Reviewing the Arts 

Spring, 2006 ENG 2816 / Thursday: 5:30 – 9:20 p.m. / (Room 304, Congress building) 

Instructor: Kristin Scott, MFA, A.M. 

Department of English, Columbia College Chicago

   Course Description      Required Text/Resources      Contact Instructor

Unit I:	Questioning Art & Re-viewing
Jan. 26th: What is “Reviewing” and Why is it Important?	Introductions and review of syllabus and course requirements. In-class reading, writing exercise, and discussion.  Sign up for oral presentations.  Read in class: “The Last Word: Theory/Criticism/Reviewing/Practice,” Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media, no. 7, 1975.  Discuss the differences/similarities between “criticism” and “reviewing.” What constitutes a review? (Elements and components of a review, as well as various kinds of reviews, reviewers, publications, agendas, and variables at work in reviewing, including ethnic, historical, national, genre, class, gender, and ideological factors.)    Weekly Response #1 Assigned (due next week): Read “Run, You Fat Bastard” (handout review) and identify the elements and components of the review, by circling and labeling them, and then write a two-page reflection piece on what variables may be at work within the review.
Feb. 2nd: The Foundations and Future of Art Criticism	Response Assignment #1 Due    Reading Due:  • Excerpts from Plato, The Republic: Book X (Sections I, IV, and VII) and Aristotle, “Section IV: Problems in Criticism. The Principles of Their Solution, The Poetics ” (handouts).  • Winterson, Jeanette. “Imagination and Reality,” Art Objects: Essays on Ecstasy and Effrontery . New York: Vintage, 1995.    Weekly Response #2 Assigned (due next week): Read the very short piece that is available online: “What has happened to art criticism?” by JJ Charlesworth, Spiked Culture. Find two short reviews: one of which you believe is more scholarly or critical in its approach, and one that is more exemplary of what Charlesworth calls “art writing.” The reviews can address any genre of art and/or medium (and even two different genres). Discuss, in a 2-3 page journal entry, the different approaches each writer takes in reviewing her/his chosen art and/or medium. Note: Be prepared to discuss your observations in class next week.
Feb. 9th: Art's Responsibility to the Viewer and the (Re)viewer's Responsibility to Art	** Class will meet at the Glass Curtain Gallery, 1104 S. Wabash promptly at 5:30 p.m. for the “Gifts of New Orleans Music and Culture” exhibit. (The gallery closes at 7 p.m., so do not be late, as your next Response Assignment depends on your seeing this exhibition.) We will then walk back to our usual classroom.    Response Assignment #2 Due    Reading Due:  • “Introduction” and “Discussing the Undiscussable,” by Arlene Croce, from Crisis of Criticism, (Berger).  • Iverem, Esther. “Will They Call it Victim Art Now? Post Sept. 11 Notes on Art and Images of Suffering,” SeeingBlack.com, 21, Feb. 2002. (handout).  • Winterson, Jeanette. “Art Objects,” Art Objects: Essays on Ecstasy and Effrontery. New York: Vintage, 1995.    Weekly Response #3 Assigned (due next week): Reflecting on your visit to the Gifts of New Orleans Music and Culture exhibit, as well as the readings of Feb. 9th discuss, in a 2-3 page journal entry, how the recent disaster in the New Orleans area may (or may not) have affected your response to this exhibition.
Unit II:	Fine and Performing Arts
Feb. 16th: Performance Art – Border Crossings	Response Assignment #3 Due    Reading Due:  • Emlinger Roberts, Rebecca. “The Stripper: Victim Art and the Art of Suffering,” Antioch Review, Winter2005, Vol. 63 Issue 1, p23-39 (handout).  • Gómez-Peña, Guillermo. “La Migrant Life” and “Mexican Beasts and Living Santos” and “When our Performance Personas Walk out of the Museum: Three Public Interventions,” Dangerous Border Crossers: The Artist Talks Back. New York: Routledge, 2000 (handouts).    In-class viewing of Bill T. Moyer's special on Bill T. Jones' performance Still/Here (56 min).    Oral Presentation/s    1st Review Assigned (due in two weeks): Choose an “issue-oriented” film to review on DVD/video that you have not previously seen. While writing the review, keep in mind the thoughts/ideas brought up in the readings thus far (as well as what we are reading as you are writing and going through the draft process).    Weekly Response #4 Assigned (due next week): After reading Croce, Carol Oates, and Emlinger, and engaging in class discussions on “victim” and “issue-oriented” art, describe in 2-3 pages what your overall feelings/thoughts are about what you've read, these genres, the issues brought up, the arguments, and/or whatever comes to the surface as you start to write. Write in journal or letter form.
