ART 831.3

CRITICAL ISSUES IN CONTEMPORARY ART AND CULTURE : A

Topic: Situated Practice, locating yourself

Term One 2024 (Sept. – Dec.)
adapted from the course of the same name originated by Dr. Joan Borsa.

 

Wednesday, 9:30-12:20 Murray 271, locations variable

Professor: jake moore

Office: Murray 191.4

Email: jake.moore@usask.ca

Office Hours: By appointment

Calendar Description: This course explores critical issues relevant to the increasingly hybrid range of contemporary art practices, including the expanding realm of exhibition sites and modes; the public role of art and artists; and the dynamics, subcultures, and economic and political realities that make up the contemporary art world.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The course is designed to bring MFA Candidates’ practice into greater focus and provide a venue for research and discussion that will become the basis of their thesis support paper.

This course begins with the premise that there is no singular art world as contemporary art practices have expanded beyond the primacy of a Western tradition of relationships to the art object and gallery-based exhibitions. The increasingly heterogeneous nature of contemporary art production and engagements with site-specificity and everyday life, have brought into art historical discourse increasingly diverse forms of production, exhibition, and dissemination. These shifts have established an urgency if artist practices are to maintain relevancy and resonance in an increasingly smaller world, indeed a planet in conflict.

As we enter this terrain, we come upon historical notions and methodologies of an expanded field (Rosalind Krauss), new genre public art (Suzanne Lacy), digital and AR venues, strategies of engagement, site and context-sensitive projects, social practice, relational aesthetics (Nicolas Bourriaud), community-based practices, and so on. These idealistic and democratizing practices form contested sites as they bump up against many established conventions, hierarchies, and Western art world politics, which determine artistic value and worth within understandings of both social and economic capital. For example, not all venues are considered equal within a larger professionalized and internationalized art world context. Art systems such as art galleries, biennials, art fairs, artist-run centres (ARCs), art prizes, granting institutions, auctions, the art market, art schools, and art magazines, all contribute to the dynamics that co-constitute the subcultures that make up the contemporary world. Given the increasingly hybrid range of art practices, and the expanding realm of exhibition sites and modes, the notion of a coherent or universal art world, unified by a cohesive discourse, cannot be maintained.  This atomization has great potential, but also comes at a cost, as it leads to indeterminacy, something that brings great discomfort to rational thought.

Critical thinker Donna Haraway has urged us to “stay with the trouble” and Natalie Loveless has offered us a field guide on “How to Make Art at the End of the World”.

In this contemporary moment, many artists and art practices are reconsidering the primacy of the art object, established notions of exhibition modes, the gallery as the most desirable destination for art, and the public and social role of art and artists. As the artificial barriers between (art and non-art) worlds are interrogated, relationships between art and its multiple publics, and between art and other forms of knowledge and critical inquiry are intensified. As critical theorist Homi Bhabha has so insightfully suggested, at the root of the current diversity of contemporary art is a very basic but complex question: “What kind of knowledge do we expect from the practice and presentation of art?”

Métis scholar and artist, David Garneau has introduced the key idea of the extra rational as being the space of art that allows for its political potency as it cannot be fully recuperated into western ideals without its transformation into Capital.  Curator Chus Martinez has deepened the proposition by removing the notion of art as being productive:

“And so the fashionable phrase "art is the production of knowledge" hides a truth – though hardly the causal and productivist one that is implied. Art bears a strong relation to knowledge because thinking takes place in art, in the interstices of visibility and discourse. But this is different from being a site where arguments are produced, proof is developed, and conclusive evidence is given.  Thinking makes seeing and speaking reach their limits.  Though a certain problem has historically appeared as to how we may understand the epistemological condition of art.  This trait – of art being knowledge – undoubtedly appears to be able to establish a privileged relationship with power and subjectivity. And it has often led to reading knowledge as an institution instead of as a condition in which art is determined by relations of force – of affect and power – at a given historical moment, and singularity is established as the place where knowledge passes through the self.”

