ART 396 Time Studio Course Proposal
This is the first version of this course proposal. See the Complete Final proposal at http://look.gvsu.edu:8000/emphasis/55 (including a link to the final version of this course proposal. The final documents all have a tan background). Hitting the Home button at the left of every page will bring you back to the main page of the final version.
Art and Design Majors: completion of Foundations.
Non-Art and Design Majors: Junior Standing and permission of instructor.
10. Rationale for adding this course to the curriculum:
- 10 a. Explain how this course will strengthen and improve the curriculum.
Time Studio increases the curriculum’s capacity to represent established practices in contemporary art exploring temporal and presentational practices and the theoretical discourse specific to such practices within a studio context. This class would address time-based art works. Time-based works include time and change as a central element to the experience and concept of the work. This includes ephemeral and kinetic objects, performance, sound works, and works incorporating moving images. The course may as well deal with installation works as they pertain to the time-based experience of the viewer. The course would incorporate current technologies in the study and creation of works that take place over time; audio, video, performance.
By working both in and out of traditional presentation contexts the studio engages a consideration of how art is “instituted”. These understandings transfer back to standardized art contexts by articulating the process of encounter and engagement with audience in distinct ways.
- 10 b. Which student population(s) is this course designed to serve? Explain how and where this course fits into the unit’s existing curriculum.
1. Art and Design students
2. Students from other majors. In particular students whose course of study involves the consideration of performance, time-based interactions, and the use of time-based technology.
Most studio courses are organized by discipline (medium). Time studio is organized around an experiential form (time) which has it’s own considerations and often incorporates forms and considerations rooted in various other disciplines. This approach complements the existing curriculum by focussing on important considerations of art practice not primary in other studios.
The course also establishes a structure through which students and faculty can engage in interdisciplinary discourse and understanding across disciplines.
- 10 c. Explain the reasons the proposed prerequisites are necessary. If the proposed course duplicates material covered in existing courses in the unit, specify the nature and degree of the overlap, and explain why it is necessary to add this course rather than to reconfigure existing program offerings.
Prerequisites assure that students enroll in Time Studio at an appropriate point in their studies. The art and design department requires completion of foundations prior to enrolling in any 200 or higher level studio course. Permission of instructor is granted after completion of an interview with instructor in which the student is informed of the unique expectations and challenges of the course.
Studio works that incorporate Time elements and technology are not explicitly covered in any studio courses in the department. Students in various upper level studios have migrated into using Time elements in their work, but these things are not addressed in the curriculum. Successful use of these media in a contemporary studio context comes with special technical challenges and distinct conceptual, theoretical and historical considerations. Often when students work independently in such areas there are problems with technology or with a lack of understanding of the particular presentation considerations.
- 10 d. Will this course increase the total number of credits required for students in any major or minor? If so, explain why that is both necessary. Could existing required courses be dropped or modified to accommodate the addition of this material?
The course will not increase total credits required. It is however part of a new emphasis proposed in Art and Design. No existing course could be dropped or modified to accommodate this additional material.
11. Course / content overlap with other units:
- Identify any overlap between this course and courses offered by any programs or units. Indicate the degree of overlap and explain why your students should not take the existing course(s) instead. Submit a copy of this proposal to those units with a request that comments be sent promptly to you and to your C/SCC for consideration and attachment to this proposal. Copies of inter-departmental communication regarding this course must be attached to the proposal.
Time Studio is necessary as a distinct course. While the course has strong connections and relationships to other courses and disciplines, it uniquely addresses learning considerations that are not adequately covered in existing courses. It is also essential for the Department of Art and Design to include these established studio practices in its program because of their prevalence in the Art World. These media and methods are used in both singular and combined application with other studio methods, and typically are included within programs in Art and Design. (See
Comparison with other Programs in the Emphasis Proposal.)
Time Studio makes technical, cultural, and conceptual connections with many other offerings on campus. These include academic courses such as media and film studies, sociology, philosophy, and psychology. It also connects with studio courses addressing the moving image and sound in the School of Communications as well as studios in Sculpture, Painting, Drawing, Graphic Design, Illustration and Printmaking in the Department of Art an Design. Additionally, there are studio connections to Theater and Dance as well as Creative Writing.
