Art, Activism, and Community: Social Change through the Visual Arts
Instructor: Mindy Nierenberg
Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service, Tufts University (Spring 2008)
Course description:
How do artists address social issues? Can art transform lives? How can art serve as a force for creating public dialogue? Are there different aesthetics for art with a social or political message?
In this course students will explore visual art created for positive social change. Through slide lectures and guest artists, students will learn and engage in dialogue about contemporary artists that are addressing issues of the environment, racial and cultural identity, human rights, healthcare, and social justice. Innovative community-based art organizations will also be studied, with guest lecturers from local Boston organizations who have developed nationally recognized models. Students in this course will also have the opportunity to create an interdisciplinary public art installation with two visiting artist through the project “Harmony in the Age of Noise”. This class is appropriate for SMFA students as well as any Tufts student interested in social change.
Goals and objectives:
The primary goal of this course is to explore and develop understandings of the ways in which art can facilitate positive change, public dialogue, and build community. Through active participation in course activities and assignments, students will be able to:
- identify artists who are creating work in these arenas and describe the aesthetic, social, and cultural significance of their work
- understand some of the issues related to community art programs and public art
- discuss the aesthetic implications and challenges of art that straddles the realms of the political, social, or cultural spheres
- explore the changing role of the artist in society
- research, design, execute, and present a piece of art, event, or proposal that addresses and issue and communicates effectively and aesthetically
- collaborate with others to affect positive change
Harmony in the Age of Noise:
“Harmony in the Age of Noise” is a public art project and installation that will be sited at Tufts in the spring 2008. Internationally known sound artist Bruce Odland has been brought to Tufts as a visiting artist by Anthropology Professor David Guss. David’s scholarly work focuses on the college campus as utopia. That concept touches upon social issues such as boundaries and borders, campus/community relationships, ability/disability and educational equity. Harmony in the Age of Noise is a collaboration between David and Bruce that will illuminate these issues through sound. Bruce describes the project as “a cross disciplinary examination of the politics of hearing and seeing using the Tufts University Campus as a living psychoacoustic map. [Harmony in the Age of Noise will] generate a campus and community wide discourse which will culminate in a sonic intervention that allows visitors to explore the politics of their senses.” Bruce has brought in New York artist Mark McNamara to collaborate on the execution of the physical structure of the piece- the built art that will house the sound art. This class will collaborate with Bruce, Mark, and David to create this structure during the semester. Class members are also invited to participate in other aspects of the project.
Evaluation
Final grades will be based on the timely and successful completion of course requirements:
Class attendance: 30%
Class participation: 30%
Participation in public art installation: 25%
Final paper/presentation: 15%
Class 1: 1/16/08
Introduction to art and social change
Introductions — what brings each person to the course — background, focus. Review of syllabus, course objectives, and expectations. What is art for social change? How do artists in different media address social issues? A sampling of artists’ works focused on environment, human rights, race and culture, healthcare, and social justice.
Video clips of artist interviews:
Kathy Aoki: Girls, Gender, and Media Images
Richard Kamler: Prisons and Public Policy
Gregory Gavin: Environment
East Palo Alto Mural Project: Youth and Community Art
Assignment
Read:
Brandstrader, JR, New York Times, October 28, 2007 “The Music of the Gears”
Korza, Assaf, and Bacon (2004) INROADS: The Intersection of Art and Civic Dialogue. Community Art Network pp2-13
Review the following on www.bruceodland.net
- read all parts of “Philosophy”
- listen to “Requiem for Fossil Fuels” performance
(NO CLASS ON 1/23/08- WEDNESDAY SCHEDULE)
Class 2: 1/30/08
a) Art in the public realm
b) An introduction to Harmony in the Age of Noise:
Project framework, the class’ role, design briefing
Video clip:
Loren Chasse: Sound Art
Guest Artists:
Bruce Odland, New York-based internationally known sound artist
Mark McNamara, South African artist; built-structure collaborating artist for HAN
