DESCRIPTION.........ASSIGNMENTS..........SYLLABUS..........READINGS.........BLOGS...........HowTo...FINAL PRESENTATION SCHEDULE

FALL 2011 -Conceptual Information Arts 

Art410 - Conceptual Strategies 1

 

Syllabus-Schedule Revised: 10.16 11.7

Subject to change. All changes will be reviewed in class.

 

Important Dates:

M/9.5:   Labor Day - University Closed

T/ 9.6:  Last Day to Add Classes with Permit Numbers Last Day to Drop Classes

T/10.18: Last Day to Request CR/NC Grading Option

F/11.11: Veterans' Day - University Closed

M/11.21-S/11.26:  Fall Recess - University Closed

M/12.12: Last day of classes

T/12.13-T/12.20:  Final Exams

 

Readings:

Four readings are assigned with four short reading responses of 500 words to be posted to your blogs. The readings are important as they relate directly to the assignments and inform your ideas.

 

¥ Reading 1: Due: 9.1

Sol Lewitt on conceptual art

 

¥ Reading 2: Due: 9.8. 9.23

Chose one:

- Culture Jamming: Hacking, Slashing and Sniping in the Empire of Signs by Mark Dery

http://project.cyberpunk.ru/idb/culture_jamming.html  

 

- "Dark Matter: Activist Art and the Counter-Public Sphere" by Gregory Sholette

http://www.neme.org/main/330/dark-matter

 

¥ Reading 3: Due: 10.13

Ryan Griffis: "For an art against the cartography of everyday life"

http://www.re-public.gr/en/?p=176

 

¥ Reading 4: Due: 11.3

Paula Levine: "The Past in Present Tense" (pdf)

 

Schedule - Syllabus:

WEEK

DATE

LOCATION

THEME/TOPIC

ASSIGNMENT

1  Intro

T/8.23

FA 538

Introduction to Art410

 

Research Art-Tech - Steve Wilson Research Links

Search through the links and find an area of interest. Blog 3 entries of artists/work of interest. Chose 1 for present to class.

 

Th/8.25

FA 538

Talk/Presentation:

What is conceptual art?

What's the CIA?

Read: Sol Lewitt's article on conceptual art.

This article was written in the 1960's. What relevance does it have today? Blog a short response. Chose 1 point Lewitt mentions that is resonate with your ideas of art and artists and culture to present and discuss in class.

 

Online Research:

Learn more about conceptual art -- what it is, and is not, some artists and it's relevance to contemporary art practices and ideas.

 

2

Working with "chance"

T/8.30

CCA Lab CA Rm 260

CACL Operations

¥ Intro to the CACL lab- operations and procedures

¥ Intro to the Art410 website

¥ Intro to Chance Operations

Assignment 1: Art by chance     Due: Th/9.15

 

Online Research:

Artists working with chance/generative art/John Cage/Fluxus

 

Blog short entry on an artist, work or ideas you find on generating art by and through systems.

 

Th/9.1

FA 538

Talk/Presentation:

¥ Artists working with chance

 

Video Screening:

"I've got nothing to say and I'm saying it: Portrait of John Cage

¥ Art by chance:

Partners assigned by chance- Meet & discuss projects

3

Culture Jam:

Logo Heist

 

T/9.6

Final Date: Tues. Oct

CCA Lab CA Rm 260

¥ Intro. to Illustrator: Logo Heist

- Working with vectors

- Anchor points/paths

- Tools

 

¥ Art by chance:

First chance instructions posted to blog

Short consultation time with chance partners

 

¥ Logo Heist - illustrator workshop 1

-  Search online for the history of a logo (see:AT&T, Aunt Jemima, The Brett Girl, Camels Cigarettes, Kellogg, Radio Shack, others?). How does the face of the brand change through time and why?

- Bring in a digital file of any logo you want to change/heist.

- Make some preliminary sketches of changes to the logo and post to blog.

 

¥ Read: Chapter 1, 4 (Tools panel)

Reference Text:  Illustrator CS4 for Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickStart Guide (e-book SFSU Library)

 

¥ Do: e-book SFSU Library Tutorial:

http://www.library.sfsu.edu/media/screen_casts/eBooks.htm

 

Th/9.8

Final Date: Thurs. 9.23

FA 538

Talks:

- Semiotics - The Language of Signs

 

- Artists jamming culture

¥ Art by chance:

Your chance project due. Post results, with your recipe to your blog. Switch with partners and carry out their chance operations recipe.

 

4

T/9.13

CA Lab 260

¥ Illustrator 2:

- Working with text

- Live trace/Live Paint

 

¥ Contine with logo heist.

 

¥ Read: Ch. 19 (type) & 17 (Live trace)

 

¥ Reference Text:  

Illustrator CS4 for Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickStart Guide (e-book SFSU Library)

 

Th/9.15

FA 538

Chance projects:

Presentations and discussions

Everyone should have both projects, theirs and their partner's, documented on their blogs.  Documentation should include: the instructions/recipe and the work itself. 

