ART THEORY AND CRITICISM



art theory and criticism

But no art today is created without theory – and without overcoming it.

Harold Rosenberg, 1967

In practice, [after 1985] the role of the artist/cultural producer often coincided

with other roles – for example, curator, educator, or entrepreneur.

Zoya Kocur and Simon Leung, 2005

Art 206, Fall 2007

M 4-6:50 PM

Reading Coach: Elaine O’Brien

Office: Kadema 190

Office Hours: W 4-6, T 4:30-5:30

Email: eobrien@csus.edu

Website:

Description and Objective:

This is a seminar in critical art theory designed specifically for you: a Sac State graduate student artist/cultural producer in 2007. We will read, discuss, and apply some of the most influential concepts about art from some of the best-known philosophers, theorists, and critics of visual culture from Plato and Kant to Judith Butler and Wu Hung. The objective is for you to enter the critical discourse by becoming familiar with its important historical and contemporary currents and locate your own conceptual production within them. Depending upon how much time and effort you bring to it, by the end of the semester you will be that much more conscious of your unique mode of thinking about art and better able to articulate it verbally and in practice.

Required Texts:

• Art and Its Significance: An Anthology of Aesthetic Theory, Stephen David Ross, ed.

• Theory in Contemporary Art Since 1985, Zoya Kocur and Simon Leung, eds.

Requirements and Grade Basis:

15%: Participation:

• Attitude: Good preparation, consistently engaged listening and responding, respect for the opinions of fellow students and helping them think, could raise your grade by as much as a whole letter. Never monopolize the discussion, but always contribute something. Ask other people what they think. Make eye contact with everyone when you speak. Poor participation, chronic whining about the readings or disrespecting authors and student colleagues reduces your grade significantly, by as much as a whole letter.

• Attendance policy: One unexcused absence will reduce your grade by a whole letter grade. Two unexcused absences results in failure. Illness and family emergencies are excused if you tell me in person during my office hours or after class what happened within a week of the missed class. However, after three excused absences you will be asked to drop the course. Work, transportation problems, and scheduled appointments are not excused. Repeated lateness and/or leaving early can reduce your grade by as much as a whole letter.

35%: Weekly reading journal entries and In-class commentaries

Always bring the texts we are reading to class.

• Reading Journal entries: 550 words (typed, double-space, 12 font). Turn them in at the end of each class. I’ll mark them with a check plus, check, or check minus and return them to you. These must be on time for the seminar to function. Late journals are not accepted.

On how to read theory: No one can read theoretical essays quickly. These texts take the best readers a lot of time. They can be read repeatedly year after year and still provoke insights. So do not be discouraged, demoralized, or angry at the author and me if you don’t understand something. Read and reread each essay slowly and look up all unfamiliar words. Underline passages and make marginal notes. Mark key ideas “for discussion.” Do not try to keep your books unmarked. Marking aids comprehension and it will also help you locate significant passages during class discussion. You might want the seminar to discuss something you don’t understand it. That’s absolutely fine. For good pedagogical reasons, I will not “explain” meanings, but we can tease out our meanings together.

For the journal entry: The format is a dialogue.

o Put your name, course title, the date, author, author’s nationality, title of reading, and original publication date on top.

o Select at least three of the passages you marked in the book “for discussion.”

o Write the quotation or paraphrase of it into your journal with the page number in parentheses next to the passage.

o Then write a brief response for each quote or paraphrase until you have written at least 550 words. You may write up to 650 words maximum if you need to. (You can write as much as you want, of course; just don’t turn it all in.)

• Save all marked journal entries for the bound journal.

• In-class commentaries:

• Two parts:

• At the beginning of each class, before the collaborative presentation (see below), you will write a summary of the main thesis and salient points of each of the week’s readings. The purpose is to refresh your memory and prepare you for discussion. You may refer to your journal entry as you write.

• At the end of class you will conclude the commentary with paragraph on what you will remember and possibly apply to your own work and life from the week’s readings. Turn in the commentary with the journal entry at the end of the class. I will mark them with a check plus, check, or check minus and return them to you.

• Save the in-class commentaries for the bound journal.

• Bound journal: Due December 10. At a copy store, ring bind the marked (not fresh copies) journal entries and in-class commentaries with a front and back cover.

• Before you bind it, add a cover page with title, your name, date and course information on it. Add a table of contents and a 2-page (550-word) introduction.

o For the introduction, follow the same dialogue format. First reread all of your journal entries and in-class commentaries carefully, underlining significant passages and writing notes in the margins. In the first paragraph of the introduction, summarize your work. Then transcribe or paraphrase a few of the most significant sentences you wrote and write a short response to them. Conclude with a brief evaluation of what you learned from the readings, especially the ones most relevant to your work.

15%: Two collaborative presentations of readings

Reading groups will be selected on the first day of class. Get together outside of class with your group, discuss the readings you are to present and prepare a formal presentation that one or more of you will read aloud at the beginning of the assigned class. Make a handout to distribute to the class before your presentation. For each reading, identify the author (why is s/he credible?), the thesis question, thesis, key points of argument, key terms (defined), your questions and positions. Give at least two examples (in addition to those given in the book) of specific works of art or art exhibitions that might be interpreted from the perspective under consideration.

