Readings, etc.
The below readings correspond to our schedule (be sure to check out the Further reading/viewing page for supplemental sources). While some links refer to outside pages, most are downloadable files normaly in PDF format.
CLASS #1, TH 1/24 ***Due for Class #2, TUE 1/29
• Read The UBUWEB Anthology of Conceptual Writing essay by Craig Douglas Dworkin. Following this, view any three works to the left of the essay and Post your impressions on them. Think about the strategies the authors are invoking, and what, if anything, is required from the reader. What are the authors trying to communicate? Are the strategies effective? Why? Why not? Also, read the College of Creative Arts (CACL) User Contract (pdf), and then complete the CACL Lab User Receipt (pdf) before Class #2.
CLASS #2, TUE 1/29 ***Due for Class #3 TH, 1/31
• Read the short “The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism” by F.T. Marinetti. Post your impressions, considering if the manifesto has any relevance today. Why? Why not? View Photoshop Tutorials 1,2,3 + Illustrator Tutorials 1-10.
CLASS #3, TH 1/31 *** Due for Class #4 TUE 2/5
• Read the short essay by Futurist composer Luigi Rossolo “The Art of Noises“. Post your impressions and consider the ways technology was an influence.
• Scan three advertising images. Try and pick images where you can incorporate the existing material as a means for usurping its meaning.
• Explore some Xerographic detournements.
CLASS #4, TUE 2/5 *** Due for Class #5, TH 2/7
• Read The Surrealist Manifesto by Andre Breton and post your impressions.
• Pick one Surrealist technique and make a simple artwork using their methods. Bring the result to Class #5
CLASS #5, TH 2/7 *** Due for Class #6, TUE 2/12
• Read Dick Higgins short 1966 “Statement on Intermedia” as well as Albert Einstein’s brief essay “Society and the Individual” from his book “Ideas and Opinions”(pdf). As you post your impressions, look for connections between the two essays, all the while considering communication technology, the questions it poses for society, and the charge the writers place on artists and individuals.
CLASS #6, TUE 2/12 *** Due for Class #7, TH 2/14
• Read “A Very Brief and Concise History of Graphic Design“. If you haven’t already, view these Xerographic detournements.
• Work on the detournement of your advertising image *** Due for Class #8, 2/19.
• OPTIONAL: View Photoshop Tutorials 4, 5a, 5b and 6; and Illustrator Tutorials 11a, 11b
CLASS #7, TH 2/14 *** Due for Class #9, TH 2/21
• Read George Brecht’s short 1964 “Something About Fluxus” and Ken Friedman’s 1989 “40 Years of Fluxus.” Post your ideas, and consider the notion of anti-art as you interpret the movements ideological platform(s).
CLASS #8, TUE 2/19
• Photoshop/Illustrator assignment due.
CLASS #9, TH 2/21 *** Due for Class #10, TH 2/28
• Read these Intellectual Property myths, this essay “Copyright, CopyLeft, and the Creative Anti-Commons” by Joanne Richardson and Dmytri Kleiner, and this short LA Times Article “Copyright This” by Dallas Weaver. As you post your impressions, consider the pros and cons of copyright law, the concept of intellectual property and its impact on creativity and cultural vitality, as well as the ways market forces wind up shaping creative expression/output.
• Bring your Fluxus inspired “event scores” to class.
CLASS #11, TH 2/28 *** Due for Class #13, TH 3/6
• Read the Situationist Manifesto and the second part of the Raoul Vangeigem essay entitled “Exchange and Gift” on page 6 of this pdf. Also, NOT REQUIRED, but you might find interesting these short essays on Verhoven’s “Startship Troopers” in this pdf.
CLASS #12, TUE 3/4 *** See due dates below ea. assignment.
• Read Guy Debord’s essay “Methods of Detournement” and the Lettrist International’s 1955 essay “Proposals for Rationally Improving the City of Paris,” and finally “A User’s Guide to Detournement” by Guy Debord and Gil J. Wolman, 1956. *** Due for Class #15, TH 3/13.
Class #16 ***Due for class #19, TH 4/10
• Read Bob Gruen’s pdf essay “Turning Rebellion Into Money,” and the Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter pdf “The Rebel Sell.”
Class #24 ***Due for class #25, TH 5/8
• Read Kim Cascone’s pdf article “The Aesthetics of Failure: Post Digital Tendencies in Contemporary Computer Music”