Social Practice: Concepts and Contexts - Teaching Assistant
Social Practice: Concepts and Contexts
Fall 2016
ULEC 2270A; CRN 6186
Wednesdays 12pm - 1:15pm
Academic Entrance, 63 Fifth Ave. L104
Faculty
Lydia Matthews, MatthewL@newschool.edu, Office: 2 W. 13th Street, Room 1106
Office hours Thursday 4-5pm & upon request
Teaching Assistants
Section A : Olimpia Mosteanu, mosto995@newschool.edu | Thurs. 10am - 11:15am | 63 Fifth Ave., Room 202
Section B : Luis Tsukayama Cisneros, tsukl431@newschool.edu | Thurs. 2pm - 3:15pm | 63 Fifth Ave., Room 204
Section C : Kate Fisher, fishk808@newschool.edu | Thurs. 12pm - 1:15pm | 63 Fifth Ave., Room 204
Section D : Francesca Fiore, fiorf575@newschool.edu | Fri. 10am - 11:15am | 63 Fifth Ave., Room 204
Course Description
How is it that a work of art may now double as a restaurant, a barter network, a walking tour, a community garden, a scientific study, a town hall meeting, or a virtual community archive, and vice-versa? Since the turn of the 21st century, artistic projects that invite exchange, imagine new social relationships, and provoke individual and collective actions have grown increasingly popular, especially amongst a younger generation of creative practitioners around the world. This transdisciplinary approach is typically characterized by collaboration across liberal art and art and design disciplines. Rather than being the product of a single artist working within an isolated studio, social practice projects are driven by the desire to connect, to look outside oneself in meaningful and tangible ways, and to positively impact daily life within specific communities—often co-created with people with a variety of life experiences. For this kind of socially-engaged work to be successful, artists, designers, writers, scholars, architects, urban planners, and curators (among others) must develop a unique set of social and material skills.
They must demonstrate an awareness of local histories and a nuanced understanding of the relationship between social justice, polemics and poetics. This course offers a theoretical and historical foundation for students interested in socially-engaged practices within or across their own disciplines, whether they are studying in the liberal arts, art and design, or performance. It will introduce some of the economic, political, and aesthetic forces that have influenced the emergence of these contemporary art and design practices. Through assigned texts, case studies, site visits, and writing assignments, students will investigate art historical legacies that challenge the boundaries between “art” and “life”; study methodologies stemming from social justice movements, new ways of teaching and learning, and ethnography; and engage in current debates regarding the ethics of cultural production in the public sphere.
*This course satisfies a requirement the Social Practice minor at The New School. To discuss declaring a Social Practice minor, please meet with Professor Matthews or your advisor.
Learning Outcomes
By the successful completion of this course, students will be able to demonstrate:
1. Comprehension: An introductory level knowledge of the history, theory and practice of socially-engaged artworks in a global arena;
2. Synthesis: An introductory level ability to articulate the intersection of contemporary art and design discourses, social justice movements and radical pedagogical practices;
3. Collaboration: An introductory level ability to work in collaborative groups to effectively develop written arguments and critique/proofread writing assignments;
4. Methodologies: An ability to identify different research methodologies that inform the production of contemporary social practices;
5. Application: An ability to deliver oral presentations of your research with a sensitivity to the needs/character of diverse audiences.
Course Requirements / Graded Activities
Check Syllabus for updates on Canvas weekly (this is part of effectively participating in the course—the syllabus readings/topics will evolve as needed to ensure optimal learning/exchange, so always use a current version);
No electronic devices (phones/computers/tablets) allowed in class, unless instructed otherwise by TA. You will need to focus on note-taking by hand, and then transfer/develop the key ideas from both readings and lectures on your computer once at home.
1. Personal Handwritten Journal: Take detailed notes on the artists, ideas, contexts, themes and projects you find most compelling from lectures and readings. Bring your journal to both lectures and discussion sections to refer to, add to and otherwise engage.
2. Create an Evolving Digital Glossary: You are learning how to speak and think in new multidisciplinary language: therefore, you will need to keep track of your evolving vocabulary. After taking detailed notes on lectures and assigned readings in your journal, go back and make note of what you find most interesting within the material (e.g., artists, ideas, contexts, themes and projects). To help you better “process” this information, create 4 well written “glossary” entries per week--no more than one paragraph per entry—that defines the term and describes, in your own words, how it helps illuminate that week’s lecture theme.
*Please note: this glossary MUST include items gleaned from the readings--not only from the lectures. You should bring print outs of your glossary entry drafts to use as a tool during discussion sections, and then send your TA a final digital version of your week’s glossary entries by 5pm each Friday. Your TAs will keep track of your progress and offer brief suggestions, as needed. You will use this glossary in your written assignments and your final group project.
DUE WEEKLY FOR USE IN DISCUSSION SECTION: email glossary entries to TAs by 5PM each Friday
3. Glossary Written Essay: Select your 10 best glossary entries and craft a 2-3 page formal written essay using them (this essay will be graded, more assignment details will be forthcoming.)
