All material should be submitted via eCommons.
HW, week 2 - 9::
Ongoing weekly response papers. What questions arise for you at the end of each week of class readings, artworks and discussions? Use references to the weekly texts, artworks and your class notes. I am looking for evidence of reading and attention in class. I am looking for good questions that are supported by textual references. You may use quotes, but don't be super heavy handed with them. You may skip one week of your choice. .5-1pages, single spaced, 12pt font; I prefer Georgia or Verdana. Due each Friday at 11:55p.
A0:: weeks 3-9
Class moderators and presenters of weekly material. Beginning week 3, pairs of students will present the readings (~10-20mins) provide handouts to help guide the class through the material and co facilitate the course discussion. The goal of this class is to have engaged, dynamic conversations; this means questions are paramount, as are methods of framing opinions and facts in a way that keeps the conversation going. Students will be graded on their grasp of the material, the quality of the handouts and their ability to engage the class (keep the conversation going). Weeks and groups will be assigned in Week Two.
A1::
Choose a context, a classroom a workplace, city street or a landscape on the edge of industrialization.... What are the flows of communication and power? How do you read these flows? ie. what are the social codes, symbols, indicators of power? Photographs, diagrams and drawings are welcome alongside your text as you explore the flows of power-over and power-with. In your writing, choose one socially-engaged artist we've looked at so far, and consider how they might approach the problem power dynamics you have begun to outline, or use your own creativity to approach it. Again, images, diagrams and other visual material may be useful in helping to explore and understand how power dynamics might shift, but these should not be the end result - rather, they should help one to understand how social engagement might be effected. Consider Bishop, Boal, Bourriaud and Laclau/ Mouffe to illustrate a critical analysis of how a socially engaged approach may or may not shift dynamics. Min 2.5 pages of text (excluding any images), single spaced, 12pt font; I prefer Georgia or Verdana. Due by 11:55p April 15.
A2::
Identify and analyze an algorithm that deeply and problematically affects our lives, or certain lives and devise an antidote to it. Present it as a a possibly existing or near-future artifact. Write out your algorithm and solution as algorithmic pseudocode, and write some text that envisions its effect on society. It can be utopian or dystopian, parody or prefiguration. There is push and pull here between the depth of your antidote and how you creatively present it and your text about said antidote. No image # or page length specified. This assignment idea was stolen from Paolo Pedercini's class Internet Resistance. Due by 11:55p May 07.
A3a::
21st-century artist's toolkits. Present and defend 5 tools or skills you think artists in the 21st-century should have, and why. Use examples of artists discussed in class to back up your choices. 4 pages of text (excluding any images), single spaced, 12pt font; I prefer Georgia or Verdana. Text due by 11:55p May 27.
A3b::
Presentation of the 21st-century artist's toolkits. Prepare slides or other visual materials for your presentation.
Presentation dates TBD.