Club Univers, 2016, Sternberg Press, p33

 

All Required Readings will be provided on the Canvas course site

ART 831.3 Critical Issues in Contemporary Art and Culture A

ASSIGNMENTS AND EVALUATION (*No final exam)

• Attendance/Participation: 45%
  • Attendance at all classes and sessions 10%;
    two art news presentations 20% [10% each];
    introduction to an assigned reading 15%
• Three Critical Response Papers: 45%
  • Due: Oct 5 [10%], Oct 26 [15%], December 14 [20%]
• Artist Statement (first draft): 10%
  • Due: Nov 15           

Art 831.3 Course Objectives

This seminar-style course aims to provide a meaningful space for engagement to better situate your own practice within a broader context of contemporary art and to become aware of its plurality, critical issues, and modes of production. The course is structured to encourage sharing through language the ways specific theoretical, cultural, ideological, and institutional frameworks relate to your own creative practice. In this articulation you will become aware of your own positionality and the affect it has on your practice, what and how you come to know, and your ways of being in the world.

 

We will explore:

• the artist as critic, curator, teacher, citizen and public intellectual
• the public role of art and artists
• the global and the local
• the economic, political, social, local, national and international dimensions of multiple art worlds
• professional contexts which frame and influence artistic practice
• the making and meaning of theory
• the ways art practice produces theory
• the structures, ideologies and events that influence our understanding of art
• recent shifts in the exhibition and dissemination of art
• the relationship between artists, audiences and galleries
• professional opportunities such as art residencies, competitions and grants
• the development of an artist statement
• in part 2 of the course, ART 832, we will also examine the requirements of the exhibition support paper that will accompany your thesis exhibition.

Visiting speakers and programming events (artists, exhibitions, scholars, curators, arts administrators, etc.) will be included in the course content.

ART 831.3 ASSIGNMENTS IN DETAIL

Three Critical Response Papers

• Each response paper will be 2-3 pages or 500-750 words (about 250 words per page)
• Format: double-spaced, 12 pt. font, separate title page
• Due Dates: Oct 3, Oct 24, Dec 5, 2022
• First response paper is worth 10%; 2^nd paper is worth 15%, and the final paper will be worth 20%.

 

This writing assignment is intended to get you started on responding to and processing the course material to develop a methodology of reading and writing that satisfies you and feeds into your larger praxis. Developing a practice of making text offers us the chance to try language on, as well as work in different forms of text.

A critical response paper provides an opportunity to analyze, synthesize and articulate the key concepts, arguments, issues and ideas presented in three required readings. Feel free to introduce related ideas. One article will be assigned and you will select the remaining two articles. A critical response paper is similar to a book review. It engages with the main ideas, issues and arguments that the author and article address. Overall a response paper provides the reader with a synopsis of what the article covers: why it may be worth reading, what it makes you think about and the specific issues it addresses. Imagine you are writing to an audience of fellow artists and graduate students. On the basis of your “informed” response they will decide whether they want to read the original article or move on to another text. Several examples will be provided for your consideration. A critical response paper functions as a snapshot or overview of the article’s content but it also engages in analysis and attempts to provide original insights and raise issues. Consider the following guidelines as you write your response:

• Address the content in a considered, detailed and critical manner
• Raise questions about and comment on the key arguments
• Consider the contributions and/or the blindspots, assumptions and gaps
• Attempt to situate the content within a larger intellectual/critical framework
• Response papers are not promotional or merely descriptive
• Response papers are not dismissive or hostile
• Response papers engage with the article analytically and present reasons for your perspectives/comments

Please consider the following writing guidelines:

• An introductory paragraph
• Well-structured, coherent, idea-driven paragraphs
• Direct reference (quotes) to your articles, using Chicago style citation
• A paragraph that summarizes and concludes your discussion
• Response papers are not to exceed 4 pages or 1000 words (the title page, bibliography and footnotes are not included in this word count

Artist Statement

• Due Nov 15
• Two versions: one that is 1 page in length (250 words) and one that is 2 pages in length (500 words)
• Remember this is your first draft; the final version is due term two

From https://www.agora-gallery.com/advice/blog/2016/07/23/how-to-write-artist-statement/: “An artist statement is most often the front line of communication between an artist and the public. It will be used when you submit your portfolio to competitions, galleries, and museums. It may sometimes be displayed when people are viewing your works in person or on your website. If it’s online, your artist statement will be read by people from all over the world.”