*DUE BY MIDNIGHT ON Friday, OCT. 14th
4. Discussion Section Leader Presentations. Each week a team of 2-3 students per week will focus on the assigned readings for the first 20 minutes (minimum) of the class in order to spark dialogue and further analysis in your discussion section. Perhaps your “team” members may want to split different parts of the text to present individually, but you should work collaboratively to envision the presentation as a whole, and to strategize about how to most effectively engage your audience to help them process the information. This is your chance to do some extra research on the topics that most interest you in relation to what you’ve heard and read. Your team will need to connect key textual ideas you’ve identified in that week’s readings to at least one interesting phenomenon you’ve encountered in your daily lives (e.g., something seen in a recent exhibition/performance/social gathering, a project or research activity happening somewhere else in the world or in another disciplinary field, something witnessed in your neighborhood, a growing international trend that you have observed, a news item, etc.) This is your opportunity to connect the theories and ideas addressed in the readings and lectures to make sense of your contemporary realities, and vice-versa. Express your ideas in a way that is clear, engaging and inspiring.
*Please note: In your class presentations, you will be penalized for merely summarizing the text or simply reading passages from the text without offering analysis. Instead, plan to:
- point to specific issues/passages in the text;
- raise interesting questions that will be worth further exploring with your colleagues;
- complement your analysis with visual images, short video clips, or any additional engagement strategies to illuminate and activate your commentaries. Evaluation will be based on the following criteria:
• Meaningful analysis and expression of a point of view concerning the reading and lecture.
• Connection to outside example of urban phenomena and lived experiences.
• Appropriate use of images, clips, etc.
• Presentation skills (organization of presentation and ability to express yourself clearly.)
• Efficacy of method used to inspire your audience to engage with your topic (be creative about the form of your presentation!)
DUE: ON ASSIGNED WEEK
5. Individual 3-5 page essay “Making a Case: Project in Context(s)”: Write an analysis of one significant Social Practice project, mapping its relationship to what you see as its “field of social practice”: what multidisciplinary ideas, other artists, community members, historical events, etc. does the project engage, or what further links does it inspire?
DUE: By Midnight, Friday Nov. 18th .
6. Final Discussion Group “Team” Project: Create a team project that will allow you to synthesize and share your knowledge about Social Practice. Your discussion section group is the specific “community” with whom you are working, and you will need to learn how to use your group’s assets, interests and skills in making this project. The contents and form will be determined by you and your colleagues, working collaboratively and envisioning how best to deploy the skills/ strengths of your discussion group’s “community economy.” You will also be asked to write your own individual one page critical reflection on your collaborative experience immediately after the group presentation.
DUE: IN CLASS Wednesday, Dec. 16th, with 1 page individual critical reflection due Friday, Dec. 18th.
Final Grade Calculation
20% Participation: Participation includes:
• Individual participation. Every week all students should be prepared to share comments/questions in response to the reading to be addressed in the session. You will be expected to participate in all in class debates, discussions or other exercises.
• Final Project participation (includes ability to work well as a team member.)
• Attendance (please see detailed policy below, which will be enforced.)
20% Discussion Team Leader Presentation
20% Ongoing Journal Notes/ Glossary Production (including short glossary essay assignment)
25% Individual 3-5 page “Making a Case” essay
15% Final Group Project
Course Readings and Materials
All course readings will be:
1) accessible on Canvas; or
2) sent as attachments from your TA to your newschool.edu email account (please check that regularly); or 3) will be passed out as handouts during class meetings. It is your responsibility to make sure you have what you need to be prepared for your weekly discussion sections and assignments.
Course Outline and Calendar
Week 1: Aug. 31
Setting The Stage 1: Working In An Emerging, Multidisciplinary Field
*Required Related Reading: Between now and OCT. 12th, read Pablo Helguera’s, Education for Socially Engaged Art: A Materials and Techniques Handbook, NY: Jorge Pinto Books, 2011, pp. 1-88; available at: https://myweb.rollins.edu/rsimmons/screenprint/Readings_files/Education%20for%20Socially%20Engaged%20Art.pdf
*Required Written Assignment 1: Group Asset Mapping. Bring a print out of the following description with you to your first discussion section this week:
· Personal Info: Name, Birthplace, Gender Pronoun, Major/ New School Division, Year level;
· Expertise: 2 skills/talents—learned while in school you excel at;
· Expertise: 2 skills/talents—learned from family or friends;
· 1-2 Research interests—topics/issues you feel most curious or passionate about;
· 2-3 Links to Communities—(neighborhood, extracurricular activities, social clubs, religious, cultural groups, etc.);
· Resources--What other kinds of things or services are you able to give or trade with your colleagues?
Weekly Discussion Group
Personal Introductions, Group Asset Mapping Exercise
Optional Activity
Thursday Sept 1, 4:30–8:30 PM at The New Museum (235 Bowery at Prince, $10 non-members) Artist Simone Leigh’s “Black Women Artists for Black Lives Matter”: over 100 black women artists form a collective force in response to the continued inhumane institutionalized violence against black lives by holding collectively organized healing workshops, performances, digital works, participatory exchanges, displays, and the distribution of materials throughout the Museum.
