Course Schedule:
Unit 4:
Installing Art in the Neoliberal World
(1980-Today)
Week 12: "The Cold War & Vietnam" March 26 & 28
Tuesday:
Lecture on the Cold War. Discussion of:
Text: Zinn, “Vietnam” from People’s History of the United States
Thursday:
Time-Machine Millionaire "Agent Orange vs JEDI"
Concept Lab: "Making Sense of Installation Art"
**Assignment Due Date: The time has finally arrived to watch the final documentary: "Shock Doctrine" by Naomi Klein. The 2pg writeup (follow the instructions on the syllabus) is due: April 14.
Week 13: “A Neoliberal Autobiography” April 2 & 4
Tuesday:
Lecture: "Neoliberal Autobiography, part 1"
Discussion: Sennett, Respect In A World of Inequality
Thursday:
Lecture: "Neoliberal Autobiography, part 2:
Video: Minerva Cuevas, Installation Art (commentary on NAFTA)
& Minerva Cuevas "Better Life Corp"
Week 14: "New Republicans, New Democrats" April 9 & 11
Tuesday:
Lecture: "Neoliberal Commodity Chains"
Text: Faris, Uncommon Goods
Instead of a discussion, we will use the strategies from Faris to analyze 3-5 pieces of installation art in class.
Pedro Reyes, "Guns, Grasshopper Burgers"
Francis Alys "Re-Enactments"
Frances Alys ("Something Leads to Nothing" video here)
(and here we will talk about the final essay prompt)
Thursday:
Lecture: "Hypercommodification" Lecture and Group Discussion
Analysis of Installation Art: James Luna, Josephine Meckseper, Fantich & Young
Week 15: "Politics in the 21st Century" April 16 & 18
Tuesday:
Lecture: "Neoliberalism Today"
Watch these films instead:
Blum's Documentary: "My Shoes"
David Harvey "A Brief History of Neoliberalism," (listen to all five parts).
Thursday: Final Reflections, Final-Exam Discussion, Help and Support for Final Essays.
Santiago Sierra: HERE
Damián Ortega (volkwagen trilogy)
HISTOGRAM #3: Due Sunday, April 21, by midnight
Hashtags include: #neoliberalism #commoditychains #deregulation
#scalingbacksocialwelfare #freetradeagreements #installationart #culturejamming
ESSAY #3: Due Sunday, April 21, by midnight
Essay Prompt:
Using the information from my lectures, the weekly readings, and the myriad of films and documentaries (Harvey, Klein, Alys), write 1-2 pages on the historic context of neoliberalism. What are the basic points of its political platform? How did the platform arise? Can you tell me about two historic test cases (eg Chile in 1n the 1970s; BigAgro in the 80s; NAFTA in the 1990s, etc)? What are the benefits and consequences it brings to a community or country? Finally, what is the relationship between neoliberalism and commodities?
For the second half of this essay you have a choice. Either:
a) Pick an artist that works with commodities (Michael Blum; Minerva Cuevas; Pedro Reyes, Damián Ortega; Santiago Sierra; Frances Alys, or James Luna. (Powerpoint link HERE). Spend a paragraph or two writing about their work. The analyze two of their compositions, interpreting for yourself (do not use art criticism found online) the narrative, composition, the medium, the experience, and the lesson about the given commodity. Make sure this ties in with your writing on neoliberalism as close as possible. Include the two pictures at the end of your essay. They do not count as part of the 4 page requirement.
b) create your own commodity-art installation (it can be as small as a soupcan with a new label, or as large as you want). Pick a commodity, and do a brief internet search about its production, its management, the salaries of the corporations CEO vs salaries of its wageworkers. If it is hard (or impossible) to find this information, tell me that what information is and not available and how hard it is to access. Then explain your artwork to me, (its narrative, composition, medium, and experience) and what message you are trying to communicate to viewers about the given commodity. Include a picture of your artwork at the end of the essay. This does not count as part of the 4 page requirement.
