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Visual Studies Emphasis Proposal -First Version

This is the first version of the proposal. See the new Final proposals at http://look.gvsu.edu:8000/emphasis/55 The revised documents all have a tan background. Any documents with a white background are old versions.

Hitting the Home button on the left will always bring you back to the final version.

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Index

I. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
II. DESCRIPTION
III. JUSTIFICATION/NEED
IV. EXPLANATION OF COMPARABLE AREAS
V. PROGRAM GOALS
VI. SUMMARY OF REQUIREMENTS
VII. PATTERN OF COURSEWORK
VIII. IMPACT ON FACULTY AND FACILITIES
IX. LIBRARY SUPPORT
X. TIMETABLE
XI. BUDGET

XII. SUPPORT MATERIALS


NEW COURSE PROPOSALS


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I. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

The Visual Studies Emphasis would increase the department’s capacity to represent established practices in contemporary art exploring digital, temporal, interactive, and presentational practices, and the theoretical discourse specific to such practices within a studio context.

(For description of contemporary artists whose work is representative of the practices served by such a program, see Appendix A: Artists • Projects. For a preliminary bibliography of theoretical texts relevant to this program, see Appendix B: Preliminary Bibliography. For a description of other institutional venues recognizing such practices, see Appendix C: New Institutional Forms.)

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II. DESCRIPTION

This new area reflects 2 major shifts in the visual arts: the use of digital media and the presentation of work in varied contexts. These shifts come with special technical challenges and distinct conceptual, theoretical and historical considerations. To teach these effectively requires specific physical and technical requirements and specialized knowledge on the part of faculty.

The strategy is to add these capacities to the department in a way that reflects the importance of concentrated work in these areas, while not proposing a new emphasis for each technology. This plan gains efficiency by combining several practices into one emphasis area. The areas share a special consideration of the context of presentation and the frequent requirement of working collaboratively with other people.

Many New Media artists, educators, and theorists are currently shifting their focus from the technology to the social, cultural, organizational and collaborative aspects of using new media in context. Instead of using expensive, highly specialized equipment in technical investigations, the focus is on structuring cultural exchange using inexpensive or freely accessible technology that can be distributed widely. There is recognition that organizing educational programs by distinct technologies (video, audio, web) works against the integrative and social nature of real situations outside of education. Much of the work to be done is creating new contexts of presentation and effective public discourse. The emphasis aims to be "post digital". It incorporates digital technology, but does not focus on them as an end and looks always to "use" and "context". Artist and MIT professor John Maeda created the term "post digital" to make "...a distinction between those that are passed their fascination with computers, and are now driven by the ideas instead of the technology". -Maeda Studio Blog

Consequently, the emphasis would focus on:

1. Incorporation of new technology: Much contemporary visual work (art and design) utilizes digital media as a primary means of production and presentation. As networked digital distribution systems such as the Web expand in scope and enable new devices to receive and replay content, new contexts arise for visual art. Mobile wireless computing and devices such as ipods, mobile phones, and other net devices create new forums for visual culture. As this content and mobility combine with global positioning systems, new uses emerge for virtual and actual space. These technologies make possible the annotation of any site with historic, cultural, or imaginative content. The increasing quality and decreasing cost of printed image, the ubiquity of screens and projection technology make possible new public forms of presentation. The proposed emphasis incorporates technology in general areas demarcated by experiential form and use, not by particular "technology". This is a long-term strategy intended to withstand the particulars of technological change and integrate with the experiential forms and practices existent in other curricular areas. The program is also structured to interface with other University disciplines that use digital technology specifically Communications and Computer Science. Courses in the emphasis that address digital studio technologies focus on introducing these technologies as used in the context of visual art. The program would rely on the technical expertise offered in curricula in other areas. Courses include Image Studio, Time Studio, and Interactive Studio.

2. Expanded Contexts of Studio Practice: Increasingly art and design exists in contexts other than those of the traditional studio or professional practice. The Museum and Gallery are no longer the only sites for the presentation of visual art. The traditional line separating the production and presentation of art has become blurred. Artists, curators, and gallerists work in much more complex and situational configurations. Artists become curators or organize and institute the creation and presentation of art in varied contexts. New media (dvd, web, cd, ipod, mobile phone) make possible new, inexpensive, self-organized contexts for the presentation of visual work. Courses in this area include the Civic Studio (and other situated projects), Curatorial Studio, Interactive Studio, and Space Studio.

