Choose a contemporary issue that you find particularly important and interesting.

Write an essay, which uses 3 artists (2 living, one deceased) who are making work around this issue. Think about how these artists work establishes a trajectory of thinking around this issue. What questions do they bring up? How are these questions addressed? Do not use the artists from your group’s presentation.  Make sure your paper has a thesis statement. You should reference at least two of the course readings as a means to ground your essay and back up your ideas. The essay must have an introduction paragraph, 1-2 paragraphs on each artist (relating them to the topic and readings) and a conclusion paragraph.

Grading is based on how you contextualize each artist’s work and how your essay makes an argument that connects these artists back to your core issue. Length 4 pages (1000-1200 words). Reference the MLA handbook  (at Paley library) for essay format and proper citation.

“Badge of Honor” by Pepón Osorio, 1995. Ideas discussed in class included: methodologies of making; collecting stories which ultimately speak about self; finding the core issues; invisibility; leading through practice

Caster Semenya, an 18-year-old from South Africa, after the women’s 800 meters at the world track and field championships in Berlin.

EITHER/OR

Sports, sex, and the case of Caster Semenya. The New Yorker by Ariel Levy NOVEMBER 30, 2009

Discussed in Class: Edgar Degas, Collier Schorr, Catherine Opie, Robert Gober, Kiki Smith, Janine Antoni, Louise Bourgeois,  Berlinde De Bruyckere, Liz Craft,  Justine Kurland, Pieter Hugo,

GROUP A : NOV 29 Kelly, Zani, Emily Srader, Sierra
Our group plans to focus on art that requires the viewer in order to activate the work.

GROUP B : NOV 29 Julia, Caleb, Jay
Our group’s theme is identity, which we will be exploring through self-portraits. We want to address how the artist meant for themselves to be portrayed, in a more personal sense that can’t necessarily be understood at just a glance. We want to cover not only the subject, but also the materials and process.

GROUP C : NOV 29 Emily B, Jessica, Bonnie, Amelia
Our group’s theme for the “Curating Now” project is the idea of how rituals changed over human history from religious to daily practice (contemporary).

GROUP D : DEC 1 Jennifer, Tracy, Valerie, Grace
We are going to use appropriation artists who distort iconic art history pieces and remake them with their own artistic style.

GROUP E : DEC 1 Stephanie, Halley, Angela, Bridget
The focus of our exhibition is going to be on the different ways in which women express themselves and are expressed in various cultures; this will focus on the cultural context from which the women come from and how their respective communities have affected their art and self-portayal; this will be a visual discussion of how women, especially in the 20th century, have become deeply entrenched in ethnicity and community and the respective products of that entrenchment. We will focus on using mostly female 20th century art. This does not necessarily have to be a focus on feminism, but instead a study of women’s ideas of themselves.

GROUP F : DEC 1 Giselle, Kim, Leanne, Ian
Our original plan for a theme for the exhibit was focused on the idea of the literal myth: creatures, fables, and stories from history and how they are different to each culture.
However, depending on the intent of the exhibit as well as the artists who we find through our research the theme may be focusing on the myth of race and culture in America. This would focus mainly on stereotypes and race relations. We could easily research artists from both types of theme within our group and choose to narrow down our theme based upon our research.

GROUP G : DEC 6 Steve, Tiffany, Emily Sheerin, Bill
We chose site specific installations and we intended to look into the ways a site affects the viewer’s perception of the work.

GROUP H : DEC 6 Hannah, Elaine, Shannon, Ally
Obsession
With practices that are labor-intensive and meticulous, the artists of this exhibit demonstrate obsession through their choice of subject, material, and technique in their detailed artwork.

Discussed in Class: Richard Serra, Maya Lin, Chris Burden, Marina Abramovic, Michael Smith

Artists Discussed in Class: Michael Heizer, Nancy Holt, Robert Smithson, Richard Serra

CURATING NOW ASSIGNMENT

References from the Lecture: The Laundromat Project, Add-Art, Learning to Love You More, The Kitchen, Shame The Devil, Theater of The Oppressed 

Check out the new Tyler Student’s Visual Studies Blog