The advantage of option B is that you can then snap a picture of your installation art and use it as your final histogram with hashtags such as #neoliberalism #commoditychains and #installationart. You are allowed to keep the project for yourself or donate it to me by bringing it to class on the day of the final.
DO NOT use outside sources for this assignment. This is an exercise in close reading of course materials. It is not an exercise in research.
Click HERE to schedule a meeting with a tutor.
The last day for tutoring is April 19. Do NOT try to meet with
the tutors after this date.
Essay Rubric: (Total of 150 points possible)
Evidence of Scholarly Writing (Meet these requirements for the first 50 points
Evidence of Higher-Level Thinking (Bloom's Taxonomy categories of analysis, evaluation, and creation of an original argument). 50 points.
Evidence of Scholarly Reading of the Sources (Do you have references to sufficient names, dates, and historic events to convince me that you have read the weekly sources? Have written about the installation pieces in a way that demonstrates you have followed our strategies for understanding installation art? Are you paying attention to detail while still understanding the broader argument?) 50 points.
Final Exam:
Time and Place: Tuesday, April 23, 12pm-2pm, our classroom (chem & phys 151)
Bring a blue book. The final exam will be an in-class essay.
Form of the Final: The final will take the form of an open-ended essay. Bring a blue book. You will have 2 hours. I will give you an idea here of the topic here below so that you can prepare. Please do not make a google doc or post ideas on Whatsapp.
Content of the Final. On the day of the final, when you come to class, I will give you a prompt. The prompt will include a story similar to the Time-Machine millionaire prompts. At that point, your job will be to write an essay that answers the question by referencing back to main course themes (hashtags) and by actually bringing up historical and present actors that we met during the TimeMachine games.
As long as you review course themes, lecture notes, and your notes from the TM Millionaire games, this should be a low-stress final. You will simply use your own creativity and historic knowledge to answer the question as you best see fit. I will make the question general enough that multiple Time-Machine episodes (and information from multiple units) can be used to answer the question.
Tuesday:
Lecture on the Cold War. Discussion of:
Text: Zinn, “Vietnam” from People’s History of the United States
Thursday:
Time-Machine Millionaire "Agent Orange vs JEDI"
Concept Lab: "Making Sense of Installation Art"
**Assignment Due Date: The time has finally arrived to watch the final documentary: "Shock Doctrine" by Naomi Klein. The 2pg writeup (follow the instructions on the syllabus) is due: April 14.
Week 13: “A Neoliberal Autobiography” April 2 & 4
Tuesday:
Lecture: "Neoliberal Autobiography, part 1"
Discussion: Sennett, Respect In A World of Inequality
Thursday:
Lecture: "Neoliberal Autobiography, part 2:
Video: Minerva Cuevas, Installation Art (commentary on NAFTA)
& Minerva Cuevas "Better Life Corp"
Week 14: "New Republicans, New Democrats" April 9 & 11
Tuesday:
Lecture: "Neoliberal Commodity Chains"
Text: Faris, Uncommon Goods
Instead of a discussion, we will use the strategies from Faris to analyze 3-5 pieces of installation art in class.
Pedro Reyes, "Guns, Grasshopper Burgers"
Francis Alys "Re-Enactments"
Frances Alys ("Something Leads to Nothing" video here)
(and here we will talk about the final essay prompt)
Thursday:
Lecture: "Hypercommodification" Lecture and Group Discussion
Analysis of Installation Art: James Luna, Josephine Meckseper, Fantich & Young
Week 15: "Politics in the 21st Century" April 16 & 18
Tuesday:
Lecture: "Neoliberalism Today"
Watch these films instead:
Blum's Documentary: "My Shoes"
David Harvey "A Brief History of Neoliberalism," (listen to all five parts).
Thursday: Final Reflections, Final-Exam Discussion, Help and Support for Final Essays.