5

Augmented Body- Self portraits

 

T/9.20

CA 260

¥ Intro to Photoshop

- Bit depth/ bit map/ color modes

- Resolution

- File formats

- Color Modes

- Review of working environment and tools

 

¥ Discussion of assignment topic

Assignment 2:  Augmented Body Self Portrait  

Due: 10.6 Oct.13

 

¥ Read Part 1/Ch: 1,2 (Photoshop¨ CS4 Bible - ebook). Focus on specifics we will cover in class as well as any other area(s) of interest.

--------------

¥ Online Research: Augmented Body - art and artists

 - Suggested key words: augmented body, extended body, hybrid body, prosthetics

 

-See:

Suguru Goto (http://suguru.goto.free.fr/)

Stelarc  (http://http://stelarc.org)

Orlan (http://www.orlan.net/)

 

Th/9.22

FA 538

¥ Talk:  Art/Artists/Augmenting bodies

 

¥ Class Presentations: Art/Artists/Augmenting bodies (selections from blogs)

¥ Blog:

- 3 artists working with body augmentation

- Short response: List questions you think we should be asking about these changes taking place around, within and to us.

 

Consider:

How is technology changing our bodies?

What should we be thinking about?

What is "human"?

 

6

 

T/9.27

CA 260

¥ Photoshop Part 2:

Working with images

- Layers

- Image adjustment

- Masks (see Tutorials)

 

¥  Augmented Body Self Portrait:

Review of proposed designs (posted to blogs)

 

¥ Reference Book: Photoshop¨ CS4 Bible (ebook-SFSU library)

Read: Part 2/Ch 5,6,7  Part 1/Ch: 5,6,7 . Focus on specifics we will cover in class as well as any other area(s) of interest.

 

Paula away- Jewish Holiday

Th/9.29

FA 538

Continue working on Augmented Body Project

7

T/10.11

CA 260

Photoshop Part 3:

- Batch processing demo

- Review of Photoshop questions/issues

¥ Augmented body project continues

 

Th/10.13

FA 538

Augmented Body Self Portrait: Presentations and discussions

¥ Print final project (min. size:  8x10/color)

¥ Print artist statement on your work

¥ Hang work & statement

(Documentation of your project should on your blog along with your artist statement)

8 New Cartographies

T/10.18

CA 260

• Finishing up Augmented Body discussion (Meet in FA 538) •Introction to Assignment #3: Google Earth Colloborative

 

 

• Introduction to Google Earth Project:

Assignment 3: Google Earth Cross Border Collaboration with students in Emily Carr University of Art & Design,Vancouver, BC

 

Find work by 3 artists using Google Earth and post them to your blog.

 

• Go through tutorials

• Introduction to Google Earth:

- Interface

- Navigation Tools

- Project examples

- Uploading files from local to remote

 

• For Thus: Go through tutorials (working with photos/video/text)

• creating tours

 

Th/10.20

FA 538

• Talk: New cartographies

• Google Earth: Tutorials

  • Deno - Google Earth: Tutorials(making tours and working with photos, video, text)

9

 

T/10.25

CA 260

 

• Google Earth: continued

• Review ideas from blogs

• Demo: Creating Tours, explorting kmz/kml files/posting to blogs

 

Th/10.27

FA 538

TBA

 

 

10

T/11.1

CA 260

 Open Lab

 

 

Th/11.3

FA 538

 Google Earth Collaboration:

Presentations and discussions

 

11

T/11.8

CA 260

• Finish presenetations and discussions of remaining GE Collaborative projects.

 

• Introduction and discussion of final project. See assignment and schedule for final presentations online.

• Assignment 4: Improbable Monument
Due: Dec. 6/8

 

Final Project: Design an improable monument.(can be individual or collaborative project.)

Read assignment for discussion in class.

Monuments, public space and public memory

Th/11.10

FA 538

• Talk on monuments Part 1

 

• Discussion of readings:

• Ryan Griffis: "For an art against the cartography of everyday life"

 

• Paula Levine: The Past in Present Tense

Blog reading response (500 words minimum):

 

• What is the focus of the article?

 

• 3 key points/article

Bring your notes, the article and your ideas to the discussion.

12 T/11.15 CA 260

• Proposal for final project due (Post to blog)

• Demo/Tutorial: SketchUp
(See HowTo: SketchUp links for introduction tutorials)
For the tutorial in class, you will create a 3D structure and place it in Google Earth. Bring in sketches of idea designs for your improbable monument to work with in SketchUp.

 Workshop on SketchUp, a 3-d modeling program that works with Google Earth
  Th/11.17 FA 538 • Talk: On Monuments Part 2

• Class discussion of project proposals

  

13

11. 21-25                                         FALL RECESS

14

T/11.29

CA 260

OPEN LAB

 

Th/12.1

 

WORK ON FINAL PROJECTS

16

T/12.6

 

FINAL PRESENTATIONS

 

Th/12.8

 

FINAL PRESENTATIONS

17

12.13-20

FINAL EXAMS