OPEN MEDIA STUDIO
Course Description & Syllabus
This course is a topic driven, interdisciplinary research studio. Students investigate the topic and their relationship to it in a variety of media, and supplement their inquiry with research that occurs outside the classroom. An exploration of different processes, materials, expression and connection with the larger world is emphasized.
This section of the course is conceptualized as studio practice boot camp. After students graduate from school and are making art outside of the academic context, the artist is the sole driver of thier work. This course looks to professional artists for insight into the struggles and strategies they face in the studio. It dives deep into individual practice to examine what drives each student to make art. Students will develop strategies for creating content. Students create art and pay as much attention to the process as to the outcome. Students reflect through writing and class critiques on their progress and production.
This course is a topic driven, interdisciplinary research studio. Students investigate the topic and their relationship to it in a variety of media, and supplement their inquiry with research that occurs outside the classroom. An exploration of different processes, materials, expression and connection with the larger world is emphasized.
This section of the course is conceptualized as studio practice boot camp. After students graduate from school and are making art outside of the academic context, the artist is the sole driver of thier work. This course looks to professional artists for insight into the struggles and strategies they face in the studio. It dives deep into individual practice to examine what drives each student to make art. Students will develop strategies for creating content. Students create art and pay as much attention to the process as to the outcome. Students reflect through writing and class critiques on their progress and production.
The Worst Artwork
Students were asked to create the worst work of art.
Material
The prompt for this assignment was to create a work of art in which materiality is carefully considered and integral to the meaning of the work.
Questions to consider:
What are the histories of my material/object?
What are the ways that this material/object operates environmentallyWhat are the metaphors or stories related to this material/object? Cultural and/or personal?
How do I act on this material/object and how does it act on me?
How does our understanding of this material/object shift by including it in a work of art?
Questions to consider:
What are the histories of my material/object?
What are the ways that this material/object operates environmentallyWhat are the metaphors or stories related to this material/object? Cultural and/or personal?
How do I act on this material/object and how does it act on me?
How does our understanding of this material/object shift by including it in a work of art?
Process
Students were asked to create a work of art in which the process of making the work is integral to how the piece generates meaning.
What is the verb list that would accompany this piece?
How might an action have double meanings?
How does identity relate to the action and how does that shape the meaning of the work?
How does the viewer experience the process? Is it self-evident in the final piece? Is there documentation, a narrative, or some other didactic device that gives the viewer the information?
Is there even a final piece to show at the end? Perhaps there is just documentation?
What is the verb list that would accompany this piece?
How might an action have double meanings?
How does identity relate to the action and how does that shape the meaning of the work?
How does the viewer experience the process? Is it self-evident in the final piece? Is there documentation, a narrative, or some other didactic device that gives the viewer the information?
Is there even a final piece to show at the end? Perhaps there is just documentation?
Context
The prompt for this project was to create a work of art in which the context is critical to the generation of meaning.
Aspects to consider:
-The context in which the artwork is created.
-The context in which the artwork is viewed.
-Site-specificity: The artwork created for a singular site, a specific physical location.
-Site-relationality: The artwork relates/responds to the site in which it is situated. The work may relate to more than site although the nature of its relationship may change.
Aspects to consider:
-The context in which the artwork is created.
-The context in which the artwork is viewed.
-Site-specificity: The artwork created for a singular site, a specific physical location.
-Site-relationality: The artwork relates/responds to the site in which it is situated. The work may relate to more than site although the nature of its relationship may change.
