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Contemporary Art and Biotechnology Writing
1, Spring 2005 UCSC Location:
Oakes 102 Meetings:
MWF 9:30-10:40 Course
description: This course will provide students with an opportunity to explore intersections between contemporary art and biotechnology, stressing that using language well is important to any engagement with visual culture. Students will keep journals and also write more formal essays. Why are so many artists choosing to work with or comment on biotechnology? How are biotechnology exhibitions generating discourse and controversy about issues as diverse as DNA sequencing, transgenic organisms, and animal rights? How do we write about art, as critics, historians, and observers? We will look at a different artist each week and will read the artist's writing about their own work, critical reviews, and more theoretical pieces about art processes and authorship. Among the artists we will consider are Patricia Piccinini, the Critical Art Ensemble, Eduardo Kac, and Lynn Randolph. Biology majors are most welcome. Readings:
Instructor:
Lindsay Kelley, lkelley@ucsc.edu Office
hours: by appointment and Wednesdays 11-1 Oakes 318 Box:
Oakes College opposite the History of Consciousness office (across the
hall from room 218) Assignments: Description
Length
Due Date history
with writing 3
pages
Friday, 4 / 1 draft
of essay 1
2-3 pages
Friday, 4 / 8 essay
1
4-5 pages
Friday, 4 / 15 in
class essay 1: 30 minutes 1/2
blue book
Wednesday, 4 / 20 draft
of essay 2 3-5
pages
Friday, 4 / 22 essay
2
4-5 pages
Friday, 4 / 29 in
class essay 2: 30 minutes 1/2
blue book
Wednesday, 5 / 18 Final
paper assignment sequence: topic,
on paper or via e-mail
1-2 paragraphs
Friday, 5/6 prospectus
for final paper/bibliography 3-5
pages
Friday, 5 / 13 draft
of final paper
5-7 pages
Monday, 5 / 23 final
paper
8-10 pages
Friday, 6 / 3
Formatting
for assignments: Format
your assignments per the following specifications: Font:
Times New Roman 12 point Margins:
1 inch (double check!) Spacing:
double Citations:
MLA style (consult Hacker text) Header:
include last name and page number in the upper right hand corner of
each page Front
page heading: Include first and last name, the course name, my name,
and the date
Responsibilities
to the course:
á
Attendance is
mandatory.
Although it is possible to miss up to 3 class meetings and still pass
the class, this strategy is not recommended. I encourage you to attend
every class meeting, and save any excused absences for genuine emergencies.
The most important parts of this class happen during our class meetings,
so it is imperative that you attend class. I will take attendance until
I know your names and faces, and then I will check off absences without
calling your name. If you are more than ten minutes late three times,
that counts as an absence. More than three absences is grounds for immediate
dismissal from the class and a "no-pass" grade.
á
You will keep
a journal for this class. You will write in your journal both in and outside of class.
For every reading assigned (including Hacker), write one single sided
page about each reading. Your journal need not be a bound book, in fact it shouldn't be. Just
use lined sheets of 8 x 10 paper, and be prepared to turn them in periodically.
I cannot overemphasize how valuable journals are. They help you improve
as a writer because you need not feel pressured or observed while writing
in your journal, and they help you organize your research. Put anything
you want to in your journal, including drawings or pictures from magazines
or photographs--just make sure the content of your journal is content
that you are willing to bring into a classroom every day.
á
All work must
be completed and turned in to me in order to receive credit for the
course.
If one assignment or one iteration (draft, prospectus, bibliography)
of an assignment is not turned in, you will not pass the course. The
due dates on the schedule below are very important. Due dates for drafts
are extremely important; without a draft, you
will not be able to revise your work for your final paper. If you need
one or two extra days to put finishing touches on your final drafts,
and you have spoken to me ahead of time,
that will most likely be fine with me. Keep in mind that the schedule
is designed to help you, and if you do not keep to this schedule, you will fall behind. I do
not give incompletes unless arrangements for completing the work are
made well in advance of the end of the quarter. I will not initiate
such arrangements.
á
We will meet in
one-on-one conferences twice during the quarter. These meetings are important for
both of us; often I will have a draft to return to you at the meeting.
These meetings will happen outside of class, and it is imperative that
you attend the meeting and be on time. Things
you will need for this class: a journal, a good English language dictionary, the texts
listed above (packet, Hacker), a blue book for in class essays, and
$$ for copying (you will be bringing multiple copies of your drafts
to class to distribute in your writing group). You must have access
to a computer and a printer for this class. I will also be using e-mail
to communicate with you, so please activate your cats account if you
have not already done so.
