Assignment #1 (Due: October 18)

Please select a text from those we will have read to date (Benjamin, McLuhan, Rokeby) and discuss it in the context of your own practice.  The key theme of the course, "audience", requires that you consider the writing as it informs your thinking about audience.

For example, let's say you choose Benjamin and your work consistently blends traditional sculptural media with site-specific installation.  You would probably find it useful to consider the ways in which Benjamin discusses the notion of site-specificity, ritual object and "aura" as they relate to your practice in a contemporary moment.  Offer comparison / contrast with the original sense of "site-specific" that Benjamin is concerned with (cave art, frescoes, ritual spaces, etc.) versus what that concept has come to mean more currently.  If your work incorporates, or is beginning to incorporate mass media, then offer a reflection on why you have moved in that direction and how it effects your relationship to audience.  How do the various media you employ in your work frame your audience, their participation in the work, and therefore the meaning of the work?

Your writing should be 3 - 5 pages, double-spaced.  Given the very short length of this writing, substance and economy will be of utmost importance.  You should offer precise, concise and relevant quotes from the text you've chosen.

If you have questions or would like a sample writing, please contact me directly or meet me during office hours:  Tuesdays 1 - 3 p.m.

Remember, the key is to deeply consider the question of audience as it relates to the readings and to your own practice.

Evaluation

Comprehension / understanding of the text

- Show this through careful explication of your interpretation. Demonstrate your ability to synthesize meaning: identify salient points made in the text and relate them to reflections about the aims and goals of your own practice as regards audience. Do not simply summarize or reiterate the points made in the text. Be economical and insightful in selecting passages to quote or reference.

Depth of synthesis

Relate the work to your own practice and the question of audience. Be reflective. Seek to discover new insights about the text and about your own practice. Allow the unexpected interpretation to fluorish. Read "against the grain" of the text - argue against it, if appropriate.

Quality of the writing

Revise, revise, revise and then proofread / copyedit (go to the Writing Center or get a friend with good writing acumen to help you).