Week 2: Sept 7
Setting the Stage 2: Understand the Self and Its Desires
Required Related Readings/Activities
1) J.K. Graham-Gibson, Jenny Cameron, Stephen Healy, Chapter 1, “Reframing The Economy, Reframing Ourselves” in Take Back The Economy: An Ethical Guide for Transforming Our Communities, (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2013) pp. 1-16;
2) Watch Adam Curtis video, “The Century of the Self”, Part 3 of the BBC series (There is a Policeman Inside All Our Heads: He Must Be Destroyed)—1 hour long: http://vimeo.com/album/3111916/video/10245146
Optional Assignment
Watch other Curtis’ from series (Part 2 highly recommended):
3) Part 1 (Happiness Machines): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ3RzGoQC4s
4) Part 2 (The Engineering of Consent): http://vimeo.com/album/3131630/video/75779119
5) Part 4 (Eight People Sipping Wine in Kettering) :http://vimeo.com/album/3111916/video/75784765
Weekly Discussion Group
TAs lead the discussion the assigned Graham-Gibson text and video Curtis video. Also, assignments will be made for Weekly Discussion Leaders for the rest of the semester.
Week 3: Sept 14
Re-Designing Fashion, Hacking Capabilities
Guest Speaker: Designer/Theorist Otto von Busch
Required Related Readings/Activities
1) Otto von Busch, “Engaged Design and the Practice of Fashion Hacking: The Examples of Giana Gonzalez and Dale Sko,” Fashion Practice, Volume 1, Issue 2, pp. 163–186: http://www.kulturservern.se/wronsov/selfpassage/research/vonBusch-Engaged%20Design%20Fashion%20Hacking2009.pdf;
2) Otto von Busch, “Designing Capabilities”, XXI magazine, issue 108, April 2012: http://selfpassage.org/XXI/XXI-1202/1202.htm
Optional Reading
3) Kamala Murali, “Otto von Busch: Remaking Roads to Agency,” Design and Practices Paradigms, May 20, 2013: https://designpracticesandparadigms.wordpress.com/2013/05/20/otto-von-busch-remaking-roads-to-agency-2/
Weekly Discussion Group Student Leaders, sign up: 1) 2) 3)
Week 4: Sept 21
Art/Life: Crafting Social Practice Art Histories
(Situationist International, Fluxus, Joseph Beuys’ Social Sculpture, Brazilian Neo-Concrete Movement)
Required Related Reading
1) Tom Finkelpearl, Introduction to What We Made: Conversations on Art and Social Cooperation, (Durham: Duke University Press, 2013) pp. 1-50
Weekly Discussion Group Student Leaders. Students sign up: 1) 2) 3) (If your discussion section meets between noon-6pm, you may want to stage your presentation in the SJDC Parsons gallery’s “Freeplay” exhibition (see optional assignment below) —or you may choose your own method of presenting this week’s material in your classroom).
Optional Assignment
Visit the “Free Play” exhibition in Parsons’ Sheila Johnson Design Center Kellen Gallery at 2 W. 13th St., ground floor: https://events.newschool.edu/event/free_play_-_exhibition_opening_reception#.V8Y7opMrLeQ, which explores the work of artists who borrow from play and games to reveal social, philosophical, and cultural issues. From playfulness, to mathematical strategy, the artists in Free Play mine the significance of games, reinventing them to create experiences that often involve the viewer and reflect on the nature of participation in art.
Week 5: Sept 28
Art/Life: Eating Together
Guest Speaker: Artist Jon Rubin (Waffle Shop, Conflict Kitchen Projects)
Required Related Reading
1) Nato Thompson, Chapter One, Living As Form: Socially Engaged Art from 1991-2011 (Creative Time Books + MIT Press, 2012, pp. “Living as Form,” pp. 16-33;
2) Chelsea Haines Interview with Jon Rubin: https://www.guernicamag.com/daily/jon-rubin-conflict-kitchen/; 3) Check out project websites: http://www.waffleshop.org/ & http://conflictkitchen.org/ & http://www.jonrubin.net/4)
Weekly Discussion Group Student Leaders, sign up: 1) 2) 3) (please link ideas in Thompson’s text to issues within Rubin’s projects.)
Optional Field Trip for Extra Credit
Sept. 30/Oct.1 Mary Mattingly’s Swale in Brooklyn Bridge Park: Details TBA
Week 6: Oct 5
Art/Life: Shifts in Public Art, From Plop Art to Participatory Projects
Required Related Reading
1) Miwon Kwon, Chapter 4 & 5 “From Site to Community in New Genre Public Art”, in One Place After Another: Site-Specific Art and Locational Identity, MIT Press, pp. 101-155
Optional Related Reading
2) Rike Sitas and Edgar Pieterse, “Democratic Renovations and Affective Political Imaginaries,” in Third Text, Vol. 27, 2013, pp. 327-342
Weekly Discussion Group Student Leaders, sign up: 1) 2) 3)
Week 7: Oct 12
No Lecture: Yom Kippur
DISCUSSION GROUPS WILL MEET AS USUAL on Thursday, Oct. 13/ Friday, Oct. 14
Required Related Reading:
1) Complete Pablo Helguera’s book, Education for Socially Engaged Art: A Materials and Techniques Handbook, NY: Jorge Pinto Books, 2011, pp. 1-88; available at: https://myweb.rollins.edu/rsimmons/screenprint/Readings_files/Education%20for%20Socially%20Engaged%20Art.pdf
Required Written Assignment
DUE BY MIDNIGHT ON FRIDAY, OCT. 14TH: Mid-term assessments will be made on the basis of sample glossary entries. Submit your 10 best glossary entries + 2 page essay using these terms (more specific details will be handed out in advance)
Weekly Discussion Group: THE “SOCIAL PRACTICE SOCIAL”: Revisiting your community’s asset map and digging deeper into who you are, story exchange.