From https://thecreativeindependent.com/guides/how-to-write-an-artist-statement/: “An artist statement is a not-too-long series of sentences that describe what you make and why you make it. It’s a stand-in for you, the artist, talking to someone about your work in a way that adds to their experience of viewing that work. Here are a few things an artist statement is not: a manifesto, an art history lecture, a story about discovering art, short fiction, self-psychoanalysis, a string of adjectives, a grand theory of everything you’ve ever made, or a list of your career accomplishments.”

You will begin your artist statement in term one and complete it in term two. You will receive feedback on your 1^st draft and then revise the statement and hand it in again in term two (date to be determined). Hand in both drafts in term two; be sure to hand in the copy with my comments/suggestions.

Avoid making general statements that could apply to any artist’s work: “I enjoy being creative…” “I want to express my inner thoughts…” “ Printmaking is a deeply rewarding process…” What can you say that is unique to you and your work and process? A reader needs specific details to capture and maintain their interest.

How can you make the artist statement match your work? What does it mean to write in your own voice?  In what order would you address some (or all) of the following categories with clear, descriptive, engaging language?

• Medium/Materials/Scale/Presentation (projections, photo-based, installation, participatory, mixed media, etc.)
• Process/Construction/Technical Considerations
• Uniqueness of this body of work or current practice (perhaps a new direction or builds on previously explored themes and working methods but attempts to expand or develop in significant ways)
• Focus- what are you exploring in this body of work and why
• Contexts relevant to the work and should they be identified (feminist, phenomenological, environmental, interdisciplinary, site-specific, social practice, LGBTQ2+, chaos theory, greater than human relations, activism, spirituality, Indigeneity, post-colonial, etc.)

Can you write this artist’s statement in a voice (tone) and style that feels appropriate for you and your work? Examples of different approaches will be discussed in class. Research possibilities by investigating other artist statements.

PARTICIPATION

Current Events - Art News

• Two 10-minute presentations worth 10% each
• each participant will make two 10-minute presentations that in some way respond to and critically engage with current events, news, and issues within contemporary art.
• You will select the news items yourself and are encouraged to select articles that thicken your own research interests and offer greater context to your own work.
• Sharing this information will also improve our capacity to provide each other with more meaningful critique.
• In your presentations you will provide analysis of the item you have selected and outline key questions and issues that require further investigation and debate.
• As part of your presentation, you will circulate a link to the art news/event Sunday evening before your presentation.
• You will also send the instructor a two-page summary detailing your response to the current event/art news. This can be point form or narrative.

What constitutes art news and how do the broader activities within the contemporary art world impact us? What sources do you access to stay informed of local, regional, national, and international issues and activities in the contemporary art world(s)? What types of art activities, events, projects, or practices are offering inspiration, resistance, excitement, as we come through a pandemic into a time of great global tensions, seemingly unchanged?

Some examples:
Why does it matter that Ruth Patir, the artist selected to represent Israel at the 2024 Venice Biennale, said she will not open her exhibition for the country's national pavilion at the 2024 Venice Biennale until “a cease-fire and hostage release agreement” is reached between Israel and Hamas?

How does the departure of the curator Wanda Nanibush from the AGO affect us as artists working in Canada?

Why does the mass production of YInMn blue matter to artists and scientists?

A list of online resources (art magazines, gallery websites, etc.) is provided at the end of this course syllabus and here:

e-flux:                                    https://www.e-flux.com/
Artforum                               https://www.artforum.com/
Art and Education                https://www.artandeducation.net/
Frieze                                    https://www.frieze.com/
Mousse                                  https://www.moussemagazine.it/
akimbo:                                 https://akimbo.ca/
hyperallergic                         https://hyperallergic.com/

Please feel free to add to this list, it is in no way exhaustive

Students will sign up for presentation dates during class Sept. 28.

 

Discussion of Assigned Reading – Oral Presentation

• One 10-minute presentation worth 10%

Each student will be responsible for providing a 10-minute critical response to a required reading. A list of suggested guidelines will be posted on canvas. Students will discuss the thematic they wish to address for a reading during class Sept. 5.  It should be an area of practice, research, or practice-based research that will serve their thesis development.

