Overview

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:

The SFU Art Collection—which has grown since the establishment of Simon Fraser University to include over 5,800 works—is a fascinating repository of modern and contemporary art, and is unique in its capacity to trace the complex social and cultural life connected to this region. The Collection’s holdings have grown to encompass a diverse range of work, with particular strengths in painting, photography, prints, and sculpture by such artists as Rebecca Belmore, BC Binning, Germaine Koh, Roy Kiyooka, Ken Lum, Marianne Nicholson, Susan Point, Jack Shadbolt, and Jin-me Yoon, approximately 1,100 of which are shown in public locations on SFU campuses year-round. Some at the university view the Collection (rather cynically) simply as a financial asset; others dismiss it as an inert, dusty and burdensome accumulation of things. However, this seminar approaches the SFU Art Collection as an important catalyst for dialogue, a propellant that can ignite new research inquiries, and argues that we have an obligation (and privilege) to learn with and through it.

The aim of this seminar is to introduce students to curatorial work by querying the SFU Art Collection’s capacity as a tool to ask urgent and difficult questions, surface suppressed histories, and connect seemingly disparate trajectories of thought. Grounded by an initial exploration of what curatorial work is and what it can do in the specifics of our time and context (a discussion focused via a series of intra-disciplinary readings by queer theorist Lauren Berlant, Black and Religious Studies scholar Ashon Crawley, writer Irmgard Emmelhainz, ethico-political theorist and artist Denise Ferreira da Silva, choreographer and theorist Erin Manning, poet and critical theorist Fred Moten, and/or feminist curator Helen Molesworth, among others), students will be introduced to the SFU Art Collection, its strengths and gaps, and tour the Collection vault on Burnaby campus. Following this, seminar participants will develop their own curatorial inquiry through the rigorous study and selection of a tight constellation of artworks drawn from the SFU Art Collection itself. Emphasis will be placed on curatorial work as an iterative process, involving (often primary) research, presentations of initial selections, multiple drafts of writing, listening to feedback, editing, and re-presenting. Opportunities to actually mount the students’ selections of Collection work may emerge from this seminar.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

Goals include: becoming familiar with the ethics and process of curatorial practice, presenting ideas comfortably before peers, accepting and responding to feedback, and strengthening writing and editing skills.

Grading