Week 8: Oct 19
Shelter, Site, and Place
(Rick Lowe, Theater Gates, Jeanne van Heesjwick)
Required Related Reading
1) Hesse McGraw, "Theaster Gates: Radical Reform with Everyday Tools" in Afterall, Issue 30, Summer 2012;
2) Christian Viveros-Fauné, "Business Art, Reconsidered" in A Blade of Grass's Fertile Ground, Dec. 17, 2013 (http://www.abladeofgrass.org/blog/ablog/2013/dec/10/business-art-reconsidered/
3) Heather McClean, excerpt from “Digging into the Creative City: A Feminist Critique”, Antipode Vol. 46 No. 3 2014, pp. 673-690
Optional Reading
4) Tom Finkelpearl, “Social Vision and a Cooperative Community: Project Row Houses, Interview of Rick Lowe by Mark J. Stern” in What We Made: Conversations on Art and Social Cooperation (Duke Univ. Press 2013), pp. 132-151; www.projectrowhouses.org
Weekly Discussion Group Student Leaders, sign up: 1) 2) 3)
Week 9: Oct 26
Judging Quality: Ethics & Aesthetics
Is the goal of Socially-Engaged Practice to produce productive social dissonance or social harmony? Should we understand art as something separate from mundane life or fully integrated within it?
Required Related Reading
1) Claire Bishop: ‘The Social Turn: Collaboration and Its Discontents,’ Artforum, Feb. 2006, pp. 179-185
2) Grant Kester response to Claire Bishop, ‘Another Turn’, Artforum, May 2006
Optional Reading
3) Jacques Ranciere, “The Emancipated Spectator,” Artforum. NY: Mar 2007. Vol. 45, Iss. 7; pg. 271-279;
4) Chantal Mouffe, “From antagonistic politics to an agonistic public space:” An interview to Gia Galati and Konstantin Kastrissianaki In Re-Public: Re-Imaging Democracy;
5) Nicholas Bourriaud, Excerpts from Relational Aesthetics
Weekly Discussion
Mock Critical Debate on The Ethics, Virtues and Vices of Socially-Engaged Aesthetic Practice of Santiago Sierra’s Work)
Week 10: Nov 2
Stories, Histories, Fictions, Truths: Narratives and Our Collective Imaginaries
Isuma Productions/Igloolic Collective, Batumi Backyards Stories, Abounaddara Syrian Film Collective, etc. What is at stake in projects that aim to tell the stories of ordinary people’s lives, both from the past and the present? How does this act counter “official” or “media” histories” that attempt to control what is worth seeing/remembering? How does creating a fiction/mythology help to address actual realities in the past and present?
Required Related Reading
TBA
Optional Related Reading
1) Lydia Matthews: “Seeing in the Dark: Unearthing Batumi’s Hidden Backyard Treasures” in Karin Shankar and Kirsten Larson, eds., Participatory Urbanisms: An Anthology
Weekly Discussion Group Student Leaders, sign up: 1) 2) 3)
Week 11: Nov 9
Art Strategies in the Aftermath of Climate Change
(THE WERTHEIM SISTERS, Crochet Coral Reef & PAUL CHAN’s Waiting For Godot in New Orleans)
Required Related Reading
1) “Art and the Ecological” by Ben Davis, Miami Rail, in Canvas files and also here: http://miamirail.org/summer-2015/art-and-the-ecological/;
1)Also familiarize yourselves with the following websites:
2) Paul Chan, “Waiting for Godot in New Orleans” Project Website: http://creativetime.org/programs/archive/2007/chan/welcome.html);
3) Wertheim Sisters, “Crochet Coral Reef”: http://crochetcoralreef.org/; 4) Mary Mattingly “Wetlands/Waterpod”: http://www.marymattingly.com/Default.html
Weekly Discussion Group Student Leaders, sign up: 1) 2) 3)
Optional Fieldtrip Activity
Visit the Weirtheim Sisters, “Crochet Coral Reef” on display at the Museum of Art and Design, details TBA
Week 12: Nov 12
Case Study: Radical Pedagogy and The Sex-Ed Project
Guest Speaker: Artist Norene Leddy
Required Related Reading
1) Paolo Friere, Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Chapter 2 (NY: Continuum Books, 1993);
2) Myles Horton & Paolo Freire, We Make the Road by Walking: Conversations on Education and Social Change. Brenda Bell, John Gaventa and John Peters, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1990
Required Written Assignment
”MAKING A CASE: PROJECT IN CONTEXT(S)” ESSAYS DUE by MIDNIGHT FRIDAY, Nov. 18th
Weekly Discussion Group Student Leaders, sign up: 1) 2) 3)
Week 13: Meets Tuesday, Nov 22
Exchange and Power: The Pros and Cons of Gifting
Lecture on Wednesday will meet on Tuesday due to Thanksgiving Holiday
DISCUSSION GROUPS WILL NOT MEET
Required Related Reading
TBD
Optional Reading
1) Heather McLean, “Digging into the Creative City: A Feminist Critique,” in Antipode Vol 46, No. 3, 2014, pp. 669-690
Week 14: Nov 30
Lecture Time
Working Session for Final Project
Weekly Discussion Group
Working Session for Final Project
Week 15: Dec 7
Lecture Time
Working Session for Final Project
Weekly Discussion Group
Working Session for Final Project
Fill out online course ratings survey
Week 16: Dec 14
You take the Stage!! Final Discussion Group Presentations
Course Policies
Use of Electronic Devices
Use of any electronic devices (phones, tablets, laptops) is not permitted during lecture periods or discussion sections, unless instructed otherwise by the TAs. All devices should be turned off before class starts. The exception to the laptop rule is students who can provide documentation of a learning disability that requires the use of their laptops.
