What a great conversation today! I was actually kind of surprised at the number of hands that went up when we started to talk about indeterminacy and Cage’s notion of non-intention (as it is framed by the Zen notion that there is not good or bad no ugly or beautiful but just is). La Monte Young’s Composition 1960 #9 (the infamous line across the page) generated some wonderful points about expectation and interpretation as well as the role of the artist. My hope is that we will be able to sustain this as we discuss the Fluxus pieces on Tuesday. So, following a day when I felt like I lectured far too much we have a day where I really don’t have to say much at all (but because I can’t seem to shut up about this stuff I do anyway). Interesting – I wonder if a pattern is emerging here. One of the issues I still need to deal with is staying on the path that was decided for the course and following a different path that emerges from the student projects and in-class conversation.
In a number of ways I feel like the Fluxus pieces are the last big push toward establishing the foundational elements of the course. Generating a handful of additional techniques that we can then bring into the remaining projects. Indeterminacy is certainly one of the main ideas, but also the notion of concept art. As we begin to discuss intention and interpretation. What our expectations are in what an artist “does” and how “art” is “produced.” The In Bflat website is a good example of this: http://inbflat.net/. I am interested to see what will happen when we shuffle the Fluxus cards and students have to create an interpretation on the spot. This tends to reveal a wide range of interpretative possibilities. This is also why the cards should not be labeled “music,” “sculpture,” and “performance.” This is the last step before spring break. After that we immediately go into the generative art section where the students are forced to step away from the sound machine they have created and just watch and listen alongside of everyone else
Much like the Gen Art class this one feels like slowly chipping away at the resistance to be expressive in a specific moment. More students contribute to the conversation – although not all students – but this may be an unachievable goal. I went back and forth on the exercise to start the class with today, but in the end I was quite pleased with the results. I realized that I need to get them to start collaborating more and in smaller groups. So groups of three had 10 minutes to produce a “collage” (which could be defined as any mixture of sound, text, images, movement, etc) built out of what they group had on them or what they could find in the space. What I loved about this project is that I didn’t have to spend 10 minutes explaining it – the ground rules were set and then they went at it. This never would have happened 3 weeks ago. Also – the noise level and level of working exceeded the first half an hour of the DADADAY! stuff. So – it seems clear that something is changing in the class.
I did mention to the students that they should be noticing that the type of exercises and projects are changing and how this relates to the pervious work they have produced. So – unlike the sections when they were simply tossed into the projects today was about introducing Fluxus ideas and questions in the hope that they are more mindful in executing the Fluxus day assignment. The point is to begin to examine these ideas in a deeper and more thoughtful analytical way. As always, I am both nervous and expectant to see what they come up with.
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