Programme


 * Programme **
 * Criticism and Interpretation **
 * Level 2 Elective **
 * October 2009-January 2010 **
 * Tutor: Adrian Holme **

October 9, 2009 This first session will introduce the elective programme, discuss its aims and ways of working, and explore some of the basic terms used – terms such as ‘criticism,’ ‘interpretation,’ ‘aesthetics,’ ‘taste,’ and ‘judgement.’
 * 1. Criticism and Interpretation – an introduction. **
 * Camberwell, Ground Seminar, Wilson Road, 12.30-14.30 **
 * Workshop exercise on criticism and interpretation of objects

October 16, 2009 Changing concepts of time and space revealed in the transition from Mediaeval to Rennaisance art. An example of interpretation applied art historically. The understanding and representation of space and time changed dramatically as the Mediaeval world gave way to the Renaissance – that ‘rebirth’ of classical learning. To the Mediaeval mind, space existed by virtue of objects existing, but there was no notion of a continuous space in which objects might relate. Writing in the 1960s, Marshall McLuhan, related perspective to the birth of print culture.
 * 2. Becoming real – the invention of dimension: **
 * Space and time from the Mediaeval to the Renaissance **
 * Colin Wiggins & Karly Allen of the National Gallery present seminars in front of selected works **
 * Meet: National Gallery, 13.45 sharp **

October 23, 2009 The London Maggie’s Centre, designed by Rogers, Stirk Harbour + Partners, with a garden by Dan Pearson, has won a number of awards and has been nominated for the prestigious RIBA Awards Stirling Prize. This is an extraordinary opportunity to visit one of the world’s leading architectural practices for a talk by Will Wimshurst, the architect involved in the Maggie’s Centre project. We will then proceed to the Maggie’s Centre itself to see the building and the garden, with a further talk on site by writer and broadcaster Corinne Julius. The nearest tube station is Hammersmith, with a 15 minute walk to the practice.  October 24, 2009 (Saturday, //optional//) An opportunity to meet and see work by Alexandra Blum @http://www.alexblum.co.uk/index.html at her Dalston studio. Alexandra’s work focuses on urban space, and combines drawings from maps and diagrams with those made on location in the city itself. For 12 months she has been in residency in Dalston drawing streets and charting the demolition and the construction of buildings.
 * 3. Visit. The city, the building and the garden: **
 * Visit to Rogers Stirk + Harbor practice, [] **** plus the London Maggie’s Centre **
 * Meet: Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners Practice 13.30 sharp **
 * (Thames Wharf, Rainville Road, London W6 9HA) **
 * Alex Blum’s studio in Dalston. **
 * Meet Dalston Kingsland Station 14.45 **

October 30, 2009 A case study of the Olympia by Manet. Why did it cause such a critical storm when it was first exhibited? Some development of notions of taste and beauty, discussion of Manet’s subversion of the genre of the female nude, plus the influence of photography upon art in Manet’s time – the beginning of Modernism.
 * 4.** **Manet’s Olympia – a matter of taste?**
 * Camberwell, Ground Seminar, Wilson Road, 12.30-14.30 **

Plus: November 6, 2009 Colin Wiggins & Karly Allen of the National Gallery ** One way in which works of art can carry intentional meaning is through allegory. Meaning literally ‘//speaking otherwise//’ allegory (emblematic works, extended metaphors), with a relationship to shared texts, have been an important genre in Western Art since the Renaissance. An opportunity to experience seminars in front of the allegorical works themselves, presented by experts from the National Gallery.
 * Discuss responses to weeks 2 and 3.
 * Discuss progress of any collaborative or individual work.
 * Short 5-7 min presentations in groups on set exercise
 * Review writings from exercise and any blog entries?
 * 5. Visit: In search of allegory **
 * National Gallery visit – seminars in front of allegorical paintings by
 * National Gallery, 13.45 sharp **

But why use visual allegory to convey a text? What does the visual do that a text does not? Why did allegory decline, and what has happened to symbolism in art and design since?

November 13, 2009 ‘All space is occupied by the enemy. We are living under a permanent curfew. Not just the cops – the geometry.’ (Gray C, 1998, p26). We may think that we live in mathematical and dimensional space. But do we experience the world in this way? Psychogeography draws upon diverse sources such as the writings of visionaries like William Blake who mapped the spiritual city of Jerusalem onto London, Baudelair’s nation of the ‘flaneur’ wandering the city, and the writings of the Situationist International in the second half of the 20th Century with their ideas of the drift ( dérive ) and of urban resistance. A lecturer in Time Based Media at UCA Maidstone, Gareth utilises a wide range of media, including photography, video, computer generated imagery, sound, and text, to explore aspects of landscape, psychogeography and documentary. Gray, Christopher, editor, //Leaving the 20th Century: the Incomplete Work of the Situationist International//, London: Rebel P, 1998. p26
 * 6. Psychic space **
 * Psychogeography – interpretation of a city? **
 * Lecture by Gareth Polmeer **
 * Camberwell, Ground Seminar, Wilson Road, 12.30-14.30 **

