ARTS 341: image practice

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Sunday, April 29, 2012

Image of the Week, In Review

As a way to think about the images that have been collected (or at least linked to) during the semester, we'll do a short exercise in applying an analytical filter to them as a set. In short, you'll produce a meta image that uses a singular criterion to produce an understanding of the image set through a process of juxtaposition and comparison.

Our primary reference will be the work of Lev Manovich and his colleagues on the Image Plot project.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

When the "Public" Doesn't Get Along With the "Art"

A few things we'll look at and discuss related to images created/placed in the public that became the object of physical disapproval and eventually the subject of community discussion.
A short documentary about Mark Swanson's "Fits & Starts" sculpture at DePauw University.
Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds' "Beyond the Chief" on our own campus.
[One response to the vandalism of Heap of Birds' work]
An older, but famous, case that is quite different than the two above: Richard Serra's "Tilted Arc." In this case, a work wasn't damaged by its public (it was a massive steel wall inches thick, after all!), but was effectively destroyed by the same government agency that commissioned it in the first place.
Image above by Sharon Irish.

Monday, April 23, 2012

More related to Kony 2012

In case anyone was interested in how the discussions around this campaign have played out in educational and artistic forums, I just came across this blog post by a high school teacher that engaged her class in a related project. She also posted links to various iterations of the debate.
Also, this link by innovative documentarians for PBS, POV, have this post that discusses the follow up video to the original.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Illustrator compound path exercise

Use this image as a base, then find an image of an animal to produce a compound shape out of the 2. Keep the spatial integrity of the illusion of space in the architectural drawing. Post as a jpg or png to your tumblr.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Image in Time and Space: Research

To give your proposals a little more substance, each person or team will prepare a short presentation. See instructions below.

With your chosen site as a starting point, locate references according to the following criteria.

1) Sources related directly to your site (collect at least 3 sources):

1a. Historical primary documents (personal accounts of events/things, maps, research data, artifacts, etc)

1b. Journalistic or other secondary sources

2) Supplementary sources that may, or may not, pertain directly to your site, but DO provide a way to understand it. These should start to explain the "lens" through which you are viewing the site. (collect at least 2 from either or both options)

2a. Literary or pop-cultural source (literature, film, television, art, music, other cultural references)

2b. Theoretical ideas (philosophies, aesthetic concepts, analytical theories)

3) Picture research

3a. Pictures of your site from at least 2 perspectives*

3b. Pictures of your site that show a change (can show changes over long or short periods of time)*

* These can be taken by you or sourced

** All sources must be thoroughly documented

Using these sources, produce a 5-10 image narrated slideshow presentation (powerpoint-style) that presents background on your site and explains the theoretical and/or aesthetic ideas you are using in your proposal.

No bullet points, or otherwise blocks of text are to be used on their own in these presentations. Your slides should be composed mostly of images, with limited bulleted points and titles. You should provide the context through narration.

So your presentation should follow this basic outline (although not necessarily in this order):

1. My site is _

2. Some background on the site

3. My proposal will deal with the site in this way, and this is where my ideas come from.

The following examples show this method in practice, even though they are not proposal for image-based project in the same manner.

Usman Haque's Floatables proposes the forms of jellyfish as an aesthetic referent for a device that would block EMF.
The Transborder Immigrant Tool uses the historical precedent of dousing in the formulation of a GPS-based tool that brings border crossers to water sources.
San Francisco Arts Commission proposals for Central Subway public art works. Look for ones that discuss inspirations and background context.
Publicly submitted proposals for a Baltimore Infill project. Only some of these provide any kind of context, but the variety of projects, seen together reveal how a single site can be viewed through different lenses.
Closer to home, a proposal for Boneyard Creek

THESE ARE DUE MONDAY, APRIL 23.

Some other resources:

Digital Sanborn Maps (you will need to be on a UIUC computer, or sign in with your netid)
UI Histories Project
Urbana Free Library
Ellen Lupton on creating slide show presentations

Monday, April 9, 2012

For Wednesday, April 11

Bring in your algorithms for creating a picture set, on paper. See Assignment 6 on the project page for details.

Monday, April 2, 2012

For Wednesday April 3 and Immediate Future

Bring in schematics for your human-nonhuman communication scenario. These can be simple diagrams or sketches. Also, have some plans for taking pictures that can be used to create or inform your instructional graphics.
The theme for the picture of the week (for next Monday) is "empathy".