Dissonance Day One

So the students entered the gym space to Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music pumped through the speakers while glitch images scrolled on the screen. Those that listened closely would also hear DJ Shadow mixed in from the laptop – but it was subtle. I probably spent far too long and far too much energy explaining why students should consider dropping the class. Yes, there are too many people for the project-based structure (ideal is 15-20 and the courses is right around 30 now), but mainly I wanted the students to know the rules of the game. They need to decide if they want to play or not.  In order for this type of class to work students need to be willing to dive in to the projects and not worry too much about success or failure, not worry too much about perfecting something, but allowing the project prompts to function as a place to start a process. The end result is not nearly as important as what questions they ask and the journey to the presentation. It’s a tough sell at an art school seemingly founded on polishing all artworks to a high gloss. It is also a gesture that goes against the grain of most of the education in this country that supposes an answer to a posed question. What I love about the project prompts is that they are questions to which I do not know the answer – so there are no right or wrong answers only answers.

After my harangue we formed a circle to stretch a bit. I am probably equally uncomfortable with this as the students are – but I do think it is an important addition to how we start the class each time – especially on project or exercise days. I was delighted that one of the students made the connection to the Bauhaus. I need to go back to Itten’s book periodically for more ideas. To just do this and then sit back down seems like a waist – but we will figure it out. We then played the lovely “what is this?” game – in which you take a seemingly banal object – in this case a drum stick – and see what potential it has for action, sound, or description. The game is less about what it is and more about what it could be. The idea is to jump start brains after we jump start bodies. I need to really sit down and create a list of these games. It would be nice if students would suggest some too. Perhaps we will get to that point.

The discussion that followed was about the Self, Society, and Cosmos class (in some cases Foundations) and what the students remembered – what ideas stuck with them. This was a great way to start – especially since I need to re-think this class and tie it into the Paths to the Present sequences. I am a firm believer that there was some kind of paradigm shift in the late sixties that ushered in the “age of postmodernism,” but what I was struck by are the connections we could make between modernism and postmodernism through the S,S, & C material. If part of why humans gravitate toward developing myths, storytelling, art, and other forms of expression is to help define what it means to be human then all historical eras deal with these ideas. The difference is what questions are asked, what elements are valued, and what rules or criteria emerge. The search is the same, the path different. When I first read about Hugo Ball and his initial impact on Dada I didn’t quite understand why after making strange and explosive art he would retreat to the mountains of Switzerland and spend his remaining days as a Catholic mystic. On the surface the two gestures seem very different, but underneath they offer the same questing, longing, yearning of meaning, for understanding, for process.

I must say I was delighted with the first class. It seemed like a good way of kicking the term off. I am trying to hang on to the Gen Art structure since I thought it was a successful model for this type of class. I do miss having Bob in class with me though. It is always nice to have someone to talk through the class and strategize for the next one. I guess that this blog will have to serve that purpose.