Museum Visit #1: The SCAD Museum of Art
We moved out of the Wilson exhibit into a hallway where two SCAD students ushered us through a door off to the side that we would have otherwise missed. The SCAD staffer gave us an overview of artist Sigalit Landau and her exhibit entitled "One Man's Floor is Another Man's Feelings", a theme woven throughout the exhibit being the conflicts and issues revolving around her native Israel. She explores conflict and interdependence and unity, often using textiles or resources associated with the region. While this context certainly influenced and clarified my understanding of the work, it also confined my reading of the work to just the artist's intent...or the museum staff's interpretation of the work. I prefer to study a work on my own first, before even looking at the title, because I want to think on it with as little influencing my reading of it as possible. Once I've had some time to explore it on my own, then I like to learn the title and more context about the work. That way, I walk away with a broader understanding of the work and have a few, varied readings of it, as opposed to just one limited - albeit maybe the "intended" - interpretation. Three works in particular stood out to me:
The first work, Azkelon, was a video projected on the floor of three men on a beach, throwing knives to acquire new territory and then marking off boundaries, always trying to grow their space, invade their neighbors, and take over their land. It was a such a repetitive process: as soon as one man would start to "win", another of the two would reclaim a chunk of the winner's land, and everything would seem to equalize again. The process kept repeating, no one ever progressing or winning, stagnant, eventually just ridiculous.
Museum Visit #2: Telfair Museums - The Jepson Center
The show was pure fun, wondering "How did they do that?", "It reminds me of a party or celebration!", "I could stare at this forever...", etc. While the works weren't really thought-provoking for me - I didn't see them as political or social commentaries - I really enjoyed the experience of just looking at them, examining them from all angles, laying on the floor underneath one of them and staring up at it. Some works had a disco/Vegas/rave/dance party vibe to them. Others had a tranquil/sun setting on the horizon/glowing quality to them. It was wondrous and cool and magical and sparkly and pretty and amazing and entertaining, and I loved loved loved it.
Classroom Application: You could have students do a piece of writing to transport you to a particular place. Be very descriptive, offer a sensory experience, really try to recreate the space in as much detail as possible. But at points, remind the reader that it's an illusion. Go over-the-top with mood, romanticize the setting too much, make it feel more like a memory or fantasy than reality.
There were also a couple of montage videos trying to define what makes a video game a video game. The artist zeroed in on archetypal elements of video games: jumping, ascending, battling, running, etc. The jumping video had 1-4 second long clips from video games spanning decades and genres, showcasing the function of jumping: the desire of freedom and flight, to avoid obstacles, to move and progress, to reach great heights, to score points or rewards, to mount something, to run away, etc. It was really interesting to see all of these moments from video games compiled in sequence, and it made me think about the ideas of jumping and ascending in more figurative, connotative ways.
Classroom Application: Have students pick an archetype and create a compilation video of film clips or a text of quotes characterizing the archetype. You could also have students select a theme or symbol and synthesize passages from different texts into a "found" story or essay or manifesto. You could have students select and define a particular plot element and compile a collection of climaxes or resolutions. You could have students select a figure from history and compile all of the different ways they're portrayed in literature, film, news stories, etc. to help define their character.