Essay Assignment in Five Acts
In this course, we are approaching space from a number of different positions: space as shaped by architectural form; space as something far less concrete, what we might call lived form; space as ideological versus natural; space as representational.
In this assignment, please select one art object (a painting, map, mandala, miniature, contemporary installation, and so on) and one structure at the Forbidden City, Chengde, and Beijing, as your two key images. Alternatively, think about the work in the China Design Now show. Look for objects or pictures that strike you as absorbingly ambiguous. Importing concepts about space from the authors we have been reading into your discussion, write an essay that problematizes space as an art-historical, cultural or political entity by using the object and structure as a case study. Think about the problem of how "entering" into the space of a picture, for instance, sheds light on or complicates notions of the spatial aspect of a building, and what the stakes are in expanding or contracting our notions of why such spatial connections matter.
There will be four steps in writing this paper:
1. Select your object and structure, and post them to the blog by Friday, October 30.
2. Formulation of a specific question about your object and structure. Consult the "Further Reading List" on the website for sources on visual images.. Spend some serious time mulling over your objects. And then, having selected two visual objects that engage you, what I would like you to do is to carefully think through and develop a meaningful, provocative question that you wish to pose of them. The work should suggest the question, not the other way around. In your short essay, detail the process you used in devising the question, the problems you foresee in answering it, and why you think it is meaningful in relationship to problems of space and power. That is to say, do not simply draft a generalized, simple statement of the question; I want to see evidence of your deliberate and reasoned approach to evolving a good question. Why are you asking this question and not another? Do NOT attempt to essay uninformed, generalized (and therefore uncompelling) answers to your own question. One lengthy paragraph or two, to be posted to the blog by SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7 by midnight (double-spaced, 12-point font, include images following format set forth on course resources page).
3. Brainstorming questions and images in conference symposia from November 9-16. Each of you will lead discussion on another conference member's project, raising questions and talking about what you like and what you want to know more about. We will devote 20 minutes to each project. The list of commentators (in a randomly assigned order) is:
November 9
Salim comment on Sonia's project
Nate comments on Angela's project
Kelly comments on Miranda's project
Tim comments on Sophie's project
November 11 we will meet at PAM for Xu Bing's lecture that begins at 5:30; cars will depart Eliot Circle at 4:50 pm. (we will need the extra time because of rush hour traffic in the downtown area).The talk ends at 6:30.
November 16
Sophie comments on Nate's project
Angela comments on Laura's project
Caleb comments on Tim's project
Miranda comments on Salim's project
November 18
Sonia comments on Caleb's project
Laura
comments on Kelly's project
November 23 CHINA VIOLENT HAPPENING at The Cleaners, Ace Hotel (across from Powell's Bookstore): food, art, a kungfu flick, and the China Urban catalog!
4. Project due Monday, December 14. Each essay should be roughly 9-12 pages (or more, I am actually indifferent to the number of pages as long as the paper is well-argued and well-researched and written), double-spaced, 12-point font, with image citations following format set forth on course resources page. Email your paper to me in Word .doc format, not a PDF format. Please remember that I will not be on campus to collect hard copies. I will text-edit my comments on your paper and email them to you in January at the start of the spring semester.