Santiago Sierra: HERE
Damián Ortega (volkwagen trilogy)
HISTOGRAM #3: Due Sunday, April 21, by midnight
Hashtags include: #neoliberalism #commoditychains #deregulation
#scalingbacksocialwelfare #freetradeagreements #installationart #culturejamming
ESSAY #3: Due Sunday, April 21, by midnight
Essay Prompt:
Using the information from my lectures, the weekly readings, and the myriad of films and documentaries (Harvey, Klein, Alys), write 1-2 pages on the historic context of neoliberalism. What are the basic points of its political platform? How did the platform arise? Can you tell me about two historic test cases (eg Chile in 1n the 1970s; BigAgro in the 80s; NAFTA in the 1990s, etc)? What are the benefits and consequences it brings to a community or country? Finally, what is the relationship between neoliberalism and commodities?
For the second half of this essay you have a choice. Either:
a) Pick an artist that works with commodities (Michael Blum; Minerva Cuevas; Pedro Reyes, Damián Ortega; Santiago Sierra; Frances Alys, or James Luna. (Powerpoint link HERE). Spend a paragraph or two writing about their work. The analyze two of their compositions, interpreting for yourself (do not use art criticism found online) the narrative, composition, the medium, the experience, and the lesson about the given commodity. Make sure this ties in with your writing on neoliberalism as close as possible. Include the two pictures at the end of your essay. They do not count as part of the 4 page requirement.
b) create your own commodity-art installation (it can be as small as a soupcan with a new label, or as large as you want). Pick a commodity, and do a brief internet search about its production, its management, the salaries of the corporations CEO vs salaries of its wageworkers. If it is hard (or impossible) to find this information, tell me that what information is and not available and how hard it is to access. Then explain your artwork to me, (its narrative, composition, medium, and experience) and what message you are trying to communicate to viewers about the given commodity. Include a picture of your artwork at the end of the essay. This does not count as part of the 4 page requirement.
The advantage of option B is that you can then snap a picture of your installation art and use it as your final histogram with hashtags such as #neoliberalism #commoditychains and #installationart. You are allowed to keep the project for yourself or donate it to me by bringing it to class on the day of the final.
DO NOT use outside sources for this assignment. This is an exercise in close reading of course materials. It is not an exercise in research.
Click HERE to schedule a meeting with a tutor.
The last day for tutoring is April 19. Do NOT try to meet with
the tutors after this date.
Essay Rubric: (Total of 150 points possible)
Evidence of Scholarly Writing (Meet these requirements for the first 50 points
- No slang and no contractions
- Footnotes after short quotations, paraphrases, and casual references to a text.
- Use of relevant quotations that are short (less than a sentence). no block quotes
- Clarity of thought and short sentences
- Thesis at the end of the introductory paragraph and topic sentences at the beginning of each paragraph.
Evidence of Higher-Level Thinking (Bloom's Taxonomy categories of analysis, evaluation, and creation of an original argument). 50 points.
Evidence of Scholarly Reading of the Sources (Do you have references to sufficient names, dates, and historic events to convince me that you have read the weekly sources? Have written about the installation pieces in a way that demonstrates you have followed our strategies for understanding installation art? Are you paying attention to detail while still understanding the broader argument?) 50 points.
Final Exam:
Time and Place: Tuesday, April 23, 12pm-2pm, our classroom (chem & phys 151)
Bring a blue book. The final exam will be an in-class essay.
Form of the Final: The final will take the form of an open-ended essay. Bring a blue book. You will have 2 hours. I will give you an idea here of the topic here below so that you can prepare. Please do not make a google doc or post ideas on Whatsapp.
Content of the Final. On the day of the final, when you come to class, I will give you a prompt. The prompt will include a story similar to the Time-Machine millionaire prompts. At that point, your job will be to write an essay that answers the question by referencing back to main course themes (hashtags) and by actually bringing up historical and present actors that we met during the TimeMachine games.
As long as you review course themes, lecture notes, and your notes from the TM Millionaire games, this should be a low-stress final. You will simply use your own creativity and historic knowledge to answer the question as you best see fit. I will make the question general enough that multiple Time-Machine episodes (and information from multiple units) can be used to answer the question.