 

• Attendance
• You are expected to attend and participate in all scheduled classes and sessions – worth 10%
• This is a seminar-style course which means your participation is a key factor in creating a dynamic learning experience. A seminar functions like a community; you need to invest in order to benefit. In this course we are a community of learners taking turns speaking and listening as we generate dialogue that assists us in grounding and situating our own practices.

Expectations Regarding Attendance/Participation

• Each graduate student is responsible for participating fully in discussions on the required readings. Think about: critical contexts and questions that arise; provide examples that extend the ideas within the text; introduce other relevant frameworks; outline main points and arguments; and take an informed position on the article’s messages. In class we will animate the text through a close reading which creates discussion and debate about its critical and creative meaning and potential.
• Come to class prepared to be a full participant. This means you WILL HAVE READ the required readings and formulated questions and responses and will be prepared to participate in and contribute to class discussions.
• When reading the required articles/books allow time to explore the references provided. Frequently one needs to expand upon the ideas and references in order to reach a depth of understanding.
• Go see shows, do research online about Canadian and international exhibitions, artists, art events, art issues. Attend as many lectures, exhibitions, panels, and artist talks as possible.
• Absences. Please know your absence effects the group. Please let me know if you are unable to attend for any reason so we might find the best way to keep you in contact and engaged.
• See additional notes below on absenteeism.

 

Late assignments: A deduction of 2% per day will apply to late assignments (including weekends)

 

U of S POLICY ON PLAGIARISM, ABSENTEEISM and ACCESS and EQUITY SERVICES:

 

• Plagiarism: University policy states that “There is an onus on every student to become informed as to what does or does not constitute plagiarism. Ignorance of applicable standards of ethical writing is not an acceptable excuse.” Definitions, rules, and penalties regarding plagiarism and other forms of academic misconduct may be found in the General Information section of the University of Saskatchewan Calendar and at: usask.ca/university_council/reports.shtml. The consequences for plagiarism can result in a failure on an assignment, a failing grade in a course and expulsion from the University
• Absenteeism: University policy states that “Regular and punctual attendance is expected of students in all their classes (including lectures, laboratories, tutorials and seminars.)” (U. of S. Calendar) Attendance in ART 831 is mandatory. Excessive absenteeism - for any reason – will result in a low grade on the attendance portion of evaluation worth 10%. If you have any extenuating circumstances that will affect your attendance please meet with your instructor to discuss your situation.
• Access and Equity Services

You may receive special accommodation for disability, pregnancy, religious, and other reasons. For specific information see: Academic Accommodation and Access for Students with Disabilities policy.

If you are a student who is registered with the Office of Access and Equity Services, you may apply for unique services or arrangements to complete the requirements for this course. You may be granted special accommodation with regard to attendance, availability of study materials, and assessment requirements. If you have not yet registered with that office, please explore your options as quickly as possible. Students are reminded that they are responsible for the paperwork and the deadlines involved in registering with the Office of Access and Equity Services.

Recording of the Course: If students have to miss a class they are welcome to make arrangements to have another grad student record the class for them.

Copyright: Course materials are provided to you based on your registration in a class, and anything created by your professors and instructors is their intellectual property, unless materials are designated as open education resources. This includes exams, PowerPoint/PDF slides and other course notes. Additionally, other copyright-protected materials created by textbook publishers and authors may be provided to you based on license terms and educational exceptions in the Canadian Copyright Act (see http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-42/index.html). 

Before you copy or distribute others’ copyright-protected materials, please ensure that your use of the materials is covered under the University’s Fair Dealing Copyright Guidelines available at https://library.usask.ca/copyright/general-information/fair-dealing-guidelines.php. For example, posting others’ copyright-protected materials on the open web is not covered under the University’s Fair Dealing Copyright Guidelines, and doing so requires permission from the copyright holder. 

 

For more information about copyright, please visit https://library.usask.ca/copyright/index.php where there is information for students available at https://library.usask.ca/copyright/students/rights.php, or contact the University’s Copyright Coordinator at mailto:copyright.coordinator@usask.ca or 306-966-8817.

