Assignments

Reading Questions & Quotes (Qs&Qs)
Thoroughly read and digest each reading. Write 3 questions that come up for you during the week's reading. Take note of the area in the reading that brought up each question. These questions can be as direct as what did this particular sentence or paragraph  mean, or they could be about how an idea in the reading relates to your life and/or art practice, or something that would be interesting to think about with the group. Alongside your questions select 3 quotes that stand out to you from the week's reading. These do not have to be connected to your questions but they can be if you want.

Post your questions and quotes to the blog as a comment on the Readings page by the end of the Sunday night before our class discussion. Bring your quotes and questions with you to our seminar to help guide the group conversation.
Due Weekly on Sunday night

Personal Inventory of Ideas & Questions
Make a list of 50 topics, ideas, values or questions that are important to your art/life practice at this time. One way of thinking of this is as a self portrait in questions and ideas. Another is as an inventory of subjects that you deal with in your artwork. What subjects do you find yourself wondering about? What values shape who you are? What ideas do you return to regularly to help you think through your experience of being alive? What themes recur in the art work you make and enjoy?

After brainstorming your list read over your list and sort it into groups of related topics. Choose 5 (or so) core topics that have a strong pull on you right now. Turn in your complete list, with all your entries arranged into their groups, and your 5 for topics clearly identified. Email your categorized list as an attachment.
Due Wednesday Week 2
 

Family Tree of Personal Art/Life History
Starting from the 5 core topics in your Personal Inventory, investigate what experiences brought those ideas into your life: which artists, writers, media, people and events influenced you arriving at that idea? Some ideas may have one clear source, some may have several less direct influences. For each of your 5 core topics record all of the potential paths through which it entered your life, but choose 1 or 2 of those that were of stronger importance.
For each of these strong influences track back one more layer by researching and noting at least one significant influence on each of the influences you have identified. You should end up with a family tree with yourself at the base represented by your 5 core ideas, then a layer of  your source influences in the position like parents or mentors, and then a layer of their influences in the position of grandparents/elders. Keep in mind that in this family tree of ideas you don’t have to follow a linear progression of history. Some of your grandparent/elder ideas and influences could end up being younger or newer than you. Using any medium create a visual “family tree” of your core ideas, your influences and their influences.
Your visual Family Tree is due in class on Wednesday Week 5


Participatory Research Project
Working with one of the topics and/or influences from your family tree develop a way of further researching your own curiosity on this area of interest. Your research process must include a participatory component where you create a context to involve other people in your investigation. You can draw on participatory strategies that we have looked at as a class. Research proposals are due Week 6. You will present the results of your research through a public, participatory presentation or activity, at first in class during Week 8, and for the public in Week 10.
Your research should also include a brief list of references to relevant readings, websites and resources that you have come across that relate to your topic. Turn in list of references by Week 8

Some options for participatory research methods:
Interviews with people closely connected to your topic, or with everyday people about your topic
Interventions in public spaces - research events staged in public spaces, experimental public actions, guerrilla theater
Interventions into public discourse - blog comment sections, newspapers, journals etc.
Group discussions
Topical meals

Draft presentation due in class Week 8, Final public presentation due Week 10

Documentation
Turn in a folder digitally documenting all of your work from the quarter. It should include:
1. Qs & Qs from all 8 weeks that we had seminars. doc or pdf format
2. Personal Inventory. doc or pdf format
3. Family Tree. digital images in jpg or pdf
4. Participatory Research. digital images of public presentation + ephemera in jpg or pdf.
    -Research references list doc or pdf format
Due through google drive Wednesday night Final Week