Week
1 Body Worlds Read: (some texts in CP, some distributed in
class) "Biological Transformations in Contemporary
Art" by Soke Dinkla "Body Worlds" from Margaret Cho's weblog Excerpts from Body Worlds exhibition catalog
(distributed in class) March 28: Introduction & Enrollment March 31: Screening: Body Worlds DVD special
guest: Natalie Loveless April 1: DUE: Writer's Histories (be prepared to share
your work with others in the class, and bring an extra copy) special
guest: Eva S. Hayward
Week
2 Eduardo Kac Read: Hacker, Argument, 343-366 Eduardo Kac, "GFP Bunny" (Leonardo) "Mice, Medicine, and Genetics" from Making Mice (Read now
in anticipation of week 3) April 4: Meet at McHenry Library, 2nd floor
for library info session April 6: Introduction to citing sources April 8: DUE: Draft of Essay 1
Week
3 Oncomouse 1: Bryan
Crockett, Catherine Chalmers Read: Hacker, Writing MLA Papers, 400-455 (first half) "World's Scientists Admit They Just Don't Like Mice"
from the Onion Bryan Crockett from Paradise Now catalog Lawrence Osborne, "Fuzzy Little Test Tubes" Interview with Catherine Chalmers "Fuzzy Little Test Tubes" by Lawrence Osborne "Commodification:
Genes for Sale" from The Molecular Gaze by Suzanne Anker April
11: Journal pages due April
13: Thesis statements April
15: DUE: Essay 1
Week
4 Oncomouse
2: Lynn Randolph and Donna Haraway Read: Hacker,
MLA continued (second half) "Blurring
Boundaries: Chimeras and Transgenics" from The Molecular Gaze
by Suzanne Anker Donna Haraway, "Living Images: Conversations
with Lynn Randolph" "Animals and the New Biology: Oncomouse and Beyond"
from Making Mice April 18: Thesis statements II April 20: In Class Essay 1April 22: DUE: Draft of Essay 2
Week
5 Critical Art Ensemble
1: History of CAE & Steve Kurtz Read: Hacker, Building effective
paragraphs, 39-60 CAE timeline from TDR Molecular Invasion
introduction "The Promissary Rhetoric of Biotechnology
in the Public Sphere" from Digital Resistance: Explorations
in Tactical Media" "Transgenic Production and Cultural Resistance:
A Seven-Point Plan" from Molecular Invasion April 25: Individual conferences
this weekÑbring your essay 2 drafts! April 27: Final paper topic worksheet April 29: DUE: Essay 2
Week
6 Critical Art Ensemble
2: Biotech performances Read: Hacker, Research Guide, 369-400 (first half) "Transgenic Accidents," "Fuzzy
Biological Sabotage," and "Betty Crocker 3000 Presents Food
for a Hungry World" from Molecular Invasion May 2: Journal pages due May 4: Audience: Who are you addressing? May 6: Paper Topic Due
Week
7 Patricia Piccinini read: Hacker,
Research Guide continued (second half) Dave Powell, "Chimera Contemporary: The Enduring Art
of the Composite Beast" (Leonardo) "Patricia Piccinini: Ethical Aesthetics" by Jacqueline
Millner "Fast Forward: Accelerated Evolution"
by Rachel Kent "Artist Statement" and "Still
Life with Stem Cells" by Patricia Piccinini May 9: Researching your paper May 11: More on research and thesis statements May 13: DUE: Prospectus for Final Paper
Week
8 Damien Hirst http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/uk/2000/newsmakers/2268841.stm Read: Tracey Emin, "In and Out of Love with Damien
Hirst" "A Shark in the Mind of One Contemplating
Nature" Excerpts from Blimey! May 16: How to write a great exam essay May 18: In Class Essay 2May 20: More on citations and bibliographies
Week
9 Natalie Jeremijenko Screening: Natalie Jeremijenko on KQED's "Spark" Read: John Travis, "Genes on Display: DNA becomes
part of the artist's palette" Steven Henry Madoff, "Out of the Ether,
a New Continent of Art Comes Into View" "Natalie Jeremijenko" from Paradise
Now catalog World Changing Interview May 23: DUE: Draft of Final PaperMay 25: Journal pages due May 27: Individual conferences this week, also
discuss drafts
Week
10 Tissue Culture & Art Project Read:
Ionat
Zurr and Oron Catts, "An Emergence of the Semi-Living" (SymbioticA) Werner
Bartens, "Those Who Want to Clone Must Start Small" May
30: Holiday NO CLASS June
1: End of course review June
3: LAST DAY! DUE: Final Paper & Portfolio (including journal)
Exam
Period: Our exam time is Tuesday June 7, 12:00-3:00 pm. There is
no final exam for this class. I will use the exam time to return
your portfolios; you can find me in my office in Oakes between 12:00-2:00.
There is a slight chance I will be in McHenry library instead. Stay
tuned. Appenidx: Additional Artists All of the following artists are worth researching
further, though I can't promise that there will be sufficient written
and visual material to justify a research project. Start your research
early!
Aziz and Cucher http://www.azizcucher.net/
gene discovery Ð body_manufactureª Sylvia Kranawetvogl, Erik Hable,
James Cecil, Peta Clancy
Gunther von Hagens, Body Worlds http://www.bodyworlds.com/en/pages/home.asp
Julia
Reodica, SF-based science museum installations (articles available from
SymbioticA, "Aesthetics of Care?", downloadable here: http://www.symbiotica.uwa.edu.au/news/news.html.
In addition to Reodica's papers, several other artists have papers in
this file, so it's worth checking out.
Joe
Davis
Suzanne
Anker
Olly
and Suzi http://www.ollysuzi.com/
SciCult
website: http://www.scicult.com/ |