Modes of Weekly Communication
All course updates and written forms of communication between the student and the TAs/Professor will happen only through using their newschool email accounts and by messaging through Canvas. Please make sure you check for syllabus/assignments updates and for any other additional communications at least once per week, before doing that week’s readings.
Responsibility
Students are responsible for all assignments, even if they are absent. Late papers, failure to complete the readings assigned for class discussion, and lack of preparedness for in-class discussions and presentations will jeopardize your successful completion of this course.
Participation
Class participation is an essential part of class and includes: keeping up with reading, contributing meaningfully to class discussions, active participation in group work, and coming to class regularly and ON TIME. You CANNOT DO WELL in this class without consistent, energetic and respectful PARTICIPATION.
Canvas
Use of Canvas may be an important resource for this class. Students should check it for announcements before coming to class each week.
Attendance And Lateness
Attendance guidelines were developed to encourage students’ success in all aspects of their academic programs. The university understands that attendance in class is part of a student’s full participation and is essential to the successful completion of course work and enhances the quality of the educational experience for all. MORE THAN TWO significant lateness or early departure (i.e., more than 15 minutes on either side without prior instructor approval for either lectures or discussion sections) will be considered as an absence for the day. Students, therefore, are expected to attend class regularly and promptly, and in compliance with the standards stated in course syllabi. The attendance and lateness policies are enforced as of the first day of classes for all registered students. If registered during the add/drop period, the student is responsible for any missed assignments and coursework, but those days will not be counted as absent.
Significant absences justify grade reduction. This ULEC course meets twice each week, and a total of FOUR absences for a course mandates a reduction of ONE FULL LETTER GRADE for the course. More than four absences mandate a failing grade for the course, unless there are extenuating circumstances, such as the following:
- An extended illness requiring hospitalization or visit to a physician (with documentation)
- A family emergency, e.g. serious illness (with written explanation)
- Observance of a religious holiday (see below)
Religious Observance: Students will not be penalized for absences due to religious observance. However, the student still may not miss a significant portion of class time as defined in “Attendance” above.
Students who must miss a class session should notify the Instructor and arrange to make up any missed work as soon as possible. Students may be asked to withdraw from a course if habitual absenteeism or tardiness has a negative impact on the class environment. Students failing a course due to attendance should consult with an academic advisor to discuss options.
Delays
In rare instances, the professor or your TA may be delayed arriving to class. If I have not arrived by the time class is scheduled to start, you must wait a minimum of thirty minutes for my/their arrival. In the event that I/we will miss class entirely, a sign will be posted at the classroom indicating your assignment for the next class meeting.
The New School Grading Standards: Undergraduate Courses
I assume you are all capable of excellent work; however, you will be graded on performance rather than potential, using a standard academic scale:
F Failing grades are given for required work that is not submitted, for incomplete final projects or for examinations that are not taken (without prior notification and approval). Make-up work or completion of missed examinations may be permitted only with the approval of the instructor.
D The paper/project adheres to all of the general guidelines of formatting, page-length, and the minimum terms of the assignment. Work receiving a “D” grade may be a simple restatement of fact or commonly-held opinion. These kinds of papers/projects also will tend to put forward obviously contradictory or conflicting points of view. “D” work may also have serious organizational and grammatical errors in evidence, which may or may not impede the reader/listener’s ability to understand the author’s point.
C/C+ These are average papers/projects. They will demonstrate some success in engaging with the assigned readings or material. The work will show that the student can identify and work with key terms and passages in a text and apply them to ideas and examples found in other texts, or other outside material. Additionally, it will demonstrate effort in the areas of analysis and critical thinking by posing an interesting problem or question. Typical of a “C/C+” paper/project, however, is that the original problem or question, once asked, does not move the paper forward. Often, there is no real solution given, or there is a variety of possible solutions put forward without a clear sense of where the author’s commitment lies. “C/C+” work may also have significant organizational, grammatical and/or editorial errors in evidence. These errors may periodically impede the reader/listener’s ability to understand the author’s point, or may lead to a paper that seems repetitive or circular.