Also David Guss, Tufts Professor of Anthropology
Assignment:
Watch 2 videos reserved in the Tisch Library:
- The Rural Studios
- Third Ward TX
Read:
Pollak, Michael. The New York Times 27 Dec 2000 “New York Debut for Inflatable Shelters for the Homeless”
Class 3: 2/6/08
a) Affordable housing and homelessness: artists’ perspectives and solutions
Class dialogue comparing strengths and challenges of Rick Lowe/Project Row Houses, Samuel Mockbee (The Rural Studio), and Michael Rakowitz (ParaSITE)
b) Workshopping of the HAN structural design
Guest Artist:
Mark McNamara, South African artist; built-structure collaborating artist for HAN
Assignment:
Read:
Cook, Daniel Thomas, In These Times, December 25, 2006 “Children of the Brand”
Niman, Michael, ArtVoice, November 20, 2002 “Buy Nothing this Year”
Shulman, Robin; The Washington Post, November 24, 2007, “N.Y. Activist Preaches Deliverance from Retail”
Urbina, Ian; The New York Times, December 24, 2007 “Anarchists in the Aisles? Stores Provide a Stage”
Class 4: 2/13/08
Consumerism, Advertising, and Media
Visit to the Tufts Art Gallery to view exhibition “Branded and on Display”
Return to class: discussion
Assignment:
Read:
Emerson, J. “Taking It to the Streets: Graphic Design for Advocacy”, Communication Arts May/June 2004
Heller, Steven “Dissenting Conditions”, Glaser, Milton, The Design of Dissent (2005)
Kushner, Tony, “Introduction: The Design of Dissent”, Glaser, Milton, The Design of Dissent (2005)
Class 5: 2/20/08
The graphic image as art; the role of graphic art in the struggle for global human rights
Adbusters
Videoclip:
Eyebeam Collective
Guest Artist:
Chaz Maviyane Davies, internationally known artist and graphic designer, focused on human rights, social issues, and environmental justice
Assignment:
Read:
Beattie, Richard, New York Times, May 15, 2006 “Immigrant Art Exhibitions: Insights of Passage”
Smith, Cherise, “Works by Lorna Simpson, Carrie Mae Weems and Willie Robert Middlebrook at the Art Institute of Chicgo”
Golden, Thelma, Freestyle, exhibition catalogue. New York: Studio Museum in Harlem (2001)
Wright, Charles Jr., “The Mythology of Difference: Vulgar Identity Politics at the Whitney” Art, Activism, and Oppositionality
Class 6: 2/27/08
Race, Culture, Identity, and Immigration
Guest Artist:
Nelson DaCosta, Angolan artist; current MFA student at the SMFA represented by Gallery NAGA
Video clips:
Do Ho Suh
Pepon Osario
Assignment:
Sound mapping for HAN (see handout)
Class 7: 3/5/08
HAN BUILD IN WORKSHOP: Class meets at 550 Boston Ave
Assignment:
Sound mapping for HAN (see handout)
Class 8: 3/12/08
HAN BUILD IN WORKSHOP: Class meets at 550 Boston Ave.
Assignment:
Gefter, P., New York Times, July 24, 2005 “A Great Big Pile of Beautiful Junk”
Palmer, Janice, “An Introduction to the Arts-for-Health Movement or How the Arts Sneaked in on the Medical Model”
Research:
Arts and healthcare organizations and projects: www.thesah.org
View art exhibition at the Mills Gallery, Boston Center for the Arts:
“GREED, GUILT AND GRAPPLING: Six Artists Respond to Climate Change” before the exhibition closes on March 31
SPRING BREAK: Enjoy!!!
Class 9: 3/26/08
a) Art and Healthcare
Guest Artist:
Jessica Finch, artist in residence at the Children’s Hospital, Boston
b)The Environment: Part 1
Guest Artists:
The Reclamation Artists (Joan Bingham and Leslie Wicox)
Assignment:
Read:
Swarzman, Matt, “Drawing the Line at Place: The Environmental Project”
Zempel, Jerilea, “Ephemeral Public Art” Art Nature Dialogues: Interviews with Environmental Artists
Watch Video in the Tisch Library:
“Art from a Changing Artic: Cape Farewell”
Class 10: 4/2/08
The Environment: Part 2 (Climate Change)
Guest Artist:
Mags Harries, public artist, SMFA faculty (one of the artists in “GREED, GUILT AND GRAPPLING: Six Artists Respond to Climate Change”)
Assignment:
Watch videos reserved at Tisch Library:
ArtShow
Young Artists/Young Aspirations
Read:
Heath, Brice Shirley, ArtShow catalogue
Class 11: 4/9/08
Youth, education, and community-based art organizations
Guest Artists:
Djuneid Dulloo, artist and founder of “Unmasking Shadows” nonprofit
Barrington Edwards, artist and teacher at Boston Arts Academy
David Schlafman, artist and animator
Nick Rodrigues, artist and sculpture teacher at Artists for Humanity nonprofit youth organization
Assignment:
Read:
Stephens, Craig, SlowArt.com, “Art and War”
Whittaker, Richard, Works and Conversations, October 21, 2004, “The Power of Giving: Conversation with Ehren Tool, Fariba Safai, and Ashley Smith”
Whittaker, Richard, Works and Conversations, October 21, 2004, “A Marine’s Journey”
Zinn, Howard, Introduction, Art in Times of War
Class 12: 4/16/08
Art in times of war
Guest artist: Linda Bond, Boston artist whose work is inspired by news media photographs. She creates large scale drawings using gunpowder and graphite.
