Week 2

MONDAY

Critique of BANNERS assignment from the BLOG

Lenka Clayton, “An Everyday Tragedy,” 2016. Billboard text. 36 x 30 feet. Written for The Last Billboard, visible during May 2016. Photo courtesy of The Last Billboard.

Review on how to post to blog
BLOG Deadlines and expectations:

  1. All blog posts should be up on the blog ONE WEEK after final critique, reading assignment, proposal assignment or class activity/trip.
  2. Include work in progress, research and references to support your final projects.
  3. For final projects, include the artwork, artists names, a title, and a short description of the work – why did you choose to make it this way? What does it consist of? How did you complete it? How might it work in the gallery or other context?
  4. It’s your blog/portfolio – do update and improve content after critiques, make it useful and feel free to share from the blog.
  1. Note:
  2. You must have at least one final blog post for each project, and you will not receive a grade (or a grade with a significant reduction) if a post is missing. Rich evidence of engagement with course materials will increase your grades on your work.


REMINDER:

FRIDAY JAN 24th EXPERIMENTAL FIELD TRIP

9:30 AM to 6PM – Toronto Museums

Here is the eventbrite link for students to purchase tickets: 

Register on Eventbrite

SCHEDULE and assignment:

EXPERIMENTAL FIELD TRIP 2025Download

Art Gallery of Ontario

https://ago.ca/exhibitions/culture-hip-hop-and-contemporary-art-21st-century

https://ago.ca/exhibitions/pacita-abad

The Power Plant

https://www.thepowerplant.org/whats-on

WEDNESDAY

POST-INTERNET VIDEO ART:

READING TO DISCUSS NEXT WEEK:

Introduction, forward and Chapter 1 from Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death

Make notes summarizing the material, and include THREE quotes for analysis and reflection. Are some of these ideas from more than 40 years ago applicable to our own historical moment? Did Neil Postman predict the age of television/video media personalities in positions of great power? How does he argue that the overflow of accessible, 24/7 information and entertainment might make us less wise, healthy, and safe? How might these ideas influence how you think about the effects video culture of our own time?

NOTE on the reading: This is a classic media studies text from 1985 – where references to the sophistication of communication technologies of Indigenous people, or references to different body types and their tv appeal are from a less informed, just, or considerate time. If desired, you can use your note space to take on the problematics of his metaphors, or describe ways video culture has changed – or not – in terms of the values the medium implicitly imparts.

In next week’s class we will have time to work with partners and discuss/research presentations.

neil-postman-amusing-ourselves-to-death…course-in-the-age-of-show-businessDownload

ALSO USEFUL INTERVIEW WITH POSTMAN’S SON in 2016 (if unnerving): https://www.cbc.ca/radio/sunday/president-elect-trump-the-truth-class-letters-media-and-foreign-policy-1.3847616/how-neil-postman-predicted-tv-could-create-a-donald-trump-1.3848337