Arts in a Global World: Contexts and Strategies FA 371, LAS 328 & T D 387D Location: SZB 286 Hours: TTH 12:30 - 2:00 Instructor: Dr. Cristóbal Bianchi G. Email: [email protected] Office Hours: 1 hour and by appointment. Course Description This course combines the critical study of community and socially engaged art, large-scale installations, mixed media arts forms, activism, and biogenetics with skill-building exercises to prepare arts professionals to operate ethically in internationally diverse political, social, and cultural contexts. With equal emphasis on studying work and training students to work internationally, this course incorporates scholarly knowledge and real- world skills for working broadly in global contexts. In general, class meetings offer a combination of lectures, group discussions devoted to readings, video screenings, practical exercises, and student presentations. While case studies are drawn from a wide swath of artistic interventions currently being produced internationally, a majority of these efforts emerge from the Americas. Among the case studies to be featured are: Santiago Sierra (Mexico); CADA (Chile); Casagrande’s “Bombing of Poems” (Chile, Spain, Germany, Poland, Croatia, Italy); Body-Movies by Rafael Lozano-Hammer (Canada, Spain and Mexico); Altars by Thomas Hirschrorn (France); Palas por Pistolas by Pedro Reyes (Mexico); The Skoghall Konsthall by Alfredo Jarr (Sweden); FlashMobs; The Wrap-Reichstag by Christo and Jean-Claude (Germany); It is What it is by Jeremy Deller (Irak, UK and USA); Francis Alyss (Spain-Morocco); Turkish Collective Oda Projesi; The Walled Off Hotel by Banksy (West Bank); The Bhopal Disaster by The Yes Men (France and UK); Exception: Contemporary Art Scene of Pristina (Serbia); Eduardo Kac’s Genetic Art (Brazil). The course is divided into two parts. Part I examines theoretical discussions about contemporary art, and the social and political context of practicing arts in the global scene. Part II explores strategies and models of arts management in the international arena including career stages, residencies, biennales and other elements associated with applications, networking, and budgeting. 1 The course carries the Global Cultures flag. Global Cultures courses are designed to increase your familiarity with cultural groups outside the United States. You should therefore expect a substantial portion of your grade to come from assignments covering the practices, beliefs, and histories of at least one non-U.S. cultural group, past or present. Course Texts – These will be compiled in a course packet and published on Canvas. V. Course Requirements All written assignments are due at 11.59 pm on the listed due dates. Reading Essay 1500 Words (20%) Due: March 9 (Friday). Students will submit an essay exploring concepts and issues discussed during classes and the readings of the first unit of classes (weeks 1-8). The reading essay is conceived as an opportunity for students to “stake-out” a position in response to the content covered in lectures and texts read for part I of the course. You will critically interpret a contemporary art case or concept in the light of what you have learnt in lectures and through the readings. Group Presentation (20%) Students will form small groups and present a topic assigned in class, emerging from a larger exercise about how to curate a series of creative works. It will take place during week 12 (Thursday April 5th, dependent on how many students are in the class). Final Project’s Proposal Presentation (15%) Students will share their final project proposal. Presentations will take place on weeks 15 & 16 (Thursday April 26 & Tuesday May 1st). Final Project 2500 Words (35%) Due: May 9 (Thursday) The final project is conceived as an opportunity for students to apply what they have learned in the course. Students can take two different approaches in their final work: 1) a creative project that the student is working on or developing, or 2) a conceptual developed in the context of the global art panorama. Final project proposals will be agreed with the students and progress will be discussed regularly in class with the instructor and peers. Since this class has a strong collaborative approach, the goal is to create a space for constructive discussion and feedback. 2 Participation 10% • Attendance and participation in this class is essential, both to maintain a high level of discussion and to encourage you to practice your verbal communication skills. You should try to contribute to the discussion every day with thoughtful comments. Be fully present – no text messaging (Phones/devices are required to be off and put away), no note-passing, no sidebar conversations. • Work to listen well and to respond graciously and generously (which, of course, doesn’t mean necessarily agreeing with) other students’ ideas. We want our conversations to be lively, committed, and productively contentious. *There will be no final exam for this course. Course Calendar Week 1: Presentation of the Course: The Global Panorama. T, Jan 16: Introduction to class goals and contents to