B/B+ These are very good papers/projects. The “B/B+” paper does everything a “C/C+” paper/project does, but offers a sustained and meaningful structure to a critical endeavor that is more complex than a paper at the “C/C+” level. What also distinguishes a “B/B+” paper/project is the author’s ability to offer a unique insight, to ask questions of primary or secondary source material, and/or to set up a debate between texts or points of view. The author’s point of view is clear and an argument is sustained fairly consistently throughout the paper. “B/B+” work is logically organized, and also responds to the assignment in thoughtful and distinctive ways. Although minor grammatical and editorial errors may be present, they are under control and do not impede meaning or clarity in the paper.
A/A- These are exceptionally good papers/projects that go above and beyond the expectations and requirements set forth in the assignment. They demonstrate substantial effort and achievement in the areas of critical thinking and scholarship. They also demonstrate considerable interpretive connections between concrete ideas or textual moments, a high level of analysis, and flexibility of argument. The argument or point of view that is offered is consistent throughout the paper, and governs the use and interpretation of all examples, and primary and/or secondary source material. “A” papers/projects are very well organized, and are free of grammatical and editorial errors.
Given these criteria, the majority of papers/projects can be expected to fall in the “B” to “C” range. Generally, minus grades are used in those cases where a student has fallen just short of achieving all the elements characterizing a paper in a particular grade range.
I A grade of I (Incomplete), signifying a temporary deferment of a regular grade, may be assigned when coursework has been delayed at the end of the semester for unavoidable and legitimate reasons. Incomplete grades are given only with the written approval of the instructor. The Request for an Incomplete Grade form must be filled out by the student and instructor prior to the end of the semester.
If a grade of incomplete is approved, outstanding work must be submitted by the seventh week of the following Fall semester (for Spring and Summer courses) or by the seventh week of the following Spring semester (for Fall courses). Otherwise, a grade of I will automatically convert to a permanent unofficial withdrawal (WF) after a period of four weeks.
The grade of W may be issued by the Office of the Registrar to a student who officially withdraws from a course within the applicable deadline. There is no academic penalty, but the grade will appear on the student transcript.
Grade of Z "Z" grade (Unofficial Withdrawal). Faculty may record a grade of "Z" for students who have stopped attending classes at the end of the course, provided that the student has not completed enough work to warrant a grade (including a failing grade). Faculty must provide a last day of attendance when submitting a Z grade. The Z grade does not calculate into the student's GPA.
Pass/Unsatisfactory Option for Undergraduates Undergraduate students will now have the ability to elect a pass/unsatisfactory option, which must be approved by their advisor. Courses may not count towards a student's undergraduate major or minor requirements, and only a maximum of 12 credits can apply to a degree program.
Add/Drop Period (for full semester courses) The "drop" period (no notation on the transcript) will extend to the fifth week of the term. The "withdrawal" period (W on the transcript) will occur from the sixth week to the twelfth week. After the twelfth week, an advisor's permission is required for a student to withdraw.
Refund Policy The refund policy will allow for a 100% refund for the first week of classes, with reduced refund gradations in weeks thereafter. No refund will be approved after the fifth week of a course.
University Resources
The university provides many resources to help students achieve academic and artistic excellence. These resources include:
❖ The University (and associated) Libraries: http://library.newschool.edu
❖ The University Learning Center: http://www.newschool.edu/learning-center
❖ University Disabilities Service: www.newschool.edu/student-disability-services/ In keeping with the university’s policy of providing equal access for students with disabilities, any student with a disability who needs academic accommodations is welcome to meet with me privately. All conversations will be kept confidential. Students requesting any accommodations will also need to contact Student Disability Service (SDS). SDS will conduct an intake and, if appropriate, the Director will provide an academic accommodation notification letter for you to bring to me. At that point, I will review the letter with you and discuss these accommodations in relation to this course.
University Policies
Academic Honesty and Integrity
Compromising your academic integrity may lead to serious consequences, including (but not limited to) one or more of the following: failure of the assignment, failure of the course, academic warning, disciplinary probation, suspension from the university, or dismissal from the university.
Students are responsible for understanding the University’s policy on academic honesty and integrity and must make use of proper citations of sources for writing papers, creating, presenting, and performing their work, taking examinations, and doing research. It is the responsibility of students to learn the procedures specific to their discipline for correctly and appropriately differentiating their own work from that of others. The full text of the policy, including adjudication procedures, is found at http://www.newschool.edu/leadership/provost/policies/
Resources regarding what plagiarism is and how to avoid it can be found on the Learning Center’s website: http://www.newschool.edu/learning-center/virtual-handout-drawer/
Guidelines for Studio Assignments
Work from other visual sources may be imitated or incorporated into studio work if the fact of imitation or incorporation and the identity of the original source are properly acknowledged. There must be no intent to deceive; the work must make clear that it emulates or comments on the source as a source. Referencing a style or concept in otherwise original work does not constitute plagiarism. The originality of studio work that presents itself as “in the manner of” or as playing with “variations on” a particular source should be evaluated by the individual faculty member in the context of a critique. Incorporating ready-made materials into studio work as in a collage, synthesized photograph or paste-up is not plagiarism in the educational context. In the commercial world, however, such appropriation is prohibited by copyright laws and may result in legal consequences.]
