IFD:Abstracted Spaces WS2021

Fachmodul
Abstracted Spaces
Instructor: Pablo Silva Saray
Credits: 6 ECTS, 3 SWS
Capacity: max. 15 students
Language: English
Date: Diesntag / Tuesday, 18:00-20:15
Location: Online
First Meeting: 03.11.2020, 19:00
BISON Course ID: https://www.uni-weimar.de/qisserver/rds?state=verpublish&status=init&vmfile=no&publishid=48171&moduleCall=webInfo&publishConfFile=webInfo&publishSubDir=veranstaltung
"Moodle Course ID: https://moodle.uni-weimar.de/course/search.php?search=Abstracted+Spaces"

Abstracted Spaces

Course video description: https://vimeo.com/464585687

Instructor: Pablo Silva Saray
Architect, M.Sc. Media Architecture
pablosilvasaray@gmail.com

Registration Procedure

Via the BISON portal. In case of having more than 15 applications, the candidates must assist to the first meeting and take part in the first given task, which will serve as the selection mechanism.

SYLLABUS

The role of architects and artists is key to establish a global relationship between the communities to which they as individuals belong and the zeitgeist. Thus, the given works are a testimony of their perception of the past and the present while they build an imaginary for the future. These processes of artistic development occur inscribed in socio-spatial contexts defined by linguistic conditions that in turn structure the ways in which space and the places that comprise it are intervened. Thus, in a kind of spiral, the artistic creation processes feedback on each other, taking the context not only as a setting but also as a reference. A clear understanding of the abstraction processes of the artistic medium as a language system, in addition to a clear and constant perception of the places to be intervened, are basic foundations for reaching artistic and spatial practices that find stronger links with the communities from which they are part. Therefore, it is valid to propose a course in the context of the Bauhaus Universität, Weimar, which invites students of the Master's degree of Media art and design, in addition to the Mediaarchitecture Master, to explore spatial interventions that start from the places and temporal spaces that they inhabit and lead to contributions in artistic education and understanding.

GENERAL OBJECTIVE

The objective of the course is to produce proposals for spatial intervention that serve as educational and experimentation tools in the current global context defined by the COVID-19 pandemic and socio-political stress. Although the results of the project should not be specifically built on site, it is expected that the tools obtained during the development of the course will allow students to propose spatial abstractions and artistic proposals that exist either in digital or analog media.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

• Propose means of spatial abstraction that can be shared in a concrete way and culminate in interventions that contribute to the most important discussions of the social context to which the students belong.
• Develop a sophisticated and localized understanding of what history is vis-a-vis memory, in terms of mechanisms that affect everyday life.
• Develop a better understanding of space, not only as a delimited space but also as a virtual, symbolic, and abstract space.
• Explore non-traditional design tools.
• Approach art as a communication and language system that in turn allows non-tacit forms of interaction.

METHODOLOGY

Class Language: English
Leistungspunkte: 6 – Fachmodul

As a theoretical-practical course, a pedagogical structure is proposed in three scenarios. The first is a series of talks and dialogues that seek to establish precise knowledge regarding systems of abstraction and language and spatial perception and intervention. During these talks, a quick intervention exercise will be established that will function as a Midterm evaluation. The second, propose to use game design and theory as an initial method of abstract and spatial intervention that together with what is defined in the first stage of the course will allow the development of the third and last scenario. Finally, the final exercise proposes a practical design exercise based on the premises of the course that will not only be proposed by the students but also evaluated by themselves, thus seeking the active development of the ethical and practical judgment of the artistic collective. Part of the pedagogical proposal is to establish communication and contribution parameters that allow the efficient development of design/research proposals in a collective and collaborative way.

REQUIREMENTS FOR PARTICIPANTS

Open to:
MFA Medienkunst/-gestaltung, MFA Media Art and Design, MSc MediaArchitecture, MFA Public Art, Diplom Freie Kunst.
Participants must have an interest in the history and theory of art and architecture. They must also be willing to do intensive fieldwork, interact with diverse audiences, research, and work collaboratively with others. Although the course is primarily aimed at architecture, art, and design students from the Media art and design and Mediaarchitecture Masters, it is open to anyone interested in the subject.

