writings, presentations, and abstracts

Fear of Meaning: Contemporary Art and Denuded Sign
(Peet Cocke and Scott Brennan-Smith)

Intention is integral to art making. Late capitalist visual culture, however, has thrived on the idea that art is synonymous with open-ended, viewer-determined meanings. Post-modern attacks on intention have created a climate in which viewers expect meaning to be so baffling and opaque that there is no visible difference between opacity and emptiness. Lacking context in which viewing has the potential to register significance through shared cultural commonalities, contemporary artists, like Madison Avenue have learned that trendiness is the sine qua non of success in the marketplace.

This paper will explore the idea of intention and intentionless meaning, post-modernist visual culture, and the role of late capitalism, citing specific examples from contemporary artists from the 20th and 21st century.

The "De-Skilling" of Contemporary Art: Rethinking Art Education in the 21st Century
(Peet Cocke and Stuart Steck)

In a recent essay, the critic Barry Schwabsky argued that contemporary art is essentially a conceptual practice – one that privileges theoretical discourse over technical skill. According to Schwabsky, the production of art no longer necessitates conventional forms of craftsmanship. In his view, artists are now free to make art without having to employ (or even possess) traditional skills and techniques. As one might expect, however, this process of "de-skilling" has had a profound effect on the evolution of contemporary art; for it has not only transformed the ways in which artists produce images and objects, but it has redefined our basic understanding of what constitutes "artistic skill."

Yet, while our conception of artistic skill has become increasingly expansive in recent years, the "de-skilling" of art is hardly a new phenomenon. Indeed, since the early 1900's – when Marcel Duchamp first began to exhibit found objects – the importance of technical training has been hotly contested. Today, one might even argue that traditional skills are both obsolete and anachronistic. But is the idea of craftsmanship truly outdated? Have we really entered a period of cultural production in which art has become fundamentally de-skilled? Or has the notion of artistic skill simply been redefined? And if so, what does this mean for the future of art education? How can art schools restructure their programs to account for the so-called "de-skilling" of art? How can art educators provide students with the skills and resources necessary to navigate the shifting terrain of visual culture?

With these questions in mind, the proposed panel will address the meaning and relevance of technical skill within the context of art education. Towards this end, we will solicit papers from art educators who have addressed this issue within their own institutions. More specifically, we will seek presentations that provide concrete examples of curriculum development that take into account the de-skilling of art and its implications for emerging artists. In this way, the panel will address different strategies that can help to ensure the efficacy of art education as we enter the new millennium.

At 29.97 Frames a Second, Arshile Gorky Makes Me Sad

Throughout human history, we have made art and told stories, our shared, collective myths and art are an essential part of how we define ourselves as human and our humanity. What role do collective narratives and mythologies have in shaping an emphatic response? (Joseph Campbell) and what of literature, reading and the human imagination. (JRR Tolkien, JK Rowling) How has this context changed since the moving image, and later image and sound, became our primary mode for the mass communication of images and narratives.

How do images, both still and moving, aural and silent mediate whole mythologies, whole lifetimes, vast expanses of time and seemingly insignificant moments with equal grace and power? Why is it that moving images engender empathy—allowing us to suspend our disbelief and invoke and emotional response—but we are equally unmoved by a still image of exactly same subject? Do we recognize when we are being manipulated by these images?(Spielberg) And what effect does that have on the subject matter, form and our emotional response? Does cognition preclude an emotional response? What do visual artists do with the medium of film that differs from Hollywood? and Why is Hollywood so much better at it?

This presentation will explore these questions by using specific narratives across baroque painting, (Caravaggio) 20th century painters, (Kahlo, Warhol) video artists (Bill Viola) and feature films (Spielberg, Jackson) whose origins predate them all, and address the how and why differences, in the cognitive and emotional response engendered each medium. It will examine the apparent shift in the collective context where the still image, requiring cognition, seemingly elicits less of an emotional response than that of a more passively viewed moving image. It will also explore how individual artistic endeavors are enhanced and weakened by the ubiquity of technology, (iMovie, YouTube) and what role critical discourse plays in an emphatic response.

Digital Design or Adding Mighty Mouse to Your Toolbox

In examining the foundation curriculum we found the digital arts component is taught in isolation from problem solving issues addressed in other studio courses. We found that the skills acquired in the digital courses were not being applied outside their settings; also that digital arts were not a component of more traditional studio classes. We needed to find a way to address this fragmentation, and also fully address critical thinking skills as well as systematic integration of multi-modal pedagogical approaches. (Howard Gardner)

We first determined our primary goals 1. the integration of new technology, 2. improved ideation and creative thinking, and 3. the enhancement of a students' ability to understand and articulate their visual art work in the contemporary cultural context. The incorporation of these goals involves revisions to non-foundation courses and additional foundation level courses.

In the resulting curriculum a student enrolls in a short software specific course concurrently with a 2D Design course. With the 2D Design course, the visual elements are introduced. Line, for example, types of line, how line is used; and then at the application level the introduction of the digital component from the software specific course, knowledge and comprehension of how to use the line creation tools in Adobe Illustrator, students apply these skill sets digitally or traditionally, or both.

American Idol and the Rise of Mediocrity

The role of the critique in the discourse of visual art is "over." This proclamation is familiar to me as well, but it is familiar to me from a chorus of students whose educational experience lacks fundamental critical thinking skills. An educational system obsessed with "tests" and "learning outcomes." An educational system whose only goal is the regurgitation of facts without regard to comprehension, application, and further up the cognitive learning ladder (Bloom's Taxonomy)

The era critique isn't over it's just "hard work" meaning it requires students to think, and in many cases arrive at the realization that their work might actually trite and pedantic. This is a difficult realization to come to given that popular culture dictates that anyone can be a superstar—American Idol, and the endlessly tedious Survivor series for example, regardless of how boring they may actually be. Slavoj Zizek addresses this as the post-modern superego. Where the traditional role of the authority figure has shifted from the "parental" to the "child," and hence the "child" considers everything the it does as important and significant, when in fact it might not be.

This combination of knowledge unencumbered by comprehension, and self-appointed significance is deadly to any instructor critical of a work especially in a public forum such as a critique. We needed to find a way to address this precarious position, and also fully address critical thinking skills as well as improve ideation and creative thinking, and enhance a students' ability to understand and articulate their visual artwork in the contemporary cultural context.