20%: Mock MA thesis: first draft due October 29, final draft due November 26: Minimum of five pages (1400 words, typed, double-space, 12 font) Describe the conceptual genesis and intentions of your actual or proposed MA artwork, thesis, or project. Articulate ties to relevant course readings.

• You are required to discuss your thesis with me before October 8. I will have one-on-one meetings during class time. You are also encouraged to see me during my office hours.

• I will grade the first draft (which should not be “rough”), suggest ways to improve it, and consider it part of the final thesis grade.

15%: Class presentation of thesis: 20-minutes. Based on your mock thesis, present an illustrated lecture to the class demonstrating how your conceptual approach is apparent in what you create or might create. Describe philosophical attitudes not visible in slides but important to the work and your creative process (before, during, after). You are required to practice this with me at least a week before presenting. I will schedule a series of practice sessions, but it is your responsibility to make sure you get one.

Schedule of assignments (subject to changes announced in class)

• NOTE: Unless otherwise noted, assignments are due the following week for discussion.

• NOTE: Read all editor’s introductions and headnotes carefully.

• NOTE: We will cancel one class for a field trip to the Olafur Eliasson installation at SFMoMA

Sept 10: Ross: Plato, Republic II, III, X; Ion; Symposium

Sept 17: Ross: Immanuel Kant, “Critique of Judgment”

Sept 24: Omar, Liv, Christina, Sohyung - Kant

Ross: G.W.F. Hegel, “Philosophy of Fine Art (Introduction)”

Oct 1: Sally, Manuel, Susan - Hegel

Ross: Friedrich Nietzsche, “The Birth of Tragedy,” “Attempt at a Self-Criticism”

Leo Tolstoy, “What is Art?”

❖ October 3: Pre-view screening and discussion of “Romance: Laurie Simmons, |Judy Pfaff, Lari Pittman, Pierre Huyghe,” in the PBS program, “Art 21” (with Associate Professor Elaine O’Brien and Crocker Art Museum curator, Colin Dusek; 6:00 pm, Kadema 145).

❖ October 4: Lecture by Off-Center Femininites Curator Jovana Stokic at 5pm, Mariposa 1000 Required attendance

❖ October 6 (11:30 am – 5:30 pm, Mariposa 1001): Symposium for “Cycle of Life” (exhibition in the University Library Gallery)

Oct 8: Susan, George, Jesus, Erin – Nietzsche and Tolstoy

▪ Deadline to discuss mock thesis with O’Brien

Ross: Clive Bell, “Art”; John Dewey, “Art as Experience”; Maurice Merleau-Ponty, “Eye

and Mind”

❖ October 10: Pre-view screening and discussion of “Protest: An-My Lê, Alfredo Jaar, Jenny Holzer, Nancy Spero” in the PBS program, “Art 21” (with Associate Professor Elaine O’Brien and Crocker Art Museum curator, Colin Dusek; 6:00 pm, Kadema 145).

Oct 15: Jennifer, Jennifer, Kimberly, Jeremy – Bell, Dewey, Merleau-Ponty

Ross: Michel Foucault: “The Order of Things” (Preface to Las Meninas); Jean François

Lyotard, “What is Postmodernism”

Oct 22: Kyle, Fernando, Christina, Yelena – Foucault and Lyotard

Kocur/Leung: Part 1: Contemporary Art Practices and Models (Include introduction)

❖ October 25: Lecture by Venice Biennale artist Emily Prince (6:00 pm, Kadema 145)

Required attendance

Oct 29: Omar, Liv, Christina, Sohyung – Part 1: Contemporary Art Practices & Models

First draft of mock thesis due

Kocur/Leung: Part 2: Culture/Identities/Political Fields (Include introduction)

Nov 5: Sally, Manuel, Susan - Part 2: Culture/Identities/Political Fields

Kocur/Leung : Part 3: Postcolonial Critiques (Include introduction)

❖ November 10 (2:00-4:00 pm): Artists’ symposium for “Area: Blurring the Lines” (exhibition in the University Library Gallery) Required

Nov 19: Susan, George, Jesus, Erin – Part 3: Postcolonial Critiques

Kocur/Leung: Rethinking Aesthetics (Include introduction)

THANKSGIVING

Nov 26: Jennifer, Jennifer, Kimberly, Jeremy – Rethinking Aesthetics

Mock thesis due

Kocur/Leung: Theories after Postmodernism (Include introduction)

Presentation practice sessions Wednesday & Thursday, 6-8 pm, Kadema 145

Dec 3: Kyle, Fernando, Christina, Yelena – Theories after Postmodernism

Presentations

Practice sessions Thursday, Dec 6, 6-8 pm

❖ December 5 (6:00 pm, Hinde Auditorium): “Envisioning America”: A panel of “American Scene” artists will talk about their work, in conjunction with the Grandma Moses Exhibition at the Crocker Art Museum (September 9-January 6). Required

Dec 10: Presentations / Bound journal due

Presentation practice sessions Wednesday & Thursday, 6-8 pm, Kadema 145

Dec 17, 3-5 pm: Presentations and faretheewells

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