Student Feedback: Students will be invited to provide feedback on the course through the U of S online course evaluation system. Students are also encouraged to meet with the instructor to discuss any concerns with the course content or assignments and to communicate these concerns as soon as possible. As graduate students come from diverse university backgrounds, provinces, and countries it is understood that they may require individual time with the instructor to clarify aspects of the readings, assignments, and academic expectations.

 

Integrity Defined (from the Office of the University Secretary): The University of Saskatchewan is committed to the highest standards of academic integrity and honesty.  Students are expected to be familiar with these standards regarding academic honesty and to uphold the policies of the University in this respect.  Students are particularly urged to familiarize themselves with the provisions of the Student Conduct & Appeals section of the University Secretary Website and avoid any behavior that could potentially result in suspicions of cheating, plagiarism, misrepresentation of facts and/or participation in an offence.  Academic dishonesty is a serious offence and can result in suspension or expulsion from the University.

All students should read and be familiar with the Regulations on Academic Student Misconduct (https://secretariat.usask.ca/student-conduct-appeals/academic-misconduct.php) as well as the Standard of Student Conduct in Non-Academic Matters and Procedures for Resolution of Complaints and Appeals (https://secretariat.usask.ca/student-conduct-appeals/academic-misconduct.php#IXXIIAPPEALS)

 

For more information on what academic integrity means for students see the Academic Integrity section of the University Library Website at: https://library.usask.ca/academic-integrity#AboutAcademicIntegrity

 

You are encouraged to complete the Academic Integrity Tutorial to understand the fundamental values of academic integrity and how to be a responsible scholar and member of the USask community - https://library.usask.ca/academic-integrity.php#AcademicIntegrityTutorial

Student Support Services

Student Learning Services: Student Learning Services (SLS) offers assistance to U of S undergrad and graduate students. For information on specific services, please see the SLS web site http://library.usask.ca/studentlearning/.

Student and Enrolment Services Division: The Student and Enrolment Services Division (SESD) focuses on providing developmental and support services and programs to students and the university community. For more information, see the students’ web site http://students.usask.ca.

 

Financial Support: Any student who faces challenges securing their food or housing and believes this may affect their performance in the course is urged to contact Student Central (https://students.usask.ca/student-central.php).

 

Aboriginal Students’ Centre: The Aboriginal Students’ Centre (ASC) is dedicated to supporting Aboriginal student academic and personal success. The centre offers personal, social, cultural and some academic supports to Métis, First Nations, and Inuit students. The centre is also dedicated to intercultural education, brining Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students together to learn from, with and about one another in a respectful, inclusive and safe environment. Students are encouraged to visit the ASC’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/aboriginalstudentscentre/) to learn more.

 

International Student and Study Abroad Centre: The International Student and Study Abroad Centre (ISSAC) supports student success in their international education experiences at the U of S and abroad.  ISSAC is here to assist all international undergraduate, graduate, exchange and English as a Second Language students and their families in their transition to the U of S and Saskatoon.  ISSAC offers advising and support on all matters that affect international students and their families.

 

Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching and Learning: An important resource for graduate students who will be teaching assistants.

Rm 50  Murray Bldg.  306-966-2231; gmcti@usask.ca

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WEEKLY BREAKDOWN

WEEK 1. SEPTEMBER 5
Introductions to the course and each other
Syllabus Review

 

WEEK 2. SEPTEMBER 12
GLOBAL/LOCAL/GLOCAL

2 readings that introduce the global art world and begin to form our understanding of the role place plays in our positionality and forms our capacity for understanding of works of art, and even what we value as art.

Smith, Terry “GLOBAL ART WORLDS.” In, The Global Contemporary and the Rise of New Art Worlds, edited by Hans Belting, Andrea Buddensieig, Peter Wiebel, pp186-192. ZKM/Center for Art and Media ; The MIT Press, Karlsruhe, Germany, Cambridge, MA, 2013

“Terry Smith is that rare art and social historian able to write criticism at once alert to the forces that contextualize art and sensitive to the elements and qualities that inhere to the works of art themselves.” -- College Art Association, citation for the 2010 Frank Jewett Mather Award for Art Criticism

 

Lippard, Lucy R., “all over the place.” The Lure of the Local : senses of place in a multicentered society, pp 4-15. New Press: New York, c1997

Lippard "weaves together cultural studies, history, geography, photography, and contemporary public art to provide a fascinating exploration of our multiple senses of place ... She discusses community, land use, perceptions of natures, how we produce the landscape, and how the landscape affects our lives."

