Self: I as Image Fall 2017

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

"Though separated from what they produce, people nevertheless produce every detail of their world with ever-increasing power. They thus also find themselves increasingly separated from that world. The closer their life comes to being their own creation, the more they are excluded from that life"

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DUE Wednesday 12/13

FINAL PROJECT: Self Portrait (due on the blog by 12/12 at 11am)

Choosing any one or combination of processes that you have explored during the semester, compose an image that captures a self-portrait. Through an oral and visual presentation(approximately 7 minutes long) of your works, and a short written summary on the blog. You will present your project in class. Bring your project to class and use the project and your post to explain the following to the class:

Choose a quote from Guy Debord's reading that inspires/influences your final self portrait. Include this in your post with some explanation of its connection to your piece.

Consider these questions in your process, in your post and in your presentation:

• What is the subject of your image?

• What is the content of your image?

• Why did you make the choices that led to the composition?

• Explain the process and steps you went through and why you made those decisions.

• How you would categorize your work (ex. collage, graphic print, mixed media, etc).

• What artists or works are appropriate to compare your work to?

• What quote from Society of the Spectacle best illustrates the themes in your self portrait? Please explain this.

• What do you think this image conveys to the audience?

• What are the differences between the midterm self-portrait and your final self-portrait?

• What influenced these changes (events, readings, information, artists)?

You must photograph and share your project on the class blog along with a short essay that answers the questions above. You will present your project in class from your blog post and we will have a class discussion and critique for each project.

Bring your project to class and display it on the wall next to your midterm project!

Good luck!

__________________________

Due Wednesday 12/6

One more weekly selfie inspired by the spectacle and connected to your ideas for your final project. Use your process of creating your final self portrait project to try a digital selfie that informs or speaks to your final project. That adds or helps make your final project richer. Have your weekly selfie speak to what we will see in your final project.

Bring your final project IN PROGRESS to class on 12/6. We will spend the class time working on our projects. Bring your project and materials to class along with sketches and outlines of what you hope to accomplish. This will be your last chance to get feedback on your project from critique in class. All projects are due in class and photographed and posted to the blog before class begins at 2:10pm on Dec 13.

FINAL PROJECT: Self Portrait (due 12/13)

Choosing any one or combination of processes that you have explored during the semester, compose an image that captures a self-portrait. Through an oral and visual presentation (approximately 7 minutes long) of your works, and a short written summary on the blog. You will present your project in class. Bring your project to class and use the project and your post to explain the following to the class:

• What is the subject of your image?

• What is the content of your image?

• Why did you make the choices that led to the composition?

• Explain the process and steps you went through and why you made those decisions.

• How you would categorize your work (ex. collage, graphic print, mixed media, etc).

• What artists or works are appropriate to compare your work to?

• What do you think this image conveys to the audience?

• What are the differences between the midterm self-portrait and your final self-portrait?

• What influenced these changes (events, readings, information, artists)?

Two tweets with the hashtag #selfiasimage

__________________________

Due Wednesday 11/29

Weekly Selfie inspired by the single story and the work of Wangechi Mutu. Please look at the collage work of Wangechi Mutu in various media including her videos. Create a selfie inspired by her work that uses digital collage elements and tells a larger story of who you are. If you are ambitious create a short video.

The Danger of the Single Story talk by Chimamanda Adichie video we saw in class:

https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story

Wangechi Mutu videos we saw in class:

except from her piece 'The End of Eating Everything'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMZSCfqOxVs

Interview with Wangechi Mutu and Santigold

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XczdrcLUxMA&t=8s

Wangechi Mutu on her work more generally and on TEoEE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvGcO73MM-I

NO NEW READINGS

We will revisit the readings on the spectacle for next weeks discussion. Please read these if you have not done so already. If you did not hand in your writing assignment on the previous readings EMAIL IT immediately. It was due on 11/22. See below.

Begin to plan for your final project. Read the description of the final project on the syllabus. Bring ideas in your notebook (and phone) including outline, sketches, images and materials to class on 11/29.

Two tweets with the hashtag #selfiasimage

___________________

Due Wednesday 11/22

GROUP 5 presents

Extension for the Gallery Visit Assignment until Friday 11/24 at 11pm posted to the blog (for part credit).

