Education for socially engaged art a materials and techniques handbook

ARTHI 4223-001 Spring 2021

Rhoda Rosen (rrosen1@saic.edu) Tuesdays 6:30pm

Socially Engaged Art Practice Syllabus Course Zoom Link:

https://saic-edu.zoom.us/j/88610551286 Meeting ID:

886 1055 1286 This is the link for all classes. Consultation by appointment.

All Zoom meetings start at 6:30pm Central Time. We will likely meet for no

longer than 1 hour and 45 minutes, after which it is expected you take a break and then use remaining class time to read course materials and to do

the research for assignments,

Course Description This course is for students who are interested in or practice art that takes place outside of the studio, an art that bumps up against real life, an art that engages robustly with the world in order to build a socially just future. It is also for those students who are thinking about how to write about such art within the art historical field, and for those students who want to think carefully about how to curate socially engaged art (or social practice) in traditional as well as experimental contexts. This course will contextualize contemporary social practice, by looking at writings that define this emerging art historical field and will survey a range of socially engaged projects. For spring, the course will take place mostly live online, although there will be a few asynchronous days. BUT for those students who are willing and who wish to meet in-person, the course will include the option of joining me for my social practice programs and the opportunity to meet community members with whom I work, BUT this will not be required and participation in these events will not impact grades. Expectations

• Students must complete all written assignments, and attend all full group and individual video conferences.

• Students are expected to participate in class discussions and in-class writing projects in an informed way.

• You will be assessed on your engagement in discussions, the level of engagement with homework, your independent project, and the quality of your contribution to collaborative projects in the field.

Learning Outcomes

• Students will develop familiarity with a range of artists, projects, and the literature that has been written about them, all of which operate under the umbrella of socially engaged art practice.

• Students will define, research, and present an independent project that can be enacted in the world.

Grading • Class participation (incl. discussions & online quizzes): 30% • Assignment 1 (hands on project): 35% • Assignment 2 (final written project): 35% Assignments There are two assignments for this course and a number of in-class quizzes. One assignment is hands-on. It is a project that could be operationalized in the real world. The second assignment is a more traditional essay. The details of these assignments may be found in the week in which they are due, below, as well as in the Assignments section of Canvas. Schedule Tuesday, February 2 , 2021 – Social Practice: What is it? What is it not?

• Introductions • Overview of syllabus and projects • Class Discussion of what might and might not constitute ethical, socially

engaged art • Wodiczko, Rakowitz, Serrano, Baronet, and others

Homework for Tuesday, February 9, 2021 Read Nato Thompson, Living as Form: Socially Engaged Art from 1991-2011, Living as Form http://cp.art.cmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/living-as- form.pdf Come to Zoom class prepared for discussion. Tuesday, February 9, 2021 – How do we do social practice ethically? Discussion of homework reading: Nato Thompson, Living as Form: Socially Engaged Art from 1991-2011, Living as Form http://cp.art.cmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/living-as-form.pdf

Homework for Tuesday, February 16, 2021 Read Pablo Helguera, Education for Socially Engaged Art: A Materials and Techniques Handbook (NYC: Jorge Pinto Books, 2011), Chapter 1. PDF can be found in the module section or on “files” on Canvas. Claire Bishop, “The Social Turn: Collaboration and Its Discontents,” Chapter 1 in Artificial Hells: Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship (London: Verso, 2012). READ ONLY Pages 11-40. On Canvas. Come to Zoom class prepared for discussion. Tuesday, February 16, 2021 – What does it mean to yield authorship? Discussion of homework reading: Pablo Helguera, Education for Socially Engaged Art: A Materials and Techniques Handbook (NYC: Jorge Pinto Books, 2011), Chapter 1. PDF can be found in the module section or on “files” on Canvas. Claire Bishop, “The Social Turn: Collaboration and Its Discontents,” Chapter 1 in Artificial Hells: Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship (London: Verso, 2012). READ ONLY Pages 11-40. I have placed the full book on Canvas, but you need only read Chapter 1. Homework for Tuesday, February 23, 2021 Nato Thompson, Socially Engaged Contemporary Art: Tactical and Strategic Manifestations (Americans for the Arts, 2011) https://animatingdemocracy.org/sites/default/files/NThompson%20Trend%20Pap er.pdf Thomas Keenan in conversation with Carin Kuoni in Entry Points: The Vera List Center Field Guide on Art and Social Justice No. 1 (New York: Vera List Center for Art and Politics, 2015). PDF can be found in related module or in “files” on Canvas. Come to Zoom class prepared for discussion. Tuesday, February 23, 2021 – What are tactics, strategies, and what is the individual artist’s role in relation to the state? Discussion of homework readings:

