Hassan’s Toward a Concept of Postmodernism:

Wonderful conversation today. We started with the Oulipo homeoconstantism exercise. Always generates some interesting responses. Rather than let the class wander in the space I set up seminar style tables in the middle of the room. I like the freedom of the open space, but at times we need to reign that in so we can focus on the discussion. Great conversation about the essay. Some fantastic points form students about how postmodernism seems to hold opposites at the same time. We addressed the notion of change and I opposed the question about change on this campus. This had a flurry of responses – mainly along the lines of old and new and how we can get caught in that transition. Dissecting the rest of the article some deep and thoughtful comments and connections. Part of what I explained about the structure of the class is that doing the projects and exercises students know things before they know they know things. The point of reading the article now in the term is to bring that ideas out. What would have been just baffling weeks prior now is starting to make some kind of sense. So, today I felt that the class is starting the jell. Perfect time to take a break from the discussion and watch a movie. My hope is that they will see all of the things that we have been discussing in the Monty Python film. From there it is back to discussion of the film and then onto the next project. My hope is that we can sustain the energy today through that and then reconnect with it after the break when we get to the Fluxus stuff. Like a rehearsal process, I never want a class to peak too soon.

A few new terms added today:

Post Disruption of Master Narratives project:

Some really wonderful and sophisticated work pulling fairy tales apart. The slight difference from the last time I taught this class was having students post the work, but also give a bit of background as to how they approached the project. In many cases the process was as interesting as the product. Leaving the medium open means we had storytelling, poetry, indeterminate game-like structures, sound collages, videos and installations. Not a bad mix for a class of 15. I’m still wrestling with this class jelling, but I felt the follow up conversation today was excellent. We touched on a number of different aspects of storytelling and how we can confront the constructedness of these stories. If I had more time I would re-assign the project with the caveat of incorporating the individual points of view on how these pieces developed.

One of the other things I wrestle with is not providing a critique of the project results. I know, this sounds a bit weird, especially at an arts school where students are critiqued constantly. But, I don’t offer these assignments as a way to judge artistic merit or process or whatever, but to help generate content for the course. They also function as a way of having the students focus on specific ideas. It’s not that the projects are inconsequential, on the contrary, they inform where we are headed, but to evaluate them as successful or not is irrelevant. The answers are the answers, and by exploring them across a number of solutions we can see similar and different approaches.

As we have discussed with our First Year Seminar, I am trying to be a bit more open about the pedagogy and why the course is structured this way. This means that I am also discovering things about the structure. Specifically how one project develops skills that can be taken into the next. I’m trying to gauge this group against the last time I taught the class, are we farther ahead or behind where we were last time. But this is a totally different group with a totally different rhythm, and so I think we are exactly where we should be at this point in the term. Now to pull ideas together with the Hassan reading and watch Monty Python’s Holy Grail before the next project (about space and quotations and stuff).

Post first project, indeterminacy, Barth and Eco:

I knew this would happen. I knew I would fall behind, that I would have observations that went un-recorded, that I would sweep up days into a single post. We discussed the Introducing Postmodernism book and pulled out of it a number of terms and ideas that we need to revisit. This time round I had them post to Canvas their ideas before the conversation, and most did, that allowed me to circle back and create a more complete list. The plan is to see how much of this material we can cover. So far we are developing a good list of terms and ideas, similar to, but different from the last time I taught the class. Some arise from our discussion of the projects and some I know that I need to add, or add as they come up in discussion.

The postmodern dance material I find a great place to start, mainly because of the video and explanation of the Solo Olos piece. We started with an indeterminate exercise in which I broke students up in to three groups and hand them cards with a list of words on them. The task to create something about a minute long we could watch. Wonderful solutions – all different, and yet all created with the same material. Then into the conversation about the dance material. I have to admit that having many more dancers in the room this time round made me a bit nervous talking about this since I really only get it from the outside as an observer. But good conversation about the Trisha Brown piece.

I started the next class with an indeterminate sound piece loosely based on the drinking and hooting piece but with phone numbers, claps and stamps. Mildly interesting. The Cage piece is a much better example – but we will get to the later in the term. The conversation about the Eco material was OK, the Barth story a bit flat. I got the sense that either no one had read it, or no one wanted to talk about it. I think we came to a good place with it by the end. Hopefully we can swing back to these ideas with the Monty Python film.

As I felt the last time I taught this class – it just doesn’t seem to be jelling. The ideas are there, the comments in class and canvas writing suggests that they are getting the ideas or at least wrestling with them, but I don’t feel like the class has an identity yet. Part of that may be how we spread out in the room, but part may also be how I am approaching the conversations. It will be interesting to see what happens as they tear fairy tales apart on Thursday. I then essentially haver two days after to discuss the projects and digest the Hassan article – two good review points where we might be able to get a bit more group activity going. As always with classes like this, I need to trust the process in that it is a growing knowledge of ideas and not one that hits immediately.