2 READINGS ONLINE:

From Guy Debord's Society of the Spectacle (first published 1967):

1-Debord, First Chapter (1977 translation) OR (2002 translation)

2-Recent Article in Hyperallergic Magazine:

https://hyperallergic.com/313435/an-illustrated-guide-to-guy-debords-the-society-of-the-spectacle/

QUICK WRITING ASSIGNMENT TO HAND-IN Please choose 5 quotes from the Guy Debord reading above and explain them. Number the quote and write out your explanation of each. This can be highly theoretical. Do your best! What you think it means is important! I will be collecting these 5 explanations. Please have them ready to hand in at the beginning of class.

Weekly Selfie addressing "the spectacle" Create a single or series of digital selfies that illustrates a quote from the first chapter of Guy Debord's Society of the Spectacle. Post the image(s) and the quote to the blog.

Two tweets with the hashtag #selfiasimage

___________________

Due Wednesday 11/15

GROUPS 4 presents

READINGS:

Berger, Chapter 7

Review: Finkelstein, Chapter 3

Post 2 - Gallery Visit Assignment

(due Wednesday 11/15)

On your own or in pairs, find and visit a gallery or museum exhibition that includes self portrait work. Be sure to pay special attention to the labels describing the pieces and to the artist statements in the exhibition binder or gallery wall text and handouts. You must take photos and notes during your visit and then write an ~800 word response to the ideas being addressed. Please be sure to address the following questions:

What are some themes of the exhibition?

How do the artists address identity and the self?

What are some critiques of self, identity and perception?

Describe at least two projects in detail and explain how the projects represent self?

What are the artists and curators telling the gallery or museum audience?

How do the artists approach the presentation of self and self portraiture?

~800 words. EDIT your writing. Include at least 3 images of the projects you chose and the gallery space (use images you took when available) and 2 links to information about the works you chose. Reference the class readings (Finkelstein and Berger) in answering the questions and include at least two citations of the readings in your short essay.

Weekly Selfie inspired by Andy Warhol. Try to recreate a blotted line drawing by using ink on a glossy surface to trace one of your own images (selfies) and then transferring or “printing” that line drawing to another paper. Do this 3 times. Use ink that will not dry right away or use charcoal. Once you create the print color them using bright colors. Think of the work of Andy Warhol. You can use markers, watercolor, acrylic paint etc. whatever you have access to. If these experiments do not work out for you try the digital version: trace your selfie using a dark black pen/marker. Take a photo of the line drawing and then color it in photoshop or another app to create the Warhol effect we looked at in class. Make 3 versions.

Two tweets with the hashtag #selfiasimage

________________________

Due Wednesday 11/8

READINGS:

Finkelstein, Chapter 3

Weekly Selfie Create a selfie inspired by Andy Warhol. Research Warhol and his work and creatva selfie addressing the themes of death, celebrity and/or reproduction.

_______________________

CLASS CANCELLED TODAY 10/25

See below for assignments due next week. Group 3 will present next week. You have a writing assignment due 11/8. Please see below for details. Email me if you have any questions.

Due Wednesday 11/1

READINGS:

Finkelstein, Chapter 2 Manners pgs. 75-117

John Berger Chapters 4+5

Group 3 presents

Two tweets with the hashtag #selfiasimage

________________

Due Wednesday 10/18

MIDTERM PROJECTS DUE

Please bring completed projects to class as well as posting the project to the blog with a short writing assignment. See below for details.

Using processes including collage, assemblage, drawing and painting each student will compose an image that captures a self-portrait. Projects must be well thought out and made. Please be prepared to spend time on these projects. They should reflect thoughtful planning, research and lots of time and energy in the production. Please be prepared to address the meaning behind your self portrait, any artists that have inspired you and why you have chosen the materials and the subject matter to represent yourself. In written form in a short post on the blog please describe your project, post a photograph of it and address the following questions:

• What is the subject of your image?

• What is the content of your image?

• Why did you make the choices that led to the composition?

• What do you think this image conveys to the viewers?

• What artists have influenced your self portrait?

• What techniques have you used to create your self portrait?

• Why and how does this project represent you?

You will present your piece in front of the class in a 3 minute presentation using your post on the blog and your project and we will have a group critique and discussion addressing the questions above.

Good luck!

GROUP 2 PRESENTS

_______________________

Due Wednesday 10/11

READINGS:

John Berger Chapters 2+3

On Blackboard: bell hooks, Understanding Patriarchy and The Oppositional Gaze

NO WEEKLY SELFIE! Work on your MIDTERM PROJECTS!! bring them to class along with materials to keep working in class.