Nato Thompson, Socially Engaged Contemporary Art: Tactical and Strategic Manifestations (Americans for the Arts, 2011) https://animatingdemocracy.org/sites/default/files/NThompson%20Trend%20Pap er.pdf Thomas Keenan in conversation with Carin Kuoni in Entry Points: The Vera List Center Field Guide on Art and Social Justice No. 1 (New York: Vera List Center for Art and Politics, 2015). PDF can be found in related module or in “files” on Canvas. Tuesday, March 2, 2021 – No online live class. Class is asynchronous tonight. View YouTube lecture and answer three questions. Submit on Canvas by Tuesday, March 2 at 11:59pm. View the full Stephen Wright Lecture (1 hour and 33 minutes) and answer quiz questions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQllhu7B0ng&t=3453s Quiz 1: Answer this question in a few paragraphs and submit on Canvas by March 2 at 11:59pm. You will submit your answer in Quiz 1 in the Assignment Section of Canvas. What possibilities do art projects open up when they are in stealth mode, when they may not present as art but rather as life? You will be graded on how well you demonstrate that:

• You viewed the full presentation • Understood the presentation • Were able to integrate the ideas in the presentation with the question • You understand how ideas from previous readings connect with or

differ from Stephen Wright’s ideas Tuesday, March 9, 2021 – Discussion of hands-on project expectations Presentation on the socially engaged art project with which I work and presentation on fundraising for art projects. Tuesday, March 16, 2021 – No live online online class. Asynchronous class. Group or independent work independently (3 hours minimum of work expected).

Tuesday, March 23, 2021 – Live online class. Review and peer discussion of projects. Tuesday, March 30, 2021 – Assignment 1: By 11:59pm Tuesday, April 6, 2020, submit group or independent hands-on project. There are TWO choices for this assignment:

1. Work collaboratively and hands-on with me (online or in-person) in a socially engaged art not-for-profit with which I work (the finished product you submit will be a grant proposal that can be submitted to a foundation for funding for artists with a lived experience of homelessness)

OR

2. Work collaboratively (or independently) on writing a funding

proposal (real or hypothetical) for a project of your own design For both projects, in class:

3. I will introduce you to the world of not-for-profit funding and give you an overview and resources on how to write a grant proposal

4. I will provide you with a number of funding options 5. In groups or independently, you will review those funding sources 6. Determine the mission and values of these funding sources 7. Design a program that meets the funders expectations 8. Write the proposal, including a budget if requested.

You will be assessed on how well you understood the mission and values of the funder, how well you synthesized their values with your program idea, how well you communicated the rationale of the program, how achievable and measurable your program is, and how realistic your proposed budget is. Length of assignment determined by word count allowed in funding proposal.

