Civic Studio Syllabus
From Visual Studies
Contents |
Description
Visual art methods are used to study, form, and present art in a specific public context. Includes the development of a project site, individual and collaborative work, and service learning. Studio operates “in public” presenting lectures, visual displays, and public gatherings.
Prerequisites: Art and Design Majors: completion of Foundations and permission of instructor. Non-Art and Design Majors: Junior Standing and permission of instructor.
3 credit hours
Course Objectives
At the end of the course students are able to:
- 1. Construct and critique projects in public contexts.
- 2. Describe, discuss, and analyze public visual culture in the context of current practice, and historical/theoretical discourse in public art and culture.
- 3. Demonstrate an ability to work collaboratively and cooperatively in the production, presentation, and evaluation of cultural forms.
- 4. Demonstrate proficiency in the use of verbal, written, and visual means to engage in effective and critical discourse about visual works and ideas.
- 5. Recognize and describe the relationships between the practice of art and other human, civic, and commercial enterprises.
Course Topics:
- Preparation and maintenance of the studio site
- Study of the history and theory of issues relevant to the project
- Introduction to relevant research methods
- Individual and collaborative studio work
- Organization and public presentation of studio products
- Community service learning in the vicinity of the project
Additional Topics:
Additional topics include the role of art in culture and community, public art, urban planning, public discourse, civic space, service learning, cultural theory and criticism, practical issues in administering public organizations and programs.
Texts
(Recommended)
- Conversation Pieces: Community and Communication in Modern Art by Grant H. Kester
- Theory in Art Since 1985 edited by Zoya Kocur and Simon Leung
- The Interventionists: Users' Manual for the Creative Disruption of Everyday Life by Nato Thompson
- One Place after Another : Site-Specific Art and Locational Identity
- Making Things Public, Bruno Latour
Evaluation
Students are evaluated in 3 areas. Standard pedagogy in studio art varies in how these areas are weighted. Some faculty put much more emphasis on the studio production. Others prefer distributing evaluation criteria to reflect the range of criteria. These reflect the range of standard weighting of such criteria.
- 1. Studio production
This includes interim and finished studio products or productions: Exhibitions and public presentations of studio products, individual or collaboratively produced studio products. Studio products include: images, objects, documents, books, web sites, videos, project proposals, and documentation or re-presentations of projects. 33%-70%
- 2. Studio Discourse: Writing, Reading, and Discussion, Critique
The operation of the studio and learning involve effective participation in communicating about ideas, studio work, and historical and theoretical texts. This can include the content of discussion participation, written responses to texts, written and verbal statements on studio work and ideas, and written and verbal critique. 10%-40%
- 3. Studio Performance/Contribution to the Group:
Studio work and learning is a highly social and dynamic activity that requires active participation by its members. This can be assessed by attendance as well as observed contributions to the studio organization, production, and progress. The range for this goes a bit higher than is standard for "participation" criteria. This area goes beyond a standard "participation" including work and products that are not necessarily "studio products". 10%-40%
