ADES / AMED 402 – Experiments in Space
Spring 2011 | 12:40-3:25 TR
Instructor | Wilson
dchrisw@gmail.com
974-3407
“Space is the place”
“Space is the breath of art.”
“Space, like time, engenders forgetfulness; but it does so by setting us bodily free from our surroundings and giving us back our primitive, unattached state”
“Acoustic space has the basic character of a sphere whose focus or centre is simultaneously everywhere and whose margin is nowhere...”
“Art is anything you can get away with.”
“I wouldn't have seen it if I hadn't believed it.”
“The past went that-a-way. When faced with a totally new situation, we tend always to attach ourselves to the objects, to the flavor of the most recent past. We look at the present through a rear view mirror. We march backwards into the future.”
“We shape our tools and afterwards our tools shape us.”
Definitions of Space (Is this what we talking about?)
Definitions of Space (Is this what we talking about?)
1. a. Mathematics A set of elements or points satisfying specified geometric postulates: non-Euclidean space.
b. The infinite extension of the three-dimensional region in which all matter exists.
2. a. The expanse in which the solar system, stars, and galaxies exist; the universe.
b. The region of this expanse beyond Earth's atmosphere.
3. a. An extent or expanse of a surface or three-dimensional area
b. A blank or empty area: the spaces between words.
c. An area provided for a particular purpose: a parking space.
4. Reserved or available accommodation on a public transportation vehicle.
5. a. A period or interval of time.
b. A little while: Let's rest for a space.
6. Sufficient freedom from external pressure to develop or explore one's needs, interests, and individuality.
Goals
To use this time, this zeitgeist, to explore the idea of space in an open and unpredictable way, individually and collaboratively.
To naturally think of space as a significant aspect of your artmaking practice.
To realize the potential of activating space through installation, re-design, projection, events, and whatever else we can throw at it.
Project Ideas (The overwhelming majority of the course work is making and doing)
Document a space
one example | sound documentation
the difference gets your attention in a different way
why, how long, control, empty
Turn a space into an object
Turn an object into a space
Turn one space onto another
layer/exchange/make/re-make
Activate a space
events in space
The miniature/model
Writings \ Readings
The Poetics of Space | Gaston Bachelard
Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience | Yi-Fu Tuan
The Practice of Everyday Life | Michel de Certeau
The Inverted World & The Prestige | Christopher Priest
For Space | Doreen B Massey
Heterotopias | Michel Foucault
Experiments in Space is about using space in an art/design context.
Participation in group projects, activities, and discussions is critical to a successful class. Reading (web and print) is assigned and needs to be completed before discussion. Background information on selected artists and aspects of space will be discussed. It is essential for students to do independent research for their projects. Collaboration projects are encouraged.
The most important aspect of this class is the need for class discussion and presentation. All projects must be discussed as ideas in genesis, in process, and realized. No project will receive a grade unless it has first been first been presented to the class as a proposal with preliminary visual articulation (sketches - writings – etc.).
Class reviews are conducted during the presentation of project. Students will be graded on their engagement, development, and participation. A grade is assigned at midterm and at end of term. Students are encouraged to ask for individual reviews/meetings with the instructor at any time during the course.
A notebook is required. You bring it to every class. It will be reviewed at midterm and turned in for a final grade. The notebook serves as one form of documentation of your work. What it can include will be discussed in class. The notebook is one fourth of your final grade.
Attendance is mandatory. With 4 absences the class grade is lowered 1/2 letter grade. With 7 absences the student receives a failing grade in the class. Being late 2 times equals one absence.
No mobiles on in class. Ask permission to have laptop open.
Minimum of 3 class projects.