 

WEEK 3. SEPTEMBER 19
MOVING PAST THE LANDSCAPE TO GET TO THE GROUND

Hopkins, Candice, “The Land Remembers”, Water, Kinship, Belief, pp. 68-83, Toronto Biennial of Art + Art Metropole, 2022

 

The inaugural Toronto Biennial of Art in 2019, titled The Shoreline Dilemma, was the first edition of a two-part biennial that traced interconnected narratives around the city’s ever-changing shoreline. These connections sought to reveal strategies of resistance against industrial-colonial systems, uncover polyphonic histories sedimented around the shoreline, and open up relations between the human and more-than-human. To extend this artistic thinking and expand notions of relationality, in 2022, the second edition, titled What Water Knows, The Land Remembers, moves inland to follow tributaries and ravines, both above ground and hidden, that shape this place.

 

In relation to the two Biennial exhibitions, this publication Water, Kinship, Belief is a “third” site, a place where the continuities, resonances, and dissonances between Biennial editions are extended. Its pages become a means to bring together the artists, artworks, collaborators, and ideas that have together informed the exhibitions, irrespective of chronology, dispensing with categories, and part of a greater whole. Through its content and unique design, it is both a generative guide to the exhibitions and a Biennial site of its own, presenting new artistic relations that course through the book like tributaries.

 

Water, Kinship, Belief is co-published by the Toronto Biennial of Art and Art Metropole and edited by Candice Hopkins, Katie Lawson, and Tairone Bastien, exhibition curators for the first two editions of the Biennial. Book design by Santiago da Silva and Sean Yendrys.

 

WEEK 4. SEPTEMBER 26
SOUND LISTENING AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

Labelle, Brandon, “Holding, Healing, Attending”, Acoustic Justice: Listening, Performativity, and the Work of Reorientation, pp1-25. Bloomsbury Academic, New York, NY, 2021

 

Labelle, Brandon, Deaf Attention: Peripheral Visions, Spatial Meanings, Sensory Politics, Acoustic Justice: Listening, Performativity, and the Work of Reorientation,
pp 167-208, Bloomsbury Academic, New York, NY, 2021

Rios, Josh, A Possible Future Return to the Past

https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/soma.2017.0206

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WEEK 5. OCTOBER 3
CRITICAL RESPONSE PAPER #1 DUE
NAAZ
Intro:
THE BODY AND THE ARCHIVE
Sekula, Allan. “The Body and the Archive”, October, 1986 vol:39 pg:3 -64

ART NEWS

1. Naaz

2. 

 

WEEK 6. OCTOBER 10

 CANCELLED (jake was sick)

WEEK 7. OCTOBER 17

SHONA

Intro:
ART NEWS

1. Veronika

2. Soheila
ART NEWS

1. Atrayee

2. Gabriela

WEEK 8. OCTOBER 24
SOHEILA
Intro: Clare Bishop
plus additional discussion on Paul Chan. and Thomas Hirschorn

WEEK 9. OCTOBER 31
VERONIKA
Intro:
ART NEWS

1. Shona
2. Naaz

 

WEEK 10. NOVEMBER 7
NAZLI:
Intro:
ART NEWS

1. Gabriela
2. Naaz

READING WEEK: NOVEMBER 11-15 NB ARTISTS STATEMENTS DUE on THE 15th

 

WEEK 11. NOVEMBER 21
ATRAYEE
STORIED MATTER AND WEAVING THE WORLD

Intro:
ART NEWS

1.NAAZ

2.Gabriela

WEEK 12. NOVEMBER 29
GABRIELA

Intro:
ART NEWS

1.  Nazli

2. Soheila

 

WEEK 13. DECEMBER 5

ART NEWS

1.  Veronika

2. Shona

RESPONSE AND CONCLUSION