Today, the students had roughly an hour to explore the space which we will be transforming--in this case, a courtyard between the art and architecture buildings on campus. They were encouraged to explore every nook and cranny, take in it from a variety of perspectives (including from the 10th floor of the architecture building) and come back with some ideas on what to do with the space. While they did that, the faculty read the journals that we've asked them to keep in an effort to pick up on some themes, questions, and ideas for the final project.
The students returned after about an hour, and told us some of their ideas about the space. We responded by telling them what we uncovered in their journals. Common themes included gesture, line, working outside one's comfort zone, questions of audience, and questions about the purposes of art in general and this project in particular.
We talked about how art--contemporary art in particular, I think--can be viewed as an attempt to solve a problem. To that end, for next time the students are going to bring in an index card with answers to the following questions:
1. What problem are you (we) trying to solve with this art project?
2. What is most important to you in this art project?
3. What do you think might be most important to [some other member of the class] in this art project?
We'll use these as a springboard for discussion.
The students returned after about an hour, and told us some of their ideas about the space. We responded by telling them what we uncovered in their journals. Common themes included gesture, line, working outside one's comfort zone, questions of audience, and questions about the purposes of art in general and this project in particular.
We talked about how art--contemporary art in particular, I think--can be viewed as an attempt to solve a problem. To that end, for next time the students are going to bring in an index card with answers to the following questions:
1. What problem are you (we) trying to solve with this art project?
2. What is most important to you in this art project?
3. What do you think might be most important to [some other member of the class] in this art project?
We'll use these as a springboard for discussion.