Feb. 23rd: Visual Arts - Societies and Social Change	Weekly Response Assignment #4 Due    Class visit to:The Made In China exhibition - organized by MoCP Associate Director Natasha Egan, exploring through photography, video, and installation China's rapidly changing society and its rising influence as an economic force in the global arena. The exhibition specifically looks at the trend of Western companies moving production to China, and the resulting effects on both Chinese society and communities in the West.    Reading Due:  • Artner, Alan. "After the revolution: Photos, videos focus on Chinese industry," Chicago Tribune, 19, Jan. 2006.  • Azoulay, Ariella. "The Ethic of the Spectator: The Citizenry of Photography," Afterimage; Sep/Oct2005, Vol. 33 Issue 2.    Oral Presentation/s
March 2nd: Dance Performance	CLASS WILL MEET AT 7:15 p.m. @ the Conaway Center at 1104 S. Wabash to turn in homework & exchange drafts (and deal with whatever other minor class business is necessary). From there, we will walk over to the Dance Center as a group.    Draft of 1st Review Due / Bring 4 copies!!!!! (three for your peers and one for me). NOTE: 3 points, or the equivalent of a half a letter grade, will be taken off of your final paper grade if you do not turn in all four copies of your draft at the beginning of class! NO EXCEPTIONS!!    * 8 p.m.LUNA NEGRA PERFORMANCE at the Dance Center, 1306 S. Michigan Ave.    Peer Reviews Assigned: (Due next week) Using the peer review form online, review the questions for each of your peers reviews and fill it out thoroughly, giving thoughtful feedback to each question. Make sure that you give examples! (We will discuss how to do peer reviews prior to this assignment)
March 9th: Visual Rhetoric / Comic Strips and Cartoons	Peer Reviews Due    Reading Due:  • Reaves, Wendy Wick. “The Art in Humor, the Humor in Art.” American Art, Vol. 15, No. 2, Summer, 2001.  • Thibodeau, Ruth. “From Racism to Tokenism: The Changing Face of Blacks in New Yorker Cartoons,” Public Opinion Quarterly, Winter89. (handout).    In-class Peer Review Workshop    Oral Presentation/s    Response #5 Assigned (due next class): You have TWO CHOICES - choose one: OR: for those needing extra credit, you can do both, and receive extra credit for the second one (which would replace a weekly response that you have not turned in).    1) Find some cartoon or comic strip (whether the original or a photocopy) and discuss, in no less than 2 full typed pages, how it expounds upon some issue, concern, or agenda. Include copies of your chosen cartoons (and/or print out the cartoons from a website link).   OR    2) Find a piece of music that you are NOT familiar with (i.e. world music, country music, classical music, celtic music, etc. -- something that you do NOT listen to regularly, but would be interested in listening to or learning more about) that incorporates poetic lyrics (this, I interpret loosey -- see handout) and discuss, in no less than two full typed pages, how your chosen piece expounds upon some issue, concern, or agenda. Make sure you include the title of the song and the artist's name (or group's name). Be sure to quote from the piece.
March 16th: The Poetry of Music	Response Assignment #5 Due    Reading Due:  • Kenner, Rob. "Word's Worth: Poetry and the Poetics of Hip Hop Music," Modern Poetry Association. 2005.  • Riley, Tim. "Another Side of Bob Dylan," World Literature Today. Sept-Dec 2005 v79 i3-4  • Menon, Kris. "A Timeless Alt Rocker: Sarah Slean's poetic lyrics hark back to an earlier era," Time Canada, Oct 4, 2004. (REVIEW)    No Assignments - but remember that FINAL REVIEW is due upon your return from Spring Break
March 23rd:	SPRING BREAK!!
Unit II:	Media Arts