Intellectual Property Rights: http://www.newschool.edu/leadership/provost/policies/
Bibliography: Aesthetic Social Practice
Claire Bishop, ed., Participation, Whitechapel, 2006
Claire Bishop, Artificial Hells: Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship, Verso, 2012 (download: http://selforganizedseminar.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/bishop-claire-artificial-hells-participatory-art-and-politics-spectatorship.pdf)
Nicolas Bourriaud, Relational Aesthetics, Presses du Réel, 1998 (http://courses.washington.edu/art361a/readings/Relational%20Aesthetics_entire.pdf)
Will Bradley and Charles Esche, eds., Art and Social Change: A Critical Reader, Tate Publishing 2007
Erin Charpentier and Travis Neel, eds., Art & Social Practice Workbook (Portland State University, Guestwork, 2014): http://guestwork.org/The-Art-and-Social-Practice-Workbook
Guy Debord, Society of the Spectacle, Paris, 1967
Umberto Eco, “The Poetics of the Open Work”, The Open Work, Translated by Anna Cancogni, Boston: Harvard University Press, 1989
Tom Finkelpearl, What We Made: Conversations on Art and Social Cooperation, Duke University Press, 2013
Pablo Feire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Continuum, 1993
Rudolph Frieling, The Art of Participation, 1950-Now, SFMOMA/Thames and Hudson, 2008
Erving Goffman, Relations in Public: Microstudies of the Public Order, Basic Books, 1971
Grady, Elizabeth M., ed., Future Imperfect: A Blade of Grass 2014-15 . A Blade of Grass Books, 2016.
Pablo Helguera, Education for Socially Engaged Art: A Materials and Techniques Handbook, Jorge Pinto Books, 2011; (https://myweb.rollins.edu/rsimmons/screenprint/Readings_files/Education%20for%20Socially%20Engaged%20Art.pdf
Shannon Jackson, Social Works: Performing Art, Supporting Publics, Routledge, 2011
Stephen Johnstone, ed., The Everyday. Whitechapel, 2008
Allan Kaprow, Essays on the Blurring of Art and Life, Edited by Jeff Kelley, University of California Press, 1993
Grant H. Kester, Conversation Pieces: Community and Communication in Modern Art, University of California Press, 2004
Grant H. Kester, The One and The Many: Contemporary Collaborative Art in a Global Context, Duke University Press, 2012
Carin Kuoni, ed., Energy Plan for the Western Man: Joseph Beuys in America, Four Walls Eight Windows, 1990
Carin Kuoni and Chelsea Haines, eds., Entry Points: The Vera List Center field Guide on Art and Social Justice No. 1, (VLC The New School, 2015)
Miwon Kwon, One Place After Another: Site Specific Art and Locational Identity, MIT Press, 2002
Suzanne Lacy, Mapping the Terrain: New Genre Public Art, Bay Press,1994
Lydia Matthews, “From the Ground Up: Designing Provocative Prototypes, A Hands-On Curatorial Approach”, in Against All Odds Project: Ethics/Aesthetics, Lina Stergiou, ed., (Athens, Greece: Papasotiriou Publishers: 2011) pp. 47-71; http://www.lydiamatthews.com/filter/Writing/From-the-Ground-Up-Designing-Provocative-Prototypes-A-Hands-On-1
Markus Miessen, Did Someone Say Participate?: An Atlas of Spatial Practice, MIT Press, 2006
Chantal Mouffe, “From Antagonistic Politics to an Agonistic Public Space: An interview to Gia Galati and Konstantin Kastrissianakis” In Re-Public: Re-Imaging Democracy: http://www.re-public.gr/en/?p=2801
The New Museum, “Whose Terms? A Glossary for Social Practice”, 2014: http://www.newmuseum.org/blog/view/whose-terms-a-glossary-for-social-practice-part-2-2 (includes Julia Robinson on MATERIAL, Marc Herbst on CRITICALITY, Christoph Cox on ETHICS, JEQU on CAPITAL, Sally Szwed on EMPATHY, Alexander Dumbadze on PRIVACY, Laurel Ptak onCLASS, Chelsea Knight on PERFORMANCE, and Jonas Staal on REAL.
Darren O’Donnell, Social Acupuncture, Coach House, 2006
Ted Purves, ed., What We Want is Free, Generosity and Exchange in Recent Art, SUNY Press 2005
Jacques Ranciere, The Emancipated Spectator, 2004 (download at: http://digital.mica.edu/departmental/gradphoto/public/Upload/200811/Ranciere%20%20spectator.pdf)
Richard Sennett, Together: The Rituals, Pleasures and Politics of Cooperation, Yale University Press, 2012
Blake Stimson and Gregory Sholette, eds., Collectivism After Modernism: The Art of Social Imagination After 1945, University of Minnesota Press, 2007
Gregory Sholette, Dark Matter: Art and Politics in the Age of Enterprise Culture, Pluto Press, 2011
Nato Thompson and Gregory Sholette, The Interventionists: Users' Manual For The Creative Disruption Of Everyday Life, Mass MoCA Publications; Cambridge, Mass.: Distributed by MIT Press, 2004, 05.