AND Homework for Tuesday, April 6, 2021

Read Gregory Sholette Kim Charney, eds., Delirium and Resistance Activist Art and the Crisis of Capitalism. I have placed full book on Canvas, but you must only read CHAPTER 11 Come to class prepared for discussion. Tuesday, April 6, 2021 – Socially engaged art activism and capitalism Discussion of homework reading: Gregory Sholette Kim Charney, eds., Delirium and Resistance Activist Art and the Crisis of Capitalism. I have placed full book on Canvas, but you must only read CHAPTER 11 Homework for April 13, 2021 – Read “An Interview with Grant Kester”, Circa, No. 117 (Autumn 2006), pp 44-47. On Canvas in Files and Grant Kester, The Noisy Optimism of Immediate Action: Theory, Practice, and Pedagogy in Contemporary Art”, Art Journal, vol. 71, no. 2 (Summer 2012) pages 86-99 Come to class prepared for discussion. Tuesday, April 13, 2021 – Theory and Practice Discussion of homework reading: Read “An Interview with Grant Kester”, Circa, No. 117 (Autumn 2006), pp 44-47. On Canvas in Files and Grant Kester, The Noisy Optimism of Immediate Action: Theory, Practice, and Pedagogy in Contemporary Art”, Art Journal, vol. 71, no. 2 (Summer 2012) pages 86-99 Tuesday, April 20, 2021 – No live online class. Class is asynchronous today. All students to do reading and complete quiz. Some students also to come for individual consultation.

Consultation sign-up link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QkwPYYqQRrdL_50P9b3g_Jn2u1_AK XZeGoIqUvQCNeM/edit?usp=sharing Quiz 2: Read Nicholas Mirzoeff, “Afterword: Visual Activism” in How to See the World, pp283 and answer this question: What would you say the new and alternative vocabulary of visual activism is? Use both Mirzoeff’s ideas and others you have been reading about.

• You can list these or write them in no more than 1 paragraphs.

• Then, in one paragraph, say why you think these are useful for contemporary visual activism now.

Due by 11:59pm on Tuesday, April 20. Submit on the quiz on Canvas. Tuesday, April 27, 2021 – Individual Consultations. Students can also work on final essay. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QkwPYYqQRrdL_50P9b3g_Jn2u1_AK XZeGoIqUvQCNeM/edit?usp=sharing Tuesday, May 4, 2021 – What role does self-care play in the racialization of health? We will watch and discuss some artistic projects together and conclude our course with some final thoughts on a framework for socially engaged art. Assignment 2 - You must submit your assignment on Canvas by 11:59pm on May 4, 2021. An essay that provides an overview and the debates within the methodologies for that have been used to assess the importance of socially engaged art OR a critical analysis, based on research, of three socially engaged art projects of your own choosing. In both projects, you will be graded on:

• How well you understand and present the research material you review.

• How well you understand the problems and debates within socially engaged art practice.

• How well you present your ideas

You must refer to at least three peer-reviewed sources. You must include at least three examples of socially engaged art to highlight your thesis. Essays should be no longer than 4 pages for undergraduate students. Essays should be no longer than 6 pages for graduate students. Tuesday, May 11, 2021 – Troubling white care Presentation ________________________________________________________________ Further Bibliography Beshty, W. Ethics. MIT & Whitechapel Gallery: Cambridge, 2015. Bishop, Claire. Artificial Hells: Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship. Verso: London, 2012. Finkelpearl, Tom. What We Made: Conversations on Art and Social Cooperation. Duke University Press: Durham, 2013. Foster, Hal. Bad New Days: Art, Criticism, Emergency. Verso: London, 2017. Gradywith, Elizabeth. Future Imperfect. A Blade of Grass: New York, 2016. Hlavajova, Maria, and Ranjit Hoskote, eds., Future Publics (The Rest Can and Should be Done by the People): A Critical Reader in Contemporary Art. Valiz/BAK: Utrecht, 2015. Léger, Marc. Vanguardia: Socially Engaged Art and Theory. Manchester University Press, Manchester, 2019. McKee, Yates. Strike Art: Contemporary Art and the Post-Occupy Condition. Verso: London, 2017. Wexler, Alice, and Vida Sabbaghi. Bridging Communities through Socially Engaged Art. Routledge: New York, 2019. See the series Field| A Journal of Socially Engaged Art Criticism. Issues are available online at: http://field-journal.com

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