Wednesday, 3.25.09

We listened to a piece of music Mr. Yost discovered. Students were asked to consider whether or not it fit into a postmodern paradigm and why or why not. We had a lot of fun with the piece. Students were asked to make a list of pieces of music that might have been sampled for the piece we heard. There was no way anybody could come close to a complete list. We had a good discussion about authorship, ownership, originality, pastiche and appropriation.

The piece was titled Intro-Inspection by Osymyso (real name is Mark Nicholson, a DJ from the U.K.). The track list of samples used is:

Boney M – The Rivers Of Babylon
The Troggs – Wild Thing
Lionel Richie – Hello
Simply Red – Fairground
The Beatles – Hey Jude
Ultravox – Vienna
Righteous Brothers – Unchained Melody
Beach Boys – I Get Around
Soft Cell – Tainted Love
Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody
Bob Marley – No Woman No Cry
Elvis Presley – Hound Dog
Bran Van 3000 – Drinking In L.A.
Nena – 99 Luftballoons
The Cure – Love Cats
Britney Spears – Baby One More Time
Lou Reed – Walk On The Wild Side
Barry White – Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love
Spandau Ballet – True
The Shangri-Las – Leader Of The Pack
Grandmaster Flash – The Message
Spice Girls – Wannabe
All Saints – Pure Shores
Survivor – Eye Of The Tiger
Flying Pickets – Only You
INXS – I Need You Tonight
Dexys Midnight Runners – Come On Eileen
Fatboy Slim – Praise You
Men At Work – Down Under
MARRS – Pump Up The Volume
Marvin Gaye – I Heard It Through The Grapevine
Frankie Goes To Hollywood – Relax
KLF – 3am Eternal
Kylie Minogue – I Should Be So Lucky
Human League – Don’t You Want Me?
Whitney Houston – I Will Always Love You
Gloria Gaynor – I Will Survive
Isaac Hayes – Shaft
Henry Mancini – Pink Panther Theme
Deee-Lite – Groove Is In The Heart
Duran Duran – Is There Something I Should Know?
Eurythmics – Sweet Dreams
Yello – Oh Yeah
Blur – Song 2
New Order – Blue Monday
Madness – Baggy Trousers
The Kinks – You Really Got Me
Guns n’ Roses – Sweet Child Of Mine
The Surfaris – Wipeout
Offspring – Pretty Fly
Prodigy – Firestarter
Aqua – Barbie Girl
Cowcube – If It Ain’t Country It Ain’t Music
Sex Pistols – Anarchy In The UK
Charlene – I’ve Never Been To Me
Rolling Stones – (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
Pulp – Disco 2000
Baz Luhrmann – (Everybody’s Free To Wear) Sunscreen
The Trammps – Disco Inferno
Madonna – Like A Prayer
T’Pau – China In Your Hand
Depeche Mode – I Just Can’t Get Enough
Stardust – Music Sounds Better With You
Eminem – My Name Is
Lulu – Shout
Chaka Khan – I Feel For You
ABBA – Take A Chance On Me
Huey Lewis And The News – The Power Of Love
Adamski – Killer
Michael Jackson – Bad
Eric Idle – Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life
Suzanne Vega – Tom’s Diner
Pet Shop Boys – West End Girls
Roy Orbison – Pretty Woman
Stevie Wonder – I Just Called To Say I Love You
David Bowie – Let’s Dance
Free – Alright Now
Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit
Bee Gees – Stayin’ Alive
Desmond Dekker – The Israelites
Snap – The Power
Men Without Hats – The Safety Dance
Etta James – I Just Wanna Make Love To You
Iggy Pop – Lust For Life
The Who – My Generation
Berlin – Take My Breath Away
UB40 – Red Red Wine
Nancy Sinatra – These Boots Are Made For Walking
Tom Jones – It’s Not Unusual
Chuck Berry – Johnny B. Goode
Procol Harum – A Whiter Shade Of Pale
Hollies – He Ain’t Heavy
John Lennon – Imagine
The Orb – Little Fluffy Clouds
Bonnie Tyler – Total Eclipse Of The Heart
10CC – I’m Not In Love
Heaven 17 – Temptation
Frank Sinatra – My Way
Fleetwood Mac – Albatross
The Doors – The End

Osymyso: Intro-Inspection

Tuesday, 3.24.09

Students began to read Part Two: The Geneology of Postmodern Theory (pg. 56 – 113) in Introducing Postmodernism. The plan is to discuss the reading on Friday, 3.27.

