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School of Art and Design · ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences
In this course we examine the politics of storytelling in contemporary art practice and the effects of different kinds of historiographic methods in a range of media, including video installation, documentary and public sculpture. The way contemporary artists engage in history making is to question given formats and representational conventions, exposing their latent power and reworking them. The production of histories is intimately entwined with the generation of possible futures and this course explores the political responsibility of artistic-historical narratives and their agency in transmitting and shaping the digestion of the stories they tell. Each student will undertake research into a specific (probably local) history, using methods from relevant disciplines, which could include ethnographic methods like participant observation or historiographic methods like oral history, archival and textual research, but could also include archaeological methods like surveying and excavating. Students will research the methods and media that are most appropriate to the history they are working on, and then educate themselves on how to go about using these methods and media within their capabilities and the resources available to them. The conceptual design and the realization of each of the students' projects will be informed by analysis of a various contemporary art projects which engage in the politics of memory and their approach to formats like the visual essay, the voice-over, re-enactment, the edited interview, archival display, and the monument. Although the media students work with is dependent on the conceptual development of their projects, the course will include some technical instruction on video production, post-production and installation.
Assessment 1: Creative Project and presentation, work made in response to critical refection of a specific context
Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4
Assessment 2: Creative Project and presentation, work made in response to critical refection of a specific context
Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4
Assessment 3: Creative Project and presentation, work made in response to critical refection of a specific context
Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4
Assessment 4: Creative Project and presentation, work made in response to critical refection of a specific context
Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4
Assessment 5: Critical Reflective blog in response to set readings
Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3
130 hours of total student learning time made up from: a) 48 hours of contact over 12 weeks comprising lectures, tutorials, critiques and supervised studio practice; and b) 82 hours of independent student research, studio production, reading and writing. Other Information School of Art & Design studio courses have a limited enrolment capacity. Students are advised to enrol as early as possible to maximise the opportunity of securing a place.
Not applicable Preliminary Reading See Wattle