhaps more importantly, on how you can best learn not only from lectures, books, and other existing sources, and also how to learn from your fellow students, from those with specific knowledge outside of the class, as well as through the inspiring process of research and discovery. The beginning part of this class will consist of a conversation between students and professor wherein we will come to understand the goals for the course more specifically. For example, as the leader/professor, I will list several of my goals, but will welcome ideas that you bring to the class: What prompted you to enroll? What did you imagine was your goal in signing up for this course? What do you believe you need to learn through this course that will advance your college education? Once we establish the parameters for achieving these shared goals, I believe greater value will emerge through a spirit of interdependency and participation by everyone involved. In short, I am asking you to take greater responsibility for your own education while I also recognize that the clearer I can be about what you need from me, the better I can serve our shared goals. This is YOUR education and class; let’s begin by finding out our mutual expectations and aspirations. Certainly we will utilize techniques and systems that have been used successfully in the past, I also hope that we can employ new ways of learning about the subject of this class. 4 By treating each of you as maturing individuals who progressively will understand that this education is yours to create, you will only receive what you invest into the class. The greater your efforts, the greater your rewards. COURSE READING/VIEWING ASSIGNMENT SCHEDULE (approximate): January 17 Introductions, Syllabus and Requirements review, Goal Setting, Grading Policy 19 Maurice Denis, Odilon Redon, Henri Matisse, Maurice Vlaminck 24 Ernst Kirchner, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Franz Marc, Robert Delaunay 26 Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, Pablo Picasso, Guillaume Apollonaire, Andre Salmon 31 F. T. Marinetti, Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carra, Stanton MacDonald-Wright February 2 Piet Mondrian, Theo von Doesburg, Kasimir Malevich, Constantin Brancusi 7 Dada Slogans, Tristan Tzara, Kurt Schwitters, Marcel Duchamp, Hannah Hoch 9 Giorgio de Chirico, Andre Breton, Salvador Dali, Max Ernst 14 Arshille Gorky, Stuart Davis, Congressman Gorge A. Dondero 16 Hans Hoffman, Jackson Pollock, Barnett Newman, Willem de Kooning 21 Alexander Calder, Alberto Giacometti, David Smith, Louise Bourgeois 23 Francis Bacon, Piero Manzoni, Yves Klein, Alberto Burri, Lucio Fontana 28 Ad Reinhardt, Ellsworth Kelly, Agnes Martin, Frank Stella, Donald Judd March 1 6 Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Ed Ruscha, Tom Wesselmann,