Roland Barthes

Monday, 3.23.09

Students wrote a comment or question (based on our reading) on a note card at the beginning of class and we discussed our reading.

Some comments from the cards follow:

• It is evident that postmodernism had little to no guidelines, but what is it exactly that seperates postmodern from modern other than just the rules? Who were some of the most famous postmodern artists? Overall postmodern does seem like just a state of mind. I want to know what state of mind the artists were in to have the ability to create and think of such ideas.
• I really liked on page 35 the notion of propaganda drawings being “realism comprehensible”. The use of drawings in Stalinism and the repression of constructivism in favor of realism / socialist realism, the reality the government wants you to see. In class we discuss pictures as visual text, which is what I’m getting out of this section.
• I still don’t really get the idea of modernism coming after postmodernism. I like the charts. The end of the section really pulled everything together for me. Who would sign a urinal and call it art anyway?
• The use of technology will always be criticized as “not art” or “cheating”.
• In general, do people have a problem with postmodernism because it is so different? The book made it seem like a controversial topic. There are two different ways to interpret the dilemma of reproducibility, either the number of copies reduces the value of the original because there are so many, or it increases the value because there are so many fakes.
• In the age of mechanical reproduction I thought it was interesting that the authority of original work comes from their “unreproducibility” or uniqueness.

Scene from Bladerunner

Friday, 3.20.09

Students decided they wanted to read Part One: The Genealogy of Postmodern Art (pages 3 – 55) in the book, Introducing Postmodernism, to discuss on Monday, 3.23.

Gilbert & George: Fates

Tuesday, 3.17 through Thursday, 3.19.09

Unfortunately we missed three days of class this week due to the PSSA testing.

Nursing Students in India

Monday, 3.16.09

Students divided up the Post-Mod-Pedia vocabulary and began to craft descriptions.

Jacques Derrida: Founder of Deconstruction

Friday, 3.13.09

Students were asked to create a blog entry addressing the notion of appropriateness and how it relates to various art forms, subject areas (in school) and the book we are reviewing. We spent the remainder of the period discussing our responses. I was reminded of an essay I wrote a couple of years ago for a presentation I did at the Pennsylvania Art Education Association Conference (PAEA) and for the National Art Education Association Conference (NAEA). My topic was titled. Appropriateness: Traversing the Hegemonic Minefield.

Students were directed to a Google Docs site containing about 100 terms. The site is titled Post-Mod-Pedia. The assignment is to work as a group to create a functional and informative glossary of terms relative to Postmodernism. Please do not shortchange yourself or the group with copied definitions that fall short of useful description.

Goya: The Third of May, 1808

Thursday, 3.12.09

Students were asked to thumb through the book, Introducing Postmodernism, and to locate a topic they were curious about. We then spent the remainder of the period discussing the topics.

Philosophy in four hands: Plato - form, Aristotle - matter, Foucault - Power, Barthes - text

Wednesday, 3.11.09

Please do now in a blog post:

What is “modern”? What does the term mean? How do we define it?

Write a post in which you explain the meaning & applications of the term. Please provide examples of “modern” things to support your ideas.

Include an image with your post…

Some talking points that emerged were:

• accessibility
• taking something traditional and making it new
• something from the present time
• the new becomes tradition (this reminded me of the two snails in Why Man Creates: “Have you ever thought that radical ideas threaten institutions, and in turn reject radical ideas that threaten institutions?”
• the new
• modernism as a label

Considering how we have not addressed the concepts of modernism or postmodernism I’m pleased with the intuitive responses. We will now proceed to build a foundation that will allow our future responses to be informed responses.

I enjoyed how appreciative the students were when I handed out the books I bought for them – Postmodernism: A Graphic Guide to Cutting-Edge Thinking.

Frank Gehry : Hotel Marques de Riscal

Tuesday, 3.10.09

We began the day with a prompt question: What was the intent, as you see it, for your video project? Students were instructed to respond to this on their blog.

We had the much-anticipated premiere of The Art Class today.