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

Monday, March 16, 2009

Between text and Image in Kandinsky's Oeuvre: A Consideration of the Album Sounds
by Christopher Short
Between text and image in Kandinsky's oeuvre: a consideration of Klange in relation to the synthesis of the arts Focusing on the album of poetry and woodcuts called Sounds (Klänge), published c.1912, this paper examines how Kandinsky understood and exploited the relationship between text and image. It shows how he conceived of the album as an example of synthetic art and explores the broader principles underlying his idea of artistic synthesis.

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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