METHOD FOR CARRYING OUT THE ATTENDANCE CONTROL OF ENROLLED STUDENTS

In the context of the current pandemic, the class will take place through group sessions through the web. For the theoretical classes, attendance will be controlled through confirmation and participation in video calls and the delivery of the exercises and tasks established between classes. For the counseling sessions and fieldwork, a record will be kept with progress notes.

Platforms and Tools
Primary Synchronous Conferencing:
Discord Channel*
Contingency Synchronous Conferencing:
Zoom*
"*"According to common agreement

EVALUATION METHODOLOGY

The final project will be communicated immediately after the Midterm evaluation, this will be a group* and interdisciplinary project based on the theoretical classes of the course. The final project will be 40% of the final grade.
The criteria for the final evaluation are the following:
• Documentary richness and diversity of the research.
• Coherence and relevance of the structured narrative.
• Cohesion with the topics addressed.
• Communication skills.
• Graphic quality.
Class attendance will be 40% and Midterm assessment will be 20%.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Adams, Randy, Gibson, Steve and Müller Arisona, Stefan. (Eds.) (2008). Transdiciplinary Digital Art. Sound, Vision and the New Screen. Germany. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
• Azua, Felix de. 1995. Diccionario de las Artes. Barcelona: Editorial Planeta.
• Guertin. Carolyn. Beyond the Threshold: The dynamic Interface as Permeable Technology. In: Adams, Randy, Gibson, Steve and Müller Arisona, Stefan. (Eds.) (2008). Transdiciplinary Digital Art. Sound, Vision and the New Screen. Germany. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
• Augé, Marc. (1995), Non-Places, Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity, London-New York, Verso.
• Bachelard. G. (1957). La Poétique del l’espace. Paris. Preses Universitaires de France.
• Bergson. Henri. (1896). Matter and Memory. London. George Allen and Unwin.
• Berger. John. (1980). About Looking. London. Bloomsbury.
• Buchanan. Ian. (2010). A Dictionary of Critical Theory. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
• Burgin, Victor. (1996). In / Different Spaces: Place and Memory in Visual Culture. California. University of California Press.
• Colafranceschi, Daniela. (2007). Landscape +: 100 Palabras para Habitarlo. Barcelona, Spain. Gustavo Gili.
• Heidegger, Martin. (1951). Building Dwelling Thinking (Bauen Wohnen Denken), from Poetry, Language, Thought, translated by Albert Hofstadter, Harper Colophon Books, New York, 1971.
• Kunstler, James Howard. 1993. The Geography of Nowhere. New York: Touchstone.
• Licht, Alan. (2007). Sound Art. Beyond music, Between Categories. New York, NY. Rizzoli International Publications
• McLuhan. Marshall (1967) The Medium is the Message, New York – London – Toronoto, Bantman
• Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. (1945). Phenomenology of Perception. New York, NY: Routledge Classics
• Pallasmaa, Juhani. (2005). The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and Senses. Great Britain. John Wile & Sons Ltd.
• Pallasmaa, Juhani. (2009). The Thinking Hand: Existential and Embodied Wisdom in Architecture. Chichester, UK. John Willey & Sons Ltd.
• Pallasmaa, Juhani. (2011). The Embodied Image. Imagination and Imagery in Architecture. Chichester, West Sussex, UK. John Willey & Sons Ltd.
• Paz, Octavio. (1991). El Arco y la Lira México. Planeta.
• Sennet, Richard. (2018). Building and Dwelling: Ethics for the City, UK. Penguin Random House UK.
• Skaff Elias, George / Garfield, Richard / Gutschera, K. Robert. (2012). Characteristics of Games, Cambrige, Massachusetts / London, England. MIT Press.
• Till, Jeremy. (2009). Architecture Depends, Cambrige, Massachusetts / London, England. MIT Press.
• Weis, Elizabeth and Benton, John. (Eds.) (1985). Film sound: Theory and Practice, New York, NY. Columbia University Press.