students. Th, Jan. 18: What does it mean to do creative work in the Global Panorama? Readings Bishop, C (2012a). Participation and Spectacle: Where are we now? Living as Form: Socially engaged art from 1991-2011. New York: Creative Times Books. Duchamp, M (1975). The Creative Act. London: Oxford University Press (pp. 138-40). Week 2: The Social Turn in Contemporary Art I T, Jan. 23: The Materiality of the Open Work: Audience and Spectatorship. Th, Jan. 25: Participation & Relational Aesthetics. Readings: Bourriaud, N. (2002). Relational Aesthetics. France, Les presses du reel (pp. 7-40). Bishop, C. (2012). Artificial Hells. New York: Verso. (pp. 11-40). Week 3: The Social Turn in Contemporary Art II T, Jan. 30: Paradox of Political Art: Debate on Jacques Rancière and Claire Bishop Th, Feb. 1: Visits VAC, Visual Arts Center in Campus (*). Readings 3 Bishop, C (2004). Antagonism and Relational Aesthetics. October 110, Fall, pp. 51-79. doi: 10.1162/0162287042379810 Rancière, Jacques (2008). The Emancipated Spectator. La Fabrique editions. Chapter: “The Paradox of Political Arts.” Week 4: What Does Mean to Work Outside de Galley? T, Feb. 6: The City: Tactic & Strategy Th, Feb. 8: Large Scale Installations: The Spectator as Pilgrim. Readings De Certeau, Michel (1984). The Practice of Everyday Life, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1997. Chapter: Walking the City. (pp. 102-112). Enssle, M. (1997). "The Wrapped Reichstag, 1995: Art, Dialogic Communities and Everyday Life" Theory & Event 1(4). Week 5: Performance & The Aesthetics of the Process. T, Feb. 13: Platforms and Interfaces. Th, Feb. 15: What is Performance? Readings Taylor, D. (2002). Translating Performance. Buenos Aires: Asunto Impreso Ediciones. pp. 44-50. Published. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25595729 Week 6: Conflict & Management in the International Arena. T, Feb. 20: Working in the Public Sphere. Th., Feb. 22: Globalization and Politics. Readings Thompson, N (2011). Living as Form: Socially Engaged Art from 1991-2011. MIT Press: Boston. Slager, H. (2015) “Context Responsive Research” in The Pleasure of Research. Ostfildern: Hatje Cants Verlag. Pp. 61-71. Week 7: Research & Methods in Creative Practices T, Feb. 27: Activism and Crisis Th, March 1: Environmental Art and Climate Justice. Readings 4 Demos, T.J. (2016). “The Art and the Politics of Sustainability” in Decolonizing Nature: Contemporary Art and the Politics of Ecology. Berlin: Sternberg Press. P.31-62. Thompson, N. (2015). Seeing Power: Art and Activism in the 21st Century. Melville House: Brooklyn-London. Week 8: Networks, Mappings & Cartographies. T, March 6: Seminar on Artistic Research and Internet Art. Th, March 8: Final Comments and Discussion about the First Unit of the Class. Readings Busch, Kathrin (2009). “Artistic Research and the Poetics of Knowledge”. Art & Research: A Journal of Ideas, Contexts and Methods, V2, No2. Steyerl, H (2010). Aesthetics of Resistance? Artistic Research as Discipline and Conflict. Retrieved: http://eipcp.net/transversal/0311/steyerl/en/print Groys, B. (2016). Art on the internet in In the Flow. London: Verso. Friday, March 9: Submitted Reading Essay 1500 Words (20%) Week 9, March 12-17 Spring Break - no class Week 10: Introduction to Arts Management in the International Arena. T, March 20: Class Visits the Blanton Museum Th, March 22: Curatorial Practices & Conflict. Readings Gray, C (2010). Museums, Galleries, Politics and Management. Public Policy and Administration, vol. 26, 1: pp. 45-61. Groys, B (2011). Politics of Installations in Going Public, e-flux journal, New York, Sternberg Press .Pp.50-70. Week 11: Cycle of the Creative Disciplines. T, March 27: Creative Industries and Mapping the Cultural Sector. 5 Th., March 29: An Attempt to Map a Careers Cycle: Multitask and the Creative Chain. Readings Thornton, S (2008). Seven Days in the Art World. London: Granta. Week 12: Mapping and Management for a Global Project. T, Apr. 3: Circulation in the Global Panorama: Bureaucracy, diplomacy and negotiations. Th. Apr. 5: Group Class Presentation: Curatorial Text Exercise (20%). Readings Contreras, M. J. (2006). Bombs and Poems: The Representation of Conflict through Performance Art. Happiness and Post-Conflict. G. McGuirk. Nottingham, Critical, Cultural and Communications Press. 3: 100-120. Thompson, D. (2010). Million Stuffed Shark. Aurum Press: London. Week 13: Venues and Platforms at the International Panorama. T, Apr. 10: International Biennales. Th, Apr. 12: Residencies and Fellowships. Readings Gardner, A & Green, Ch. (2016). 2014 Global Art Circuits in Biennials, Triennials and Documenta: The Exhibitions that Created Contemporary Art. New York: Wiley-Blackwell. Gardner, A & Green Ch. (2013). Biennials of the South on the Edges of the Global, Third Text, 27:4, 442-455, DOI: 10.1080/09528822.2013.810892 E.U. (2014). Policy Handbook on Artists Residencies. European Agenda for Culture Work Plan for Culture 2011-2014. Week 14: Tools and Resources for my Project/Portfolio. T, Apr. 17: My Project & Position. Th, Apr. 19: My Proposal & Tips.