March 30th: Cinema - The Psychology of Sex & Death	Final of 1st Review Due    Reading Due:  • Chilcoat, Michelle. "Brain Sex , Cyberpunk Cinema, Feminism, and the Dis/location of Heterosexuality." NWSA Journal, Summer 2004 v16 i2.  • James, Caryn. "The High Art Of Horror Films Can Cut Deep Into the Psyche," New York Times. 27, May, 1990.    Screening of selected scenes from The Matrix and other film/s TBA    Oral Presentation/s    Weekly Response #6 Assigned (due next week): In 2-3 pages, write about how a chosen image or set of images have a psychological undertone or that you believe informs or reflects a certain psychological perspective. Your image/s can be something from an advertisement, where psychology is being utilized in an effort to sell a product; image/s wherein you believe a certain psychology is being reflected within the art itself.
April 6th: History Through the Lens of Cinema	Response Assignment #6 Due    Reading Due:  • Windschuttle, Keith. “Rabbit-Proof Fence: a true story?” The New Criterion, Vol. 21, No. 7, March 2003.  • Goldman, David. “Shocking, Lurid, and True! The Journey Home, Along the Rabbit Proof Fence” (handout).  • Doneson, Judith E. “Holocaust Revisited: A Catalyst for Memory or Trivialization?” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 548, Nov. 1996 (handout).    Film in class:Rabbit-Proof Fence    Weekly Response #7 Assigned (due next week): In a 2-3 page journal entry, reflect on your readings and the film, Rabbit-Proof Fence, and discuss your feelings/thoughts about the use of film as a vehicle for history and/or the telling of historical events.   Review #2 Assigned (draft due in three weeks): Write a 6-8 page review of a poem, group of poems, short story, or nonfiction essay published in the last five years.
April 13th: Media /Aesthetics and Representation	Weekly Response # 7 Due    Reading Due:  • Walkerdine, Valerie. "Remember not to die: young girls and video games." Papers: Explorations into Children's Literature, Nov 2004.  • McBirne, Katherine. "Nested selves, networked communities: a case study of Diablo II: Lord of Destruction as an agent of cultural change." Journal of American Culture (Malden, MA), Dec 2004.    Oral Presentation/s    Weekly Response #8 Assigned (due next week): Choose some video game (either one you rent, one you or a friend already have, or go to a video game outlet), play it for a while, and then discuss, in 2-3 pages, how it reflects issues of gender, class, ethnicity, or culture. (See handout for more guidance).
April 20th: Interactive Multimedia – Virtual Realities?	Weekly Response Assignment #8 Due    Reading Due:  • Read intro and excerpt from Jeanette Winterson's The Powerbook .  Also, listen to the audio clip, and watch the movie presentation. • Wolton, Dominique. "Virtual Illusion," Queen's Quarterly, Fall 2002.  • Gray, John. "Faith in political action is dead; it is technology that expresses the dream of a transformed world," New Statesman (1996), June 23, 2003    Oral Presentation/s
Unit IV:	Writing and Textuality
April 27th: Identity, Culture & Power	Draft of 1st Review Due / Bring 4 copies!!!!! (three for your peers and one for me). NOTE: 3 points, or the equivalent of a half a letter grade, will be taken off of your final paper grade if you do not turn in all four copies of your draft at the beginning of class! NO EXCEPTIONS!!    Reading Due:  • Winterson, Jeanette. “The Semiotics of Sex,” Art Objects: Essays on Ecstasy and Effrontery.  • Vasquez, Jessica M. “Ethnic identity and Chicano literature: How ethnicity affects reading and reading affects ethnic consciousness,” Ethnic & Racial Studies, Sep2005, Vol. 28 Issue 5 (handout).    Peer Reviews Assigned: (Due next week) Using the peer review form online, review the questions for each of your peers reviews and fill it out thoroughly, giving thoughtful feedback to each question. Make sure that you give examples! (We will discuss how to do peer reviews prior to this assignment)    Oral Presentation/s
May 4th : Non-Traditional Narratives in Unconventional Places	Peer Reviews Due    Reading Due:  • Bartholome, Lynn and Philip Snyder. “Is it Philosophy or Pornography? Graffiti at the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que,” The Journal of American Culture, Vol. 27, Issue 1, March 2004 (handout).  • Sharpe, Christina Elizabeth. “Racialized Fantasies on the Internet,” Signs, Vol. 24, No. 4, Institutions, Regulation, and Social Control, Summer 1999 (handout).    In-class Peer Review Workshop    Oral Presentation/s
May 11th: Summary of Semester	Final Review #2 Due    Reading Due:  • Brenson, Michael. “Resisting the Dangerous Journey: The Crisis of Journalistic Criticism.” (Berger)  • Koestenbaum, Wayne. “Why Bully Literature” (Berger).    Oral Presentation/s