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III. JUSTIFICATION/NEED

The Visual Studies Emphasis proposal emerged in response to discussion and work done by the department curriculum committee. As part of a comprehensive assessment of the curriculum, the committee discussed important areas of visual practice that were lacking representation in the department. This was viewed in terms of faculty expertise and the presence of these areas in the curriculum. This work resulted in a list of "new subjects". The new emphasis addresses 8 of the 17 items on the list. The remaining 9 have both an area in which courses could be organized and at least some faculty expertise already in the department (or represented in current hiring lines).

The emphasis would provide institutional validation of experimental and interdisciplinary practices as they are broadly manifested in the contemporary art world. While many of these practices are already occurring within the department, an emphasis area devoted to them would formalize our departmental commitment to them.

The department (faculty/ curriculum/ building) is an important representation of what comprises the visual arts; for students, the University, and the community. Including these areas within the regular curriculum and instating designated faculty at the proposed levels is reflective of current practice in the visual arts and culture. It organizes appropriate resources for the department to do its work for students, the University, and the community.

  1. The emphasis would insure regular offerings of courses that incorporate digital technologies into studio practice. This relieves pressure on faculty to include such technical instruction in their classes and emphasis areas. This would benefit students in any emphasis by offering these courses on a consistent basis. A regular schedule also would allow patterns of enrollment from other departments such as communications and computer science. These technologies easily combine with other disciplines and as such would connect and inter-relate our other emphasis areas.
  2. As an emphasis these areas can be institutionally supported and developed with proper space, faculty, and organization.
  3. New faculty with these capabilities would add greatly to our aggregate faculty knowledge-base and contribute to more informed interdisciplinary work in the department.
  4. Each of the studios in this area extend in specific ways to other departments in the University. The emphasis would naturally connect with other departments contributing to the development of more interdisciplinary exchange.
  5. The technical and organizational skills addressed in these courses provide readily transferable practical skills to those in the emphasis as well as those who take the courses as studio electives. Possible futures include work or further study in studio, criticism, curatorial, education, technology, arts administration.

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IV. EXPLANATION OF COMPARABLE AREAS (Locally, Regionally, Nationally)

At present, there are no other programs in West Michigan with which this emphasis would compete.

The following list includes comparable programs at nationally recognized institutions:

A.Alfred University School of Art has added an Academic Division called: Expanded Media that is comprised of: Video Arts, Print Media, Sonic Arts, Design, Digital Interactive Arts
Alfred also has an MFA program in Electronic Integrated Art

B.The School of the Art Institute of Chicago's Undergraduate Programs include several that correspond to the areas in the proposed emphasis.
Additionally, the School also has a new BA program in Visual and Critical Studies This new area consists of a combination of academic and studio courses. It includes courses in Curating and exhibition design including: Exhibition Prosthetics. It also offers several courses that address similar things as Civic Studio: Art of Crossing the Street, Visualized Communities, and Extreme Arts Administration. Courses in Criticism are offered in the Department of Art History, Theory and Criticism.

C. Virginia Commonwealth has several areas of study that correspond to the proposed emphasis;
Kinetic Imaging: Video, Animation, Sound
Sculpture and Extended Media
Communication Arts which is separate from Communication Design

D. Carnegie Mellon's curriculum groups their advanced studios into 3 areas:
They also have a curricular component called Art in Context

E. University of Michigan has undergone a huge round of hiring new faculty and redesigning their curriculum. Their new curriculum emphasizes both media and concepts. It uses a 2-year foundation program that covers a range of foundations-like courses in traditional and new media (these serve also as introductions to specific disciplines) and a set of concept-based courses. In the third and fourth year program, students don't declare an "emphasis" but develop a plan for 8 upper level studio courses. The student's program concludes with an integrative project that is the culmination of study in a public presentation. Many of the changes in faculty and curriculum at the School of Art reflect content and studio processes we propose addressing in the new emphasis.

F. University of Buffalo's has a new visual studies BFA concentration

G. MIT Center for Advanced Visual Studies The Center for Advanced Visual Studies was founded in 1967 by Gyorgy Kepes as one of the first venues where artists and scientists could meet and exchange ideas. It continues as a small but important center of development.