Assignment:
Final paper
Class 13: 4/23/08
Class presentations, reflections and dialogue
Bibliography:
Books:
Bacon, Barbara S., Animating Democracy: The Artistic Imagination as a Force in Civic Dialogue (1998)
Becker, Carol, The Subversive Imagination: Artists, Society, and Social Responsibility (1994)
Burnham, Linda F., The Citizen Artist: 20 Years of Art in the Public Arena (1999)
Cleveland, William, Art in Other Places: Artists at Work in America’s Communities and Social Institutions (1992)
Felshin, Nina, But Is It Art? The Spirit of Art as Activism (1995)
Finkelpearl, Tom, Dialogues in Public Art (2001)
Gablik, Suzi, The Reenchantment of Art (1991)
Glaser, Milton, The Design of Dissent (2005)
Golden, Thelma, Freestyle, exhibition catalogue. New York: Studio Museum in Harlem (2001)
Grande, John, Art Nature Dialogues: Interviews with Environmental Artists (2004)
Greene, Maxine; Releasing the Imagination: Essays on Education, the Arts, and Social Change
Heath, Shirley Brice, ArtShow: A Resource Guide (1999)
Kester, Grant, Art, Activism, and Oppositionality (1998)
Lacy, Suzanne, Mapping the Terrain: New Genre Public Art (1995)
The Art Institute of Chicago, African Americans in Art (1999)
Zinn, Howard, Artiists in Times of War (2003)
Articles:
Beattie, Richard, New York Times, May 15, 2006 “Immigrant Art Exhibitions: Insights of Passage”
Brandstrader, JR, New York Times, October 28, 2007 “The Music of the Gears”
Cook, Daniel Thomas, In These Times, December 25, 2006 “Children of the Brand”
Emerson, John, Communication Arts May/June 2004, “Taking It to the Streets: Graphic Design for Advocacy”
Fineman, Mia, Slate.com, October 30, 2003 “The Pleasure Principle”
Fry, Tony, Revisiting Home NGBK Berlin 2006 “Homing In: About an Extended Understanding of Homelessness: A conversation between Tony Fry and Michael Rakowitz with additional comments from Marjetica Potrc.”
Gefter, P., New York Times, July 24, 2005 “A Great Big Pile of Beautiful Junk”
Korza, Pam; Assaf, Andrea; and Bacon, Barabara, “INROADS: The Intersection of Art and Civic Dialogue”
Manjoo, Farhad, Salon.com, July 17, 2003 “Barbie, Starbucks, and Freedom”
Niman, Michael, ArtVoice, November 20, 2002 “Buy Nothing this Year”
Palmer, Janice, “An Introduction to the Arts-for-Health Movement or How the Arts Sneaked in on the Medical Model”
Pollak, Michael. The New York Times 27 Dec 2000 “New York Debut for Inflatable Shelters for the Homeless”
Rich, Sarah, Worldchanging, April 6, 2007 “parasite: A Decade of Urban Intervention”
Sharf, Barbara; Literature and Medicine 14.1, 1995, “Poster Art as Women’s Rhetoric: Raising
Awareness about Breast Cancer”
Shulman, Robin; The Washington Post, November 24, 2007, “N.Y. Activist Preaches Deliverance from Retail”
Stephens, Craig, SlowArt.com, “Art and War”
Swarzman, Matt, “Drawing the Line at Place: The Environmental Project”
Tiven, Benjamin, The Nation, September 19, 2007 “Art Matters”
Urbina, Ian, New York Times, December 24, 2007 “Anarchists in the Aisles? Stores Provide a Stage”
Watts, Patricia “Eco-artists: Engaging Communities in a New Metaphor”
Whittaker, Richard, Works and Conversations, October 21, 2004, “The Power of Giving: Conversation with Ehren Tool, Fariba Safai, and Ashley Smith”
Whittaker, Richard, Works and Conversations, October 21, 2004, “A Marine’s Journey”
Videos:
Angel in the Midst, Lily Yeh (2000)
Art from a Changing Artic: Cape Farewell, David Hinton, Director (2006)
ArtShow, Shirley Brice Heath, Director (1999)
Art 21, PBS (2004-2005; 2007)
Rural Studio Film, Chuck Schultz, Director (2001)
Third Ward TX, Andrew Garrison, Director (2007)
Young Artists/Young Aspirations, Shirley Thompson, Director (1992)