November 20, 2009 John Latham famously (aided by his students) chewed up and spat out a library book of Greenberg’s critical writings ‘Art and Culture’for which he was relieved of his teaching post at St Martins – the regurgitated remains, installed in a travelling case, now reside in New York’s Museum of Modern Art. A radical view of space and time from this conceptual artist, sculptor, filmmaker - criticism and interpretation of conceptual art, sculpture, film We will meet as normal at Camberwell at 12.30-13.45 with a visit to nearby Flat Time House, at 14.00 (for 14.30).
 * 7. Alternative views of space and time from John Latham. Flat Time House Camberwell, Ground Seminar, Wilson Road, 12.30-13.45 followed by walk at 14.00 to nearby Flat Time House for seminar delivered by staff at the House **

Also:
 * Feedback on psychogeography
 * Review of work / writing exercises

November 27, 2009 Although Sophie Calle is sometimes thought of as a photographer, her practice encompasses performance, narrative and writing with a strong relationship to the cities (including the following of strangers). An retrospective exhibition of her work is showing at the Whitechapel from October 16, 2009 to January 3, 2010 Adam Brown is a senior lecturer in photography at UCA Maidstone. His Research interests cover the politics of the representation of the built environment, and the application of relational, technological and scientific enquiry to pedagogical practice. He is also a practising artist working in the field of photography and electronic construction and installation.
 * 8. Sophie Calle – talking to strangers **
 * Lecture by Adam Brown **
 * Camberwell, Ground Seminar, Wilson Road, 12.30-14.30 **

Plus
 * Feedback on Flat Time House
 * Review of work / visits / writings

 December 4, 2009 The importance of mass culture in people’s lives. The centrality of the idea of the kitsch to Greenberg’s modernism. Why is kitsch beloved of dictators? How can we judge the kitsch? Can we make evaluative judgements at all - including discussion of relativism in postmodernism.
 * 9. The Kitsch **
 * Camberwell, Ground Seminar, Wilson Road, 12.30-14.30 **


 * Workshop - Exhibition and discussion of kitsch objects and images
 * Feedback on visits / progress of work

December 11, 2009 Students will have visited the Turner Prize show (Tate Britain, October 6 to January 13, 2010) in their own time. This session will discuss responses to the Turner Prize and review the progress of any other work January 15, 2010
 * 10.** **The Turner Prize – review**
 * Camberwell, Ground Seminar, Wilson Road, 12.30-14.30 **
 * Presentation / discussion of reviews of the Turner Prize
 * Analysis of reviews in the media / art journals.
 * Feedback on progress of work in general
 * Hand in of project/journal and evaluative report**
 * Review of progress and plans for the Elective Event (21-22 January)**
 * Camberwell, Ground Seminar, Wilson Road, 12.30-14.30 **

January 21-22, 2010
 * ** January 15 2010 is project/journal plus evaluative report hand-in deadline (to Adrian, or via administration) ** ||
 * 12. Elective Event **
 * Afternoon / evening of Thursday January 21 and all day Friday January 22 **
 * Venue and details to be decided (will include Wilson Road) **

January 29, 2010 Written feedback and all work returned
 * 13. Assessment feedback session **
 * Camberwell, Ground Seminar, Wilson Road, 12.30-14.30 **

 As a minimum it will be necessary to visit the following three exhibitions / museums. Of course you will probably make other visits during the elective in conjunction with your research. @http://www.soane.org/index.html 13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields (near Holborn Tube) London WC2 //Highly recommended// – probably London’s best kept secret... Very relevant for considering notions of space and cities, the idea of collections (London’s first public museum) and display. Also contains Hogarth’s paintings of //A Rake’s Progress// hung on walls that fold like leaves of a book.
 * Other visits in your own time **
 * The Sir John Soane Museum** Tuesday to Saturday, 10.00-17.00. Free

@http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/sophie-calle-talking-to-strangers Whitechapel Gallery 77-82 Whitechapel High Street London Nearest tube: Aldgate East
 * Sophie Calle – Talking to Strangers** (Oct 16-Jan 3) 11.00-18.00 Tues-Sun, Free

@http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/turnerprize/turnerprize2009/ Tate Britain Millbank London SW1 Nearest tube: Pimlico
 * The Turner Prize** Daily, (Oct 6-Jan 3) 10.00-17.50, Admission £8