Class#8: The Art Market and You're the Curator Homework Assignment

Plan's for an out of class fieldtrip (Brooklyn Museum) are postponed due to scheduling difficulties. We'll still do one or two more field trips before the semester is done. Meet in the classroom next week!



Todays Lecture
 


Homework: Be the Curator

For those of you who were in class today complete the 4 artwork mini-exhibition based on our visit to Fischer-Landau Art Center. For those who did NOT attend class--shame--and
you can create your 4 piece exhibition from the

  Museum of Modern Art's online collection browser 
(stick to the painting and sculpture or drawing sections)



You’re the Curator

As demonstrated in the above slideshow, the Curator is the one who creates the narrative surrounding a solo or group exhibition. The curator decides on the relationship of art objects to each other in a space, the lighting, the color of the walls, and importantly, how the show is written up, how the work is contextualized, in what art tradition this work is placed into.

So it’s your turn to try out the role of writing the art narrative, by acting as curator for a show of your own (theoretical) making.

     Create a mini-exhibition with 4 works from the Columbia MFA Exhibition (or the online MOMA database) that speak to one another, either formally, through their subject matter, through mood, or because of more personal associations. You will create a name for your show and think about who the audience is for this exhibition.

a. Make a blog post with with images of each of your four chosen works. Describe each of the four works in detail, including accompanying information about name, medium, size, etc.


b. Write a  300+ word essay introducing your show, that includes the following information
     1. An exciting title for your show  (“The Color Blue in the 21st Century”, “A Journey in Geometry:, etc.) that evokes the reasons for grouping these works together
     2.Images of all four pieces with details provided by the exhibition
     3. how the pieces relate to one another and to the larger theme
     4. who the audience is for your exhibition. (does it relate especially to a particular group; pregnant women, civil engineering students, your grandmother, cos-play kids?)

This is due before class next week. 

Class #7: The System (Art History Lesson) Class Followup

Watch the lecture then, go here:


http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/

As much as I call into question the tunnel-vision of the conventional art narrative, institutions like the Metropolitan museum are trying to give an honest representation of art-making practices across the globe and throughout history. Explore this amazing Heilbrun Timeline of Art History. You can navigate via a world map based upon historical period, look at historical or regional timelines, search for a particular artwork, or just type keywords in to a general search field.  Play around.

For your blog response, I would like you to compare two artworks made near the same time, one from the European or American mainstream art tradition and one work from a different part of the world.

For your mainstream art work, feel free to just search for "Romanticism", "Modernism" or one of the other terms mentioned in the online lecture. Or just navigate to the place and time via "world map" or "timelines".

Next find your piece from another part of the world using the "world map" or "timelines." Try to pick a work made as close to the date of the original as possible.

Post images and descriptions of both art objects in a blog post, and answer the below questions thoughtfully.

1. Describe each work in brief.

2. Give your best guess as to the audience of each work.

3. Describe what ideas each work it attempting to bear witness to.

4. Describe the differences between the respective works' representations of beauty.

5. Do you think either of the artists knew about the others' art-making tradition? Why?

6. Do you think the mainstream (European) work deserves its place in the mainstream story of art? Why?

7. Do you think the non-mainstream (non-European) work deserves a place in the mainstream story? Why?

Cooking up a Story Example

Cooking Up a Story Example:

I've chosen to cook baklava. My father's family is Lebanese-American and this is one of the many dishes that my grandmother on that side always cooks. It's a real process-oriented recipe, you layer the sheets of fillo dough one by one, brushing on butter in between. It is natural to invite the family children to lend a hand, and I would hear stories about my relatives as I slowly built layer upon layer of paper-thin dough. In a way the dish represented that whole family history, built generation upon generation up until the present moment.

For the sake of convenience I'll be using a different recipe (grandma's is not very desciptive)
1 (5-inch piece) cinnamon stick, broken into 2 to 3 pieces or 2 teaspoons ground
15 to 20 whole allspice berries
6 ounces blanched almonds
6 ounces raw or roasted walnuts
6 ounces raw or roasted pistachio
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon rose water
1 pound phyllo dough, thawed
8 ounces clarified unsalted butter, melted
For the syrup:
1 1/4 cups honey
1 1/4 cups water
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 cinnamon stick
1 (2-inch) piece fresh orange peel

Read the full recipe at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/baklava-recipe.html?oc=linkback



1. slowly layer the fillo sheet by sheet, brushing each layer with melted butter.

After 9 layers, add 1/3 of chopped nuts  ( can use pistachos, walnuts, almonds, cashews, etc.) 

Sprinkle with rosewater.

Layer with 6 more sheets, brushing with butter in between. Add 2nd 1/3 of nuts, sprinkle rosewater, repeat.

Cut and put in the oven for 1/2 an hour.

While the dough is cooking, assemble the ingredients for the syrup

boil the sugar, honey orange rind, cinnamon stick and water until it's all liquid, 10 or 20 minutes

Let everything cool.






eat.






pour the syrup the baklava. Store in a sealed container but do not put in the fridge! It will harden rock-solid.

Class #6 Followup: Translation--Food as Metaphor and HW Assignment Due next class (Wed APRIL 23!!!)

Watch the online lecture below, then answer the following questions in a blog post:

1. How does Yves Klein’s blue cocktail relate to the metaphoric nature of food to transmit ideas?

2. What does Andy Warhol's Campell's Soup piece say about post-WWII America's relationship to food?

3. What do you think about the Bread & Puppet theatre idea that baking your own break is a political act?

4. Compare Judy Chicago's "Dinner Party" to Leonardo da Vinci's "Last Supper".

5. Describe how  Rirkrit Tiravanija's, Theaster Gates', or Michael Rackowitz's projects take advantage of the social aspect of meal-sharing to generate ideas and discussions. 

6. What do you think about Daniel Bozhkov's "Befriend the Bacteria" project? Why did he create such a bizarre foodstuff? What should our relationship be to this yogurt and how does it relate to the history of the "self-portrait" and the idea of the artist 'bearing witness'?

HW. Cooking up a Story (Due Wednesday, April 23rd)

1. Think of a recipe or dish that is important to you or your family, especially one that carries with it a story about your culture, your family, or defines you and your worldview.

2. Make the dish and document the process in several photographs. 

3. Make a blog post that includes the recipe, the cooking directions, the documentation photos of the dishes' preparation, and the story behind this dish, and the occasions that you've prepared or eaten it. Plus, describe as specifically as you can what it's meaning is and how the ingredients or preparation translates this meaning to someone sitting at your table. 

4. Be prepared to present your dish next class (following Spring Break we have an irregular class day, Wed April 23rd, same time, same place)