Concerned Citizen Workshop

Concerned Citizen (60 pts.)

Students will work in pairs to produce a 1-3 minute audio or video documentary profiling someone that is working to improve his/her community. The subject may be an artist, activist, social servant, community organizer, or an otherwise ‘concerned citizen.’ Artist statements should include a discussion of the dynamic between the agency exercised by the individual and the social, political, economic and cultural context in which he/she is working. 


Humans of New York

And this,

Textual Poaching Workshop

Textual Poaching

Each student will choose an existing, mediated representation of the culture, race, ethnicity, gender, nationality, religion, etc. with which he/she identifies. The representation may be in any medium—film, photograph, visual art, poetry, literature, advertisement, news article, song, music video, etc.—but it should be older than the student. Students will remix the representation so that their new creation demonstrates their negotiation of this aspect of their identity and how it has been historically represented in media. Artist statements should include a discussion of the correlations and contradictions between his/her ‘self ’ (perspectives, practices, etc.) and this historical representation of this aspect of his/her identity.

Here's some examples of creating new things from things you stole:

Textual Poaching as a Representation of Power Structures

Judith Slaying Holofernes

Caravaggio (1598-99)

Artemisia Gentileschi (1614-1618)

Textual Poaching as (Re)Appropriation

Dear White People (2014) [00:26:00]

Historical Story Workshop

Historical Story (60 pts.)

Students will work in pairs to write a 4-6 page film script that takes place around some historical event (which took place before the students were born), and focuses on a character(s) who is NOT a famous historical figure. Scripts are to utilize standard screenplay formatting. Artist statements should include a discussion of the dynamic between character (attitude, belief, behavior, etc.) and context (cultural practices, political climate, etc.). Students must reference at least 2 legitimate historical sources in their artists’ statement, discussing how the information they gathered in their research informed the creation of their script (including dialogue, scene descriptions, etc.) 

A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as members of different social classes who fall in love aboard the ship during its ill-fated maiden voyage.

The film tells the story of Brian Cohen, a young Jewish man who is born on the same day as, and next door to, Jesus Christ, and is subsequently mistaken for the Messiah.

The film tells the fictional alternate history story of two plots to assassinate Nazi Germany's political leadership, one planned by a young French Jewish cinema proprietor, and the other by a team of Jewish-American soldiers led by First Lieutenant Aldo Raine.

Let's get into groups an workshop your pieces.

Process Piece Workshop

Process Piece (40 pts.)

Students will work in pairs to produce a 1-2 minute audio piece documenting some type of process. In this case, a process is an act of human labor with a beginning, middle and an end. Ar tist statements should should include a discussion of both form and content in their creations, as well as both the process and the product of their own creative efforts. 

Let's talk about Process for the sake of Process:

Mandala (Sanskrit: मण्डल, lit, circle) is a spiritual and ritual symbol in Indian religions, representing the universe.

Now let's talk about something more abstract:

Robert Morris, Untitled (Pink Felt), 1970

Marina Abramović and Ulay, Relation in Time, 1977

Now let's workshop your pieces.

Round Robin Workshop

Round Robin (20 pts.)

Each student will collaborate on a series of five ‘tiny stories.’ By ‘tiny story’, I mean a narrative (with something that might resemble a beginning, middle and end) of less than 30 words, accompanied by an illustration (drawn, photographed, computer generated, etc.). By ‘collaborate,’ I mean that each student will complete the series’ 1st tiny story, forward it to a second (pre-determined) student, who will complete the 2nd tiny story in the series, who will then forward that 2nd story (NOT 1 & 2) to a third (pre- determined) student who will continue the process until each student has contributed 5 tiny stories, each to a different series. Then we’ll see how they turn out. Artist statements should include a discussion of how form and content, narrative and theme, individual story and series correlate and compliment each other. 

Speaking of narratives formed from a disconnected image,

Here's a thing I found called "Two Monks Inventing Things"




MONK #1: ok i KNOW i can do this
MONK #2: you definitely can
this one’s a freebie
it’s just other monks
think about what we look like and draw it
MONK #1: ahhh i want to peek but i feel like thats cheating
i honestly cant remember if we have shoulders and chests rn

MONK #2: give it your best guess

MONK #1: what do birds eat
MONK #2: other birds mostly
MONK #1: like different kinds of birds, or something else
MONK #2: no birds only eat exactly the same kind of birds that they are



MONK #1: how many people would you guess fit in a church
MONK #2: like at a time?

MONK #1: one, probably?

MONK #2: yeah probably one, or almost one but not quite

MONK #1: how tall are most women
MONK #2: tower sized but normal heads
MONK #1: cool thank you
MONK #2: here to help
MONK #1: ooh while i have you though
most dogs look –
MONK #2: emotionally destroyed
MONK #1: got it, ty

MONK #1: so when a dog and a bird make out
MONK #2: right
MONK #1: it’s usually the bird that’s on top
right?
MONK #2: yeah
usually
MONK #1: great

Here's another thing:

"Exquisite Corpse Party Game"

Requirements: Paper, Writing Stick, Friends

• Get a piece of paper.
• Everyone write a tiny story or narrative on their paper.
• Pass it to the next person, who will draw an image based on the tiny story the person before wrote.
• Fold the paper, so the original story cannot be seen by the next person.
• Pass the paper.
• The next person writes a tiny story based on the image (but not the first story).
• Continue until everyone has gone.

1. 
   




Music Mosaic Workshop

Music Mosaic (20 pts.)

Each student will create a series of 8 - 12 images that visually complement a piece of instrumental music (‘instrumental’ means without lyrics. Also, no lm scores. Sorry folks). Images may be drawn, painted, photographed or created digitally, but must be the creation of the student (not thieved from Google Images) and must be created for the purpose of the assignment (not sampled from mission photos. Snooze!). Ar tist statements should in- clude a discussion of how both the form (line, color, composition, etc.) and content (representation, narrative, etc.) of their creations correlate with their chosen piece of music. (Students will also include a link to their chosen piece of music in their blog post.)

Here's an example of a narrative, or at least a physical representation, being created from the metaphysical: a song.

Here's a song: