honoria madelyn starbuck :
The Cycles of Creative Networking course compares and contrasts communication strategies and social restructuring of artists' networks in three different periods: early 20th century in New York and Paris, Mail Art Network of the 1960s to the present, and Internet-based collaborative art-exchange communities. The course will explore the differences in art networking patterns formed by exchanges, interactions, exhibits, publications, and distribution over 100 years.
The class will include the following themes:
After an introductory overview of early modernist networks, the class will focus on the Mail Art Network and its adaptation to the challenges of electronic networks. Introducing theories and practices that have emerged from the evolution of historical international networks sets the stage for research on Web-based communities of artists. Students will explore and participate in online creative networking projects and determine the similarities and differences in technologies, values, and objectives between generations of networked artists. Students will create a public exhibition comparing elements of these three networks.
Week 1: Artists' Networks
Class introductions and overview of artists' networks with diagrams of networks.
Students will sketch their own networks.
Week 2: Early1900s avant-garde networks
Networks of artists and writers in New York and Paris from 1913-1917
Week 3: Mail Art Network 1960s - present
Mail Art objects, catalogs, Web sites, printed invitations to exhibitions, and
lists of current exhibitions. Students will produce and send a piece of Mail
Art in response to exhibit themes.
Week 4: Art history of 4 decades of the Mail Art movement
Fluxus, Ray Johnson, differences between the 5 generations of mail artists,
adaptations to 4 decades of changing technologies. Students will read two interviews
about artistsÕ early adaptation to computers on the Traveling Art Mail (TAM)
Web site.
Week 5: Contemporary art exchange in Internet communities 1999-present
www.nervousness.org systems, projects, traditions, rules and values.
Week 6: Exhibition plan, phase 1
Create and plan for distribution of invitations to class exhibition, sketch
designs for invitations, determine distribution plan for invitations, visualize
components of exhibition comparing differences between historic networks, Mail
Art and Internet-facilitated creative exchanges. Issue invitations to mail artists
and online collaborators to send work.
Week 7: Interactive art
Introduce interactive art, Net-art, blogs, creative competitions such as song
fight, etc.
Week 8: Interactivity
Ð difference in viewer perceptions How interaction and non-linearity changes
the ways in which viewers perceive art
Week 9: Student reports
Reports on early art networks and Mail Art Network
Week 10: Student reports
Reports on Internet-based networks and interactive art. Reports followed by
discussion of specific differences and similarities between the reported facets
of the networks
Week 11: Exhibition plan, phase 2
Plan for exhibition, documentation and educational components of the exhibition
such as invitations, labels, handouts, interactive displays, panel discussion,
demonstrations.
Week 12: Archival issues
What will happen to collections of Mail Art and Net-art? How does digitalization
of art affect its distribution and preservation? Guest lecturer: archivist
Week 13: Exhibition preparation
Review artworks and organize presentation, create educational material for display
and handouts. Plan what will happen to the art works after the exhibition.
Week 14: Exhibition
Public exhibition with student panel discussion on different networks.
Week 15: Next networking steps
Explore personal, professional, and community of practice networking opportunities
of each student.
Readings from:
contact honoria@mailartist.com
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