H. Ohio State University has an Art and Technology Concentration that incorporates digital imaging, multimedia, holography, interactive robotic sculpture, electronics, 3D computer animation, installation and sound.

The Index of Majors from the AICAD (Association of Independent Schools of Art and Design) gives an idea of related programs being offered at a range of schools. The new emphasis proposal would integrate content from the following recognized areas:

While technology is not the sole area addressed by the proposal, here is a listing of programs that address technology and art.
educational programs in technology/art

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V. PROGRAM GOALS

Extend and Strengthen Departmental Capacities
Rooted in the strong visual skills of our foundation program and organized as a complement to our existing discipline-specific emphases and art history curricula, the Visual Studies Emphasis brings together practical, technical, and conceptual skills in preparation for engaged practice with the broad world of visual culture. The addition of these courses would provide readily transferable practical skills to those in the emphasis as well as those who take the courses as studio electives. Possible futures include teaching, work, or further study in studio, criticism, curatorial, or arts administration.

The new emphasis will benefit the department by structuring regular offerings of courses that represent important and distinct areas of studio production. Students will be able to get an appropriate introduction to these areas and use them in combination with what they learn in other studios. Also, by including these new media and practices in the department the context of consideration for the other discipline areas is broadened and strengthened and the department as a whole presents a more comprehensive representation of the practice of visual art.

Additionally, the resources and knowledge in these areas will be informally available to students and the department as a whole. Having faculty in structured roles of responsibility for keeping abreast of the technical and conceptual considerations keeps these things current in the studios and departmental discourse.

Interdisciplinary Exchange: Structured to Affiliate
The Visual Studies Emphasis establishes a structure that would facilitate increased interdisciplinary exchange within the department and many possible affiliations across campus and in the community.

There is great interest within the University in working across disciplinary structures. These affiliations are difficult to establish and organizationally challenging to maintain.

The proposed emphasis is structured to provide a new model of affiliation. The curricular program maximizes flexibility and balances that with more frequent and thorough process of advising. With up to 9 studio electives, students can customize batches of studio investigations in various areas. This might be concentrated in painting and printmaking, or involve taking every intro studio and a few intermediate studios. What also becomes possible is structuring access to courses in other departments like Communications, Computer Science or Public Administration. These are possible as a part of individual learning plans and could evolve into established patterns or agreements with other areas. For example, if a student takes Time studio and becomes interested in a deeper engagement with video editing, they could take several courses in Film and Video. Connecting with Communications on these possibilities would be an early priority in the development of the emphasis. We expect the load on other areas would not be considerable and it would be constrained by available seats in their courses.

Many more points of contact exist with the Communications department: still and moving image, sound, media theory and criticism, film theory and criticism, and communication theory.

Additional areas of affiliation for the Visual Studies Emphasis area include:


These connections could develop singly in individual learning plans or in programatic affiliations. If areas of affiliated study evolve that involve coursework that does not qualify as studio courses, a BA/BS degree could be developed in the future.

Community Affiliations
Community affiliations are already established through the Civic Studio. Various community entities are engaged in temporary and ongoing affiliations. In each of the other studios "context of presentation" is foregrounded. This encourages the initiation of other community engagements including curating projects in the curatorial studio or the installation of sited images in Image Studio. Students spend time considering these issues as part of making art, learn skills in orchestrating projects, and benefit from structured practice.
Possible affiliations could be formed with the Community Media Center, UICA, the Grand Rapids Art Museum among others.

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VI. SUMMARY OF REQUIREMENTS

Courses in the Emphasis:




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BFA Program

(Each student establishes a learning plan with their advisor that projects the intended combination of emphasis studios and studio electives. If plan calls for significant incorporation of other studios, faculty from that area will be consulted. The plan is written and kept on file in department student file. Student and faculty sign-off on changed or continued plan each semester.)

studio courses (after foundations)credits
5-8 emphasis courses (at least 4 different courses, max 2 times any one course) 15-24
6-9 studio electives (at least 6 studio electives outside the emphasis) 18-27
Additional emphasis requirements
1 Senior Seminar 401 3
1 Issues in Art (capstone) 495 3
1 Senior Project B.F.A. 498 6
total 54

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VII. PATTERN OF COURSEWORK

Students may begin work in the emphasis upon completion of the Foundations Program. In the semester prior to beginning the emphasis, the student meets with a faculty advisor to create a learning plan that projects the intended combination of studios within the emphasis and studio electives. Throughout the course of study value is placed on both broad experience with a diversity of art media and practice as well as time for focussed deep engagement with an area.
Each semester the student and faculty advisor meet to discuss and revise the learning plan. Whether or not changes are made each signs the plan.

