Summer 2023 - CA 412W D100
Advanced Seminar in Art and Performance Studies (4)
Class Number: 4369
Delivery Method: In Person
Overview
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Course Times + Location:
May 8 – Jun 19, 2023: Tue, Thu, 11:30 a.m.–2:20 p.m.
Burnaby
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Instructor:
Guadalupe Martinez
gma72@sfu.ca
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Prerequisites:
Eight upper division units; and one of CA (or FPA) 210W (or 210), 316 (or 337), 318 (or 335), or 357W.
Description
CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:
Provides an in-depth investigation of a selected theoretical, historical or thematic topic in art and performance studies. This course requires independent research leading to a substantial paper, as well as directed reading preparation for seminars. Topics will vary from term to term. The course may be repeated four times for credit if the topic is different. May be of particular interest to students in other departments. Writing.
COURSE DETAILS:
Sensorial Visualities: embodying together and alone.
I am a little scared: scared of surrendering completely because the next instant is unknown. The next instant, do I make it? Or does it make itself? We make it together with our breath…
-Clarice Lispector, Agua Viva (1973)
Taking inspiration from this quote by Ukranian-Brazilian writer Clarice Lispector this course invites us to be confronted with the next moment, the unknown, the imaginable, the unpredictable, one that can only be envisioned, acted upon, and lived in the present moment. Questions about the potential for art to heal and remediate will be explored, along with queries around ephemeral and embodied ways of knowing.
The notion of Sensorial Visuality on the title of this course, emerges as a desire to articulate the sensorial lived experience made palpable through collaboration, movement, and through writing. An affective potential of shared experiences, within and without that may transform the social landscape. Informed by Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s understanding of phenomenology in constellations that aesthetically and theoretically unite the visible and the invisible world we will inhabit and experience ourselves. Aware of the complex spaces within which we act and come to learn we will also consider notions of the haptic as expressed by Stefano Harney and Fred Moten “a capacity to feel though others, for others to feel through you. For you, to feel them, feeling you”. Sensorial visuality accounts for the whole body and its receptiveness or even absorption with an environment or in response to it.
As a proposition to transcend and transform traditional and western ways of sharing knowledge within academia, this course will be held as part of a larger art project and exhibition, wherein the sessions will unfold, not as a formal seminar or studio classes, rather as embodied and collaborative explorations, readings and experimental writing that draw from interdisciplinary practices such as somatics, esoterica, dance, indigenous knowledge, science, and philosophy.
Materials
REQUIRED READING NOTES:
Your personalized Course Material list, including digital and physical textbooks, are available through the SFU Bookstore website by simply entering your Computing ID at: shop.sfu.ca/course-materials/my-personalized-course-materials.
Registrar Notes:
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS
SFU’s Academic Integrity website http://www.sfu.ca/students/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating. Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.
Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the university community. Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the university. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the university. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html
RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION
Students with a faith background who may need accommodations during the semester are encouraged to assess their needs as soon as possible and review the Multifaith religious accommodations website. The page outlines ways they begin working toward an accommodation and ensure solutions can be reached in a timely fashion.