Much of visual art practice today operates without disciplinary/media distinctions. The range of forms and media that artists engage are quite expansive. Especially with the incorporation of digital media, various (historic and contemporary) processes are blended and merged into hybrid practices. Technological and cultural developments also make possible new contexts of presentation for art. Consequently, it is important for the Art and Design department to present the range of "ways of making" that engage time as a coherent set of theoretical and practical considerations. This course addresses broad forms involving time: This includes performance, ephemeral and kinetic objects/processes, sound, and works involving moving images. The course also deals with spatial issues and installation works as they pertain to the time-based experience of the viewer. The course introduces presentational and technical considerations particular to such work in an art context, and brings to the foreground the relationship of such work to other media, methods, processes, and considerations in studio art.
The connections with courses in the School of Communications necessitate a more detailed differentiation. There are complexities to the various ways in which overlap may be considered (technological, conceptual, cultural, pedagogical). While the question of overlap is not directly relevant to 380 courses, a consideration of the CFV/Art 380 4D Time Arts helps bridge these complexities. This 380 was a joint offering of the Department of Art and Design and the School of Communications in Winter 2005. The agreement to offer this 380 could be taken as an indication by both units that a course of this design does not significantly overlap with coursework in either unit. The Time Studio course we propose here has similarities to the 380, but is less technical, and emphasizes context and the relation to other art studios. As such it has even less in common with other courses in School of Communications. If the 380 presented no significant overlap with SOC, then it follows that Time Studio does not have significant overlap with other courses or programs in the School of Communications.
CFV 426 Cinematic Multimedia and CFV 327 Film and Video Art both approach making as primarily focussed on cinematic or moving image contexts (multi-media, film, video, cinema). They do not adequately address other forms of time-based studio work, nor do they appear to comparably address important relationships of time-based art works to other studio methods and contexts of presentation that are central to the Time Studio course and its relationship to other Art and Design curricula. We were very deliberate to determine the minimum we needed to cover within the curriculum of the Art and Design department and to leave open connections to ways that other Units contribute to these areas of learning. The New Emphasis accomplishes this through the large number of studio electives built into its program. Both CFV 426, CFV 327, as well as many other existing and potential courses in School of Communications, could serve as viable studio electives for the New Emphasis in which Time Studio is a part. We see this course as viable no matter what organizational structure or future curriculum developments might take shape. By proposing this course we are not claiming that all courses involving "art" and "technology" should be exclusively in Art and Design, only that we should not be prevented from the inclusion of relevant technologies in our courses, especially to the extent that they are established practices that are integral to a quality department of Art and Design.
Including these practices in context of, and close proximity to, other historical art practices within the Department of Art and Design is essential to our program. Time Studio is designed to relate specifically to other studio courses in the Art and Design curriculum while preparing students to connect their learning to related disciplines outside of the Department. It also is designed to provide a relevant and meaningful studio experience for students majoring in other departments. The course is structured to maximize the ways in which these practices operate as integrative elements among the various studio areas in the department. It is not only important for "Time Studio" to be presented in proximity to "Painting", but also important for "Painting" to be presented in proximity to "Time Studio". This presents traditional media in relation to contemporary media and the broad context of contemporary visual culture. Assuring this integrative impact is best done through administering the course in the Art and Design department. We have appropriate existing studio spaces and computer labs.
Effective integration of these studio practices extends beyond the course, and into co-curricular activities that are important parts of the program in Art and Design. This includes reviews of student portfolios at the Foundation, Junior and Senior levels. Also, each BFA student undertakes a 6 credit senior project which is coordinated by faculty beyond the schedule of classes. These further reinforce the importance of administering this coursework in our department.
It would not be productive to do this in denial of the important and distinct histories and practices of the other various disciplines that engage the element of time. Therefore, this course is put together in deliberate relation to these other areas. Care will be taken to indicate to students the important connections to various related disciplines such as such as sculpture, the moving image (film and video), painting, graphic design, interface design, industrial design, computer science, theater, dance, and creative writing. Coursework in Art and Design and other related Units (see listing above) will be recommended to students whose studio work engages these related disciplines.
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Syllabus of Record: ART 396 Time Studio -attached
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Curriculum Resource Statement: ART 396 Time Studio -attached
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