motion \\ some gradation

Introduction

some gradation interrogates the nature of studio critique, its objectives and the criteria of valuation.

≠ What are the aims of a studio critique?
≠ What constitute a successful studio critique, when does it fail?
≠ What are the grounds for aesthetic valuation and judgement?

+++++

some criticism of critiques I have personally experienced:

• teacher as authority 
• orientation of students in accord with modes of validation defined by set project brief (learning objectives, material/technical requirements, time frame), historical references, authorised apparatus (exhibitions, chosen medium), capitalist institution (galleries, collectors) 
• lack of empathy / inadequate in identifying with the presenter's subjectivities, often due to a lack of time to build relationships 
• ideas sharing session is not a critique 

+++++

some values to be established: 

• “To doubt one’s own expertise and speak that doubt within the framework of a critique is to cleave a space for unlearning.” 

• “It would be prudent to take the contingency of one’s position as a given and use the framework of the critique to reveal and examine the assumptions that underlie the creation and reception of the art work.”¹ 

• A space to investigate and address power structure prevalent within the group and how it affects an individual’s judgement. 

• Intent on helping each individual focus on self-actualisation through the development of criticality beyond received and socially accepted idea, in the setting of a community or groupness. 

some formats to be explored:

• long durational crit 
• affiliated critical theory reading group (alternate week)

References

Michael Asher’s Post Studio Art

In 1977, Michael Asher began teaching John Baldessari’s Post-Studio class as an adjunct professor. The class structures itself around the format of an extended group critique of a single student’s work, lasting for eight or more hours. stamina

Christopher Williams:

“He had an endless supply of questions for any one student, and the duration… I wouldn’t want to say that it would break you down, but at a certain point, bullshitting would be much harder.”²

Quotes from Walk-Through (extract):

“The profession lecturer is aband in the learning process. First of all, the teacher should be hauled down off the podium and into the audience. At which point they would undergo a dramatic transformation from teacher, the embodiment of all wisdom, to discussion leader.”

“I think that one function of it is that it sets a structural value system to think about the work, it says that actually is the most important thing. It is not important to get it done in time, to have it make sense quickly or have a good story.”

“Only when the teacher is so transformed, positionally and functionally, will the student be actively involved in the learning process. Ditto for the chamber itself, uniformity of classroom design will be anathema. The room will be designed for class discussion not stage performance, for dialogue not monologue.”³

Notes

¹ Sreshta Rit Premnath, “Sreshta Rit Premnath: Critique as Unlearning,” e-flux conversations, December 22, 2016, accessed December 22, 2016, http://conversations.e-flux.com/t/sreshta-rit-premnath-critique-as-unlearning/5722

² Christopher Williams, “Christopher Williams on Post Studio and Michael Asher,” East of Borneo, October 15, 2012, accessed December 26, 2016, http://www.eastofborneo.org/archives/christopher-williams-on-post-studio-and-michael-asher

³ Various voices, “Walk Through (extract),” 00:18:00, 2012, https://vimeo.com/100682129

motion\\ Ex Annotate

Ex Annotate

How can a text be digested, questioned and how does a text stimulate and proliferates? How sense are made and how are opinions formed around texts? This is a comparative note-taking exercise that explores how notes are made and organised by situating each individual's sensitivities within a larger network. 

\ Make and organise notes around the text provided. Think about the structure of your thoughts.

\ There should be a delineation between how you make sense of the text and your opinions on the text, perhaps using different colour fonts. What does the author mean against do you agree with what the author mentioned.

\ Quotes should be cited with page numbers. 

\ Attempt to make a list of definitions, keeping in mind the expansive and flux-like nature of certain terms. 

How to read better?
Can reading be an event? 

Notes on A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy

Notes on A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy

(Karl Marx \ ed. Robert C. Tucker), preface p. 3 - 6

This passage set forth the materialist conception of history or historical materialism.

What is historical materialism?

Base and Superstructure

“...a guiding thread for my studies, can be briefly formulated as follows: In the social production of their life, men enter into definite relations that are indispensable and independent of their will, relations of production which correspond to a definite stage of development of their material productive forces. The sum total of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure of society, the real foundation, on which rises a legal and political superstructure and to which correspond definite forms of social consciousness. The mode of production of material life conditions the social, political and intellectual life process in general. It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being that determines their consciousness.” (4)

• Material productive forces or forces of production: see below
• Relations of production: the way people organise themselves to satisfy their basic necessities of survival, people have to enter into social relations.

In Marxist theory, human society consists of two parts: the base and superstructure.

