1. Diagnostic Essay
Due 9:30 am, September 11, 2007
You must turn in every paper to pass the course. No late papers will be accepted for the first assignment. Write a 2-3 page argumentative essay on one of the artists’ videos we have watched (as of 9/6/2007):
Nam June Paik, Electronic Opera 1 (The Medium is the Medium), 1969 on Strange Music of Nam June Paik, 1975. Video/C 5306
Dara Birnbaum, Technology/Transformation: Wonder Woman. 1978. 7 min. Video/C 5209
Peter Campus, Three Transitions, 1973. 5 min. Video/C 5153
Peter Campus, Double Vision, 1971. 14 min, 22 sec.On Ubu.com
William Wegman, Two Dogs and a Ball, Used Car Salesman, Dog Biscuit In Glass Jar (Surveying the First Decade: Video Art and Alternative Media in the U.S.) 1972 8 min. Video/C 9403 – Also on UBU.com.
Chris Burden, Documentation of Selected Video Works, 1971-75. 34 min, 38 sec. On UBU.com.
Terry Fox, The Children’s Tapes, 1974. 30 min. On Ubu.com
Martha Rosler, Semiotics of the Kitchen, 1975. 6 min. VIDEO/C 5147.
You may reference the readings, but do not use outside texts. Draw only on course materials for this essay. Write about only one video. This is not a comparison essay. The intent of this assignment is to evaluate your argumentative writing and analysis skills, as well as to diagnose problems. Please refer to the writing guides in the back of the reader and on our course website for helpful materials on: what is an argument, introductions & conclusions, thesis statements, and works cited lists. Ground your argument in visual evidence from the video (reference specific details, formal qualities, etc.) and in specific citations from the texts.
2. Comparative Essay
Draft 1 Due October 11, Draft 2 Due October 30
For your second essay, develop an argument about TWO of the videos that we have watched in class or at home. The videos may be by the same artist or by two artists. You may draw upon any of the readings we have read thus far. You may not write about the same video you analyzed in your first paper.
In a paper involving two artists/authors, an argument must go beyond pointing out similarities or differences between the two. Is it not enough to say that Serra does one thing, while Ant Farm something else. Nor is it enough to say that Serra and Ant Farm agree on a particular point. Take the argument a step further: Despite a certain similarity, what differences can you find? What are the implications of a certain difference? Or, despite differences, what comes through as similar? Why are those similarities and differences important?
Length: 5-6 Pages
Videos: Ant Farm, Media Burn; TVTV, Four More Years; Paul Ryan & Raindance, Proto Media Primer (MRC AVMC: VIDEO/C 9409); Richard Serra, Television Delivers People; Richard Serra, Boomerang; Lynda Benglis, Now (MRC Video/C 5208); Vito Acconci, Undertone ; Vito Acconci, Theme Song; Vito Acconci, Pryings; Nam June Paik, Electronic Opera 1 (The Medium is the Medium) (MRC Video/C 5306); Dara Birnbaum, Technology/Transformation: Wonder Woman. (Video/C 5209); Peter Campus, Double Vision; William Wegman, Two Dogs and a Ball, Used Car Salesman, Dog Biscuit In Glass Jar; Chris Burden, Documentation of Selected Video Works, 1971-75; Terry Fox, The Children’s Tapes; Martha Rosler, Semiotics of the Kitchen. (MRC VIDEO/C 5147).
Readings: Michael Rush, Video Art; Vito Acconci, “Television, Furniture, Sculpture: A Room with an American View”; Martha Rosler, “Video: Shedding the Utopian Moment”; Marita Sturken, “Paradox in the Evolution of an Art Form”; Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man; Michael Shamberg, Guerilla Television; Deidre Boyle, “A Brief History of American Documentary Video”; Kathy Rae Huffman, “Video Art: What’s TV Got To Do With It”; David Joselit, “Feedback”; Rosalind Krauss, “Video: The Aesthetics of Narcissism”; Vito Acconci, “10 Point Plan for Video”; Anne Wagner, “Performance, Video, and the Rhetoric of Presence.”
3. Research Paper - Proposal Due November 8. Draft 1 Due November 27, Draft 2 Due December 13.
“A research paper is not merely an elaborately footnoted presentation of what a dozen scholars have already said about a topic; it is a thoughtful evaluation of the available evidence and so it is, finally, an expression of what the author thinks the evidence adds up to.” - Sylvan Barnet
In the second half of the semester, we will write a 10-page research paper. A research paper is different from the papers we have written so far in that it will require you to incorporate other texts and positions into your own argument.
You may choose any topic for your paper as long as it has some relation to our course and to video art. The paper should involve at least one text from the course.
You will use at least 2 “primary sources” and 3 “secondary sources” for this paper.
“Primary Sources” are art works, artists’ writings, interviews, theoretical texts (i.e. Marshall McLuhan),etc.
“Secondary Sources are critical and historical accounts of the works you discuss.
You should write about something that interests you.
Everyone is required to meet with Kris about the final paper.
The paper will develop over the final weeks of the semester.
November 8: Final paper proposal due
November 13: Library research workshop with MRC Librarian Gary Handman.
November 27: First draft due (Paper 3.1) (8 pages minimum)
December 13: Final draft due (Paper 3.2) (10 pages)
Homework
Students must post a response essay on the course blog for each video marker "(Response)" on the Syllabus.
See Guidelines for Respose Essays for directions.
Guidelines for Response Essays
The following are helpful writing handouts provided by the University of North Carolina Writing Center.
Links to Course related Exhibitions and Events
ExhibitionsWe will visit three art exhibitions this semester.
Joan Jonas: The Shape, The Sent, The Feel of Things at The Berkeley Art Museum
Douglas Gordon: Pretty Much Every Film and Video Work from about 1992 until Now at The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
"40yearsvideoart.de: Video Art in Germany since the Sixties" - Lecture and screening at SFMOMA with the Media Arts curator and German video artists. September 20, 6pm; September 22 & 23, 2:30pm.
October 26, 7pm - Opening Party for RIP.MIX.BURN.BAM.PFA
Art, Technology and Culture Lecture Series - We'll go to Kristin Lucas's talk on December 3.
Just some of the artists we will study this semester: Vito Acconci, Bruce Nauman, Dan Graham, Joan Jonas, Douglas Gordon, Ant Farm, Pierre Huyghe, Martha Rosler, Nam June Paik, Dara Birnbaum, Peter Campus, Terry Fox, Richard Serra, Chris Burden, TVTV, Lynda Benglis, Julia Scher, Sophie Calle, Marie Sester, Cory Arcangel, Michael Bell-Smith, and Jeremy Deller.