MIDTERM project in progress bring in pieces and ideas in progress for your midterm self portrait collage. Read the description of the midterm assignment on the syllabus. Look at examples of artist portraiture and collage online and in books for inspiration. You can begin with the list we saw in class: http://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/3318/top-10-collage-artists-hannah-hoch-to-man-ray

Two tweets with the hashtag #selfiasimage

______________________

Due Wednesday 10/4

Weekly Selfie Autobiography and Place

Using the work and biography of Frida Kahlo as inspiration please create a selfie that is autobiographical and also speaks to a place or environment you consider "home".

Life and Times of Frida Kahlo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4gkhUDofKY

Two tweets with the hashtag #selfiasimage

_____________________

Due Wednesday 9/27

READINGS:

Joanne Finkelstein, Chapter 1 pgs 42-72

John Berger Ways of Seeing Ch 1

(two quotes and two questions for each)

Weekly Selfie: Reality, Body and Identity

Using the work of Ana Mendieta as inspiration create a series of self portraits that address self identity, reality, hyperreality, and body. Use a series (2 or more photos) in order to tell a more complex story. How can multiple images together be more powerful or at the least tell a different kind of story? Does it? You do not need to mimic the work or images that Ana Mendieta created but interpret her techniques and her motivations in a new way. How can you tell your story in this ephemeral way? How can your identity be similarly fragile and powerful? Erased and timeless?

Two tweets with the hashtag #selfiasimage

Coming next week: We will begin to plan our midterm projects. Please think about this for the following week.

__________________

INVITATION (not mandatory but encouraged): you are all invited to join me at the Brooklyn Museum on Sunday, September 17th at 1pm to see the exhibition We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965–85 Please check out the website for directions to get there and meet me in the lobby by 1pm. Email me to let me know that you plan to come and so that I can expect to find you :) Bring friends!

Due Wednesday 9/20

READINGS:

Finkelstein, Introduction pgs 1-36

Weekly Selfie - Manufactured reality

Create a selfie inspired by the Susan Sontag reading On Photography. Choose a quote from the reading and include it in your post with your selfie and a brief description of your interpretation of the quote. 1 paragraph

Two tweets with the hashtag #selfiasimage

Coming next week: We will begin to plan our midterm projects. Please think about this for the following week. MIDTERM project in progress bring in pieces and ideas in progress for your midterm self portrait collage. Look at examples of artist portraiture and collage online and in books for inspiration. You can begin with the list we saw in class: http://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/3318/top-10-collage-artists-hannah-hoch-to-man-ray

_____________________

Due Wednesday 9/13

GET THE BOOKS!!

The Art of Self Invention by Joanne Finkelstein, I.B. Tauris, London: 2007

Ways of Seeing by John Berger, British Broadcasting Corporation and Penguin Books: New York 1990

Post 1/Weekly selfie in response to the readings

Create a quick digital selfie/self portrait that is informed or inspired by the ideas you read in the reading linked below and by the work of the artist Cindy Sherman. Use the ideas from the readings and the work you saw in the documentary about the artist and her process in creating these self portraits to help you design and create a selfie. Please write a short post on the blog of 3-5 paragraphs about your selfie, the readings and the documentary film. You must include your selfie in the post and you must include at least one link to an external resource or example of some kind.

WATCH:

Cindy Sherman, Nobody is Here But Me, 1994

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXKNuWtXZ_U

READINGS ONLINE:

Susan Sontag excerpt from On Photography

http://www.susansontag.com/SusanSontag/books/onPhotographyExerpt.shtml

Intro to Cindy Sherman:

MoMA http://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/1154?locale=en

Image Gallery and the marketplace: https://www.artsy.net/artist/cindy-sherman

The Cindy Sherman Effect

http://www.artnews.com/2012/02/14/the-cindy-sherman-effect/

Two tweets with the hashtag #selfiasimage

______________________

Link to the Syllabus

Link to Class screenings

Link to our twitter hashtag: #selfiasimage

Discussion guidelines

The course material and discussions can often be provocative and challenging. We must therefore be careful to be respectful of each other and of our viewpoints.

We must come to class prepared and ready to discuss the readings. Please keep discussions focused on the readings and class materials and keep examples relevant and appropriate. If you have not done the readings you are not to participate in the discussion.