Language (+ Materials): Word & Image, Sound Art, Performance Writing

Thursday, March 05, 2009

Assignment 2
Due: Tuesday 10 March 2009

A. Read

1. Dissociated Objects: The Statements/Sculptures of Lawrence Weiner
Birgit Pelzer and John Goodman
October, Vol. 90, (Autumn, 1999), pp. 76-108

2. An Inadequate History of Conceptual Art
Silvia Kolbowski
October, Vol. 92, (Spring, 2000), pp. 52-70

Both available via JSTOR

B. Write/design

“Using language + materials of your choice, in less than 100 words, design an ‘experience’ for your audience/viewer/reader.”

language + the materials referred to

Lawrence Weiner designates “language + the materials referred to” as the medium for his work, allowing him to situate his sculptural practice in a wide range of geographical locations and cultural systems (or “points of reception”, in Weiner’s words). This course explores writing as a creative and critical strategy through themes such as art writing; materiality and genre; the aesthetics of the dematerialized artifact; language as sculpture, sound art, and the role of language in conceptual art.

COURSE TEXTS

Birgit Pelzer & John Goodman (1999), Dissociated Objects: The Statements/Sculptures of Lawrence Weiner (October, Vol. 90, pp. 76-108. Available via JSTOR)
Course blog
Donald Judd (1965) Specific Objects (in Thomas Kellein, Donald Judd: Early Work, 1955-1968, New York: D.A.P., 2002. Originally published in Arts Yearbook 8, 1965. Available via course blog).
Jack Burnham (1968), ”System Esthetics” in Artforum
Silvia Kolbowski (2000) An Inadequate History of Conceptual Art (October, Vol. 92, pp. 52-70. Available via JSTOR)
Simon Morley: Writing on the Wall: Word and Image in Modern Art (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2003)
The Prose Poem: An International Journal
Ubuweb
W.J.T. Mitchell (1994), “Ekphrasis and the Other” in Picture Theory

SPIRIT VESSEL by Katherine Ng