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VIII. IMPACT ON FACULTY AND FACILITIES

There was some initial concern in the department that because the new emphasis areas are broad and not specific in traditional image or object making practices that there would be an increase in the indirect and informal burden on other studio areas; both in terms of studio resources and faculty time.

Department faculty recommend that we are respectful of how we informally shift loads to various areas. All faculty should advise students to engage various studio technologies through enrolling in formal courses in those areas. Students should be guided to understand the distinction and meanings inherent in various materials, media, and processes. Casual use of media is different from deep practice. Such problems can also be minimized by faculty communicating about their students with other faculty. Further, the new emphasis adopts a more formalized advising system that requires student and advisor to concur regularly on a learning plan. When such plans involve studio work in other studio areas, faculty in those areas will be included in advising a course of study.
Faculty needs:
The program could be started with the addition of one faculty member; someone with knowledge in digital media (web, video, audio, interactive media) who could teach time studio and interactive studio. Paul Wittenbraker and the additional faculty could be primary faculty in this area and would both teach most of the Art 153:Creative Problem Solving sections in the department. Current Faculty could also teach several of the courses in the emphasis: image studio, curatorial studio, space studio. Paul Wittenbraker is leading the development of the emphasis as needed.
The program could begin with a visiting position instead of a tenure-track faculty.
Technology:
New technologies are continuously gaining in quality and dropping in cost. Consumer quality today is equal to professional quality 5 years ago. These courses are designed to use technology that is closer to the consumer level. This makes it possible to include these things without huge costs for equipment. Majors in this area would be recommended to purchase their own portable computers for use in the studios.
Facilities:
The emphasis could be fully accommodated in an existing studio space; CAC 1718 which is used primarily for Art 153 Creative Problem Solving. The program would frequently work off-campus. Relationships are already established with the appropriate University staff in Facilities and the University Councils office regarding such arrangements.

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IX. LIBRARY SUPPORT

The current books in the collection are adequate in all of the areas in the emphasis. Periodical selections are also adequate. These fields are under theoretical development. Keeping up with this literature is well within the existing library budget of the Department of Art and Design.

The only significant library resource lacking is a small collection of works from the history of video. Compilation copies of an adequate collection would cost aproximately $2,500. These are available through the Video Data Bank in Chicago.

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X. TIMETABLE

Proceeding with the Visual Studies Emphasis requires 2 things: 1. Approval of the Emphasis and Included courses. 2. Securing of Faculty to teach the courses not able to be covered by existing faculty; Time Studio and Interactive Studio. These courses could be initially taught by a visiting professor.
The emphasis could begin fully in the academic year 2007-8 and use the 2006-7 year as a transition year.

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XI. BUDGET

The primary impact on the budget is for the conversion of one vistor position to a tenure-track Faculty. Several of the courses proposed are already projected in the department schedule (currently taught by Paul Wittenbraker). To add the emphasis would only require the addition of 1/3 of a Faculty position. The other 2/3 of this position would be used to cover sections of Art 153: Creative Problem Solving, an existing and established course in our first-year Foundations program. The Art 153 load has been covered by 8 different visitors in the last 9 years. Converting this visitor position would also add stability to the Art 153.

Additional resources already exist in the Department and University. An initial $10,000 would serve to establish the area with various technical and programatic necessities. Subsequent area budgets from the Department would be on the low end of other emphasis areas at $3,000 per year.

Visual Studies Emphasis Curriculum Resource Statement

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XII. SUPPORT MATERIALS


NEW COURSE PROPOSALS

ART 391 Civic Studio Course Proposal
ART 395 Space Studio Course Proposal
ART 393 Image Studio Course Proposal
ART 396 Time Studio Course Proposal
ART 394 Interactive Studio Course Proposal
ART 392 Curatorial Studio Course Proposal

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