• Base: forces of productions & relations of production / sum total of production
• determines (conditions) the superstructure, but is susceptible to influences from the superstructure
• Superstructure: everything other than production
• Relationship between the base and superstructure is reciprocal.

Base	Forces of production	Relations of production
	...refers to the physical means and techniques of production to which labourers add value and transform raw materials into capital. This includes the combination of the means of labour (tools, machinery, land, etc.) with human labour (techniques, knowledge).	...the relationships people enter in order to produce and reproduce their means of life (to survive) Social relations of production occurs between people. Technical relations of production occurs between people and object. E.g. the relationship between those who own the means of production and those who do not.

Social Revolution

“At a certain stage of their development, the material productive forces of society come in conflict with the existing relations of production, or...with the property relations within which they have been at work hitherto… Then begins an epoch of social revolutions.” (4)

• Social revolution occurs when there is conflict/contradiction within the base.

“In considering such transformations a distinction should always be made between the material transformation of the economic conditions of production, which can be determined with the precision of natural science, and the legal, political, religious, aesthetic or philosophic--in short, ideological forms in which men become conscious of this conflict and fight it out.” (5)

• The process of being conscious of your social conditions, relations can change the system, but this change is explained through the ‘contradiction of material life, from the existing conflict between the social productive forces and the relations of production’.
• Perhaps art can inflect and disrupt conventional social norms, thinking and therefore relations thereby changing the relations of production, creating conflicting within the base. An inquiry into the relations of production, and then a critique.

“No social order ever perishes before all the productive forces for which there is room in it have developed; and new, higher relations of production never appear before the material conditions of their existence have matured in the womb of the old society itself.” (5)

• Only when new forms of bases developed can the superstructure of society change.
• Not enough to be conscious, but the structures, potentialities for change have to exist concurrently as well.

Historical Materialism

What is historical materialism?

“Marxists are far from denying the importance of ideas or the active role of individuals in history. But precisely because we are active, we understand the limits of individual activity, and the fact that the appropriate social conditions must exist before our ideas and our activity can be effective. We understand, with Marx that people “make their own history… but under circumstances directly encountered, given and transmitted from the past.” We need to understand how society is developing in order to intervene in the process.” (http://www.marxist.com/historical-materialism-study-guide.htm)

Historical materialism is a methodological approach to the study of human societies and their development over time.

motion\\ space container

This is a simulation of the eventual motion: space-container

Introduction
Space Container collaborates with artists by interlacing aspects of their creative practices with various social technologies, virtual communities and network. Probing various modes of art distribution, circulation and exhibition, Space Container pursues new horizons for creative cultivation for a digital milieu.

Format

(Basis)

• Short-format documentary exploring an aspect of an artist’s practice

(Medium)

• Innovative image-making and video-producing techniques with particular attention paid on how to best capture the work for social technologies and digital platforms

(Distribution)

• Circulated on various social platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat)
• Content is customised according to the intricacies of each platform
• Aspire to cultivate interactions and engagement

Q

How can art be affective and effective within the digital milieu? How can virtual communities and networks extend the distribution, circulation and exhibition of art?

What happens to the content of an artwork when its exposition leaves the traditional exhibition format and is dispersed onto the extensive global system of participative network? How does the medium massages the message?

Is there aesthetics in the circulation of creative processes through digital media? Can the documentation of creative processes, thoughts, inspirations mediated by pervasive technologies be an aesthetic experience?

motion\\ fault-bend

This is a simulation of the eventual motion: fault-bend

∫Introduction∫

fault-bend aspires to propagate artistic practices through the intersection of creative research and production with the intimacies of dialogue, groupness, exchanges and touch. Approaching the discursive potential of an artwork beyond its often supplementary relation to production and exhibition, the project formats itself as a public forum across social technologies and physical spaces.


∫Format∫

• Series and episodes
• Each episodes is developed alongside an artist, focusing on an aspect of their practice, running the course of a week.
• Stimulants [questions / thoughts / references / etcetera] will be released gradually over the week on social platforms with a main anchor of a Facebook group or an email chain.
• Additionally stimulants contributed by participants and collaborators is encouraged which forms the core of the project.
• These discussions would eventually lead to a physical gathering to reflect on the week’s topic.

∫Structural Integrity∫

• • How does communication differ across the interface? How much of conversation is mediated by the interface?
• • What gets lost or proliferates in the translation from the virtual mode of communication to the physical?
• • What differs ‘discourse’ from ‘practice’, if any? Can the discursive be aestheticise?
• § How can knowledge be disseminated, shared and created? We will consider the importance of building references, reading lists, repositories of knowledge for expanded and further study.