Nato Thompson, ed. Living As Form: Socially Engaged Art from 1991-2011, Creative Time Books + MIT Press, 2012
Otto Von Busch, Fashion-Able: Hacktivism and Engaged Fashion Design, Art Monitor, University of Gothenburg, 2008: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download;jsessionid=21F4D652BD7BF687B4A86A7CC29AE3A4?doi=10.1.1.177.1291&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Social Practice Academic Programs in the USA
California College of the Arts (CCA) – MFA Fine Arts, Social Practice Concentration (first program in the country of its type, launched 2005): http://www.cca.edu/academics/graduate/fine-arts/socialpractices
Carnegie Melon University School of Art, MFA Contextual Practice, http://www.cmu.edu/art/programs/mfa/contextual-practice/
CUNY Queens College – MFA Social Practice
http://www.socialpracticequeens.org/what/
Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) –undergraduate Concentration in Sustainability and Social Practice
Moore College of Art & Design, MFA in Community Practice, http://moore.edu/academics/graduate-studies/mfa-in-community-practice
Parsons The New School for Design—minor in Social Practice launched Fall 2014: http://www.newschool.edu/parsons/minor-social-practice/
Portland State University – MFA Art and Social Practice
http://www.psusocialpractice.org
Pratt – Public Project located in Graduate Communications Design Department at Pratt Institute
http://publicproject.prattgradcomd.com/?page_id=51
NYU – Steinhardt MFA Art, Education and Community Practice, http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/art/education/community_practice
Otis College of Art & Design – Graduate Public Practice
http://www.otis.edu/academics/graduate_public_practice/index.html
Ohio State –ran a search this year for a Social Practice faculty person who will likely develop a concentration for their MFA students
University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC) Social Practice Arts Research Center (SPARC) UC Santa Cruz's Social Practice Arts Research Center fosters knowledge exchange and project building between artists, scientists, the public and others with a vision towards active social and environmental change)
http://arts.ucsc.edu/programs/centers/art-as-social-practice AND http://sparc.ucsc.edu/index.html
A Few (mostly) Local Resources Supporting Socially-Engaged Practice
A Blade of Grass (“ nurtures socially engaged art. We provide resources to artists who demonstrate artistic excellence and serve as innovative conduits for social change. We evaluate the quality of work in this evolving field by fostering an inclusive, practical discourse about the aesthetics, function, ethics and meaning of socially engaged art that resonates within and outside the contemporary art dialogue”): http://www.abladeofgrass.org/
Broken City Lab (Canada-based artist-led interdisciplinary collective and non-profit organization working to explore and unfold curiosities around locality, infrastructures, education, and creative social practice leading towards civic change: http://justinlanglois.com/artwork/broken-city-lab/
Creative Time: (NY-based with global social practice summits, excellent archive of talks featuring international projects) http://creativetime.org/
Ourgoods.org (an amazing barter economy you can join)
Freecycle Network (free grassroots project that enables people to give and get all kinds of material things for free: https://www.freecycle.org/
Lambent Foundation (“leverages the critical role of arts and culture at the intersection of social justice. Through our grantmaking and creative programs we explore the impact of contemporary art as a strategy for promoting sustainable cultural practices in New York City, New Orleans and Nairobi”.: http://lambentfoundation.org
Center for Artistic Activism (“The Center for Artistic Activism is a place to explore, analyze, and strengthen connections between social activism and artistic practice. Our goal is to make more creative activists and more effective artists. We aim to win.”): http://artisticactivism.org/
FluxFactory (“non-profit art organization that supports and promotes emerging artists through exhibitions, commissions, residencies, and collaborative opportunities. It functions as an incubation and laboratory space for the creation of artworks that are in dialogue with the physical, social, and cultural spheres of New York City (though collaborations may start in New York and stretch far beyond.”): http://www.fluxfactory.org/
Hemera Foundation: Supports innovative organizations and initiatives that foster basic human goodness in individuals and society: http://hemera.org/
More Art (“ nonprofit organization dedicated to forging a powerful link between contemporary art and artists, and the community at large. We partner with neighborhood schools, community centers, and other local organizations, but not with the aim of simply generating a larger audience for established works. We want to actively involve our participants in the creation and exhibition of new contemporary art pieces – and forge a powerful community at the same time.”): http://www.moreart.org/
Surdna Foundation (fostering sustainable communities in the United States through supporting artists who engage in social change): http://www.surdna.org/rfp.html
Vital Space (“Vital Space is a participatory platform for all those who believe that an artistic perspective can help civilise, humanise and, even, rationalise the debate on the current confluence of environmental and economic crises. The platform functions as an open invitation to artists, scientists, activists, theorists, historians etc. to contribute diverse viewpoints from which to look again at the mounting problems regarding Humanity's relationship with Nature and with itself.”): http://www.vitalspace.org/mission