Well, here we are again. I've been invited to continue the 'Uses Of History' OPTION at Chelsea College.
This year I feel inclined to allow the agenda to unravel more spontaneously and with more student input.
So today, I will take a long the handouts I made last year and some of the Powerpoints too but simply let the conversation roll out and see where it takes us for the next session.
I'm also interested in meeting up off-site for one session perhaps, at a preserved house or something. Let's see what the Chelsea students think.
I guess what's on my mind is still 'Newspeak' at Saatchis; W.G. Sebald; an extract about the museum from 'The Catcher In The Rye, and that odd old film I saw last night 'Journey To Italy' by Roberto Rosselini (1953).
Thursday, 4 November 2010
Thursday, 3 December 2009
On the last session 'Dark Horses and Holow Men'.
At the following link
http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/news-opinion/conversations/2009-03-17/altermodern-a-conversation-with-nicolas-bourriaud/
you can read Nicolas Bourriaud saying ' ... it is an idea that was actually the core of Relational Aesthetics already, the Marxist idea that there is no stable “essence” of humankind, which is nothing but the transitory result of what human beings do at a certain moment of history. I think this might be the cornerstone of all my writings, in a way.'
This seems a useful quote in tying together some of the points we made about Benjamin's views of Marxist and Theological and Hegelian models of History. But it's also worth noting that Benjamin always seems to loom large over anyone else in the imagination and speculation and scepticism of his thoughts on our theme.
thanks to everyone who attended the last session of my 'Option' yesterday and throughout. It's been a great experience and a privilege to try these connections out in the prestigious and demanding Chelsea atmosphere.
I apologise that the contents of the session were not completed as planned. I had hoped to link, noto only the Benjamin, Baudelaire and Smithson, but then also bring things up to date by discussing resposnes to heroism and mounmentality throught the 70s, 80s, 90s and up to the immediate present. this would have integrated my own 'monumental' research project entitled 'Dark Horses and Hollow Men'. but perhaps there wil be some other opportunity n the future to present at Chelsea on this theme nevertheless.
I will be giving another Option at Chelsea in the Spring Term on 'Forms' so I hope to se sme of you again then perhaps.
best wishes, please use the Blog and feel free to comment here if there is anything you would like to discuss etc.
http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/news-opinion/conversations/2009-03-17/altermodern-a-conversation-with-nicolas-bourriaud/
you can read Nicolas Bourriaud saying ' ... it is an idea that was actually the core of Relational Aesthetics already, the Marxist idea that there is no stable “essence” of humankind, which is nothing but the transitory result of what human beings do at a certain moment of history. I think this might be the cornerstone of all my writings, in a way.'
This seems a useful quote in tying together some of the points we made about Benjamin's views of Marxist and Theological and Hegelian models of History. But it's also worth noting that Benjamin always seems to loom large over anyone else in the imagination and speculation and scepticism of his thoughts on our theme.
thanks to everyone who attended the last session of my 'Option' yesterday and throughout. It's been a great experience and a privilege to try these connections out in the prestigious and demanding Chelsea atmosphere.
I apologise that the contents of the session were not completed as planned. I had hoped to link, noto only the Benjamin, Baudelaire and Smithson, but then also bring things up to date by discussing resposnes to heroism and mounmentality throught the 70s, 80s, 90s and up to the immediate present. this would have integrated my own 'monumental' research project entitled 'Dark Horses and Hollow Men'. but perhaps there wil be some other opportunity n the future to present at Chelsea on this theme nevertheless.
I will be giving another Option at Chelsea in the Spring Term on 'Forms' so I hope to se sme of you again then perhaps.
best wishes, please use the Blog and feel free to comment here if there is anything you would like to discuss etc.
Monday, 30 November 2009
Final session 'Dark Horses and Hollow Men'
Hi,
hope you have manged to make some more of the puzzling aphorisms of Walter Benjamin's 'Theses on history'. I would love to have a lot more time to go through these with you, they are so dense but illuminating we could tackle just one or two per session and take a term to get through them all, bending our minds all the time into new shapes regarding History.
Nevertheless, I WILL try to look at a few at the start of Thursday's session just to keep you interested. I hope also that the other handouts - on Surrealism, W.G. Sebald, and J.D. Salinger- have also been used and not merely become studio detritus. They are all very rich in ideas an wonderful means of expressing them.
What is and is not a monument? What is and is not historic? And who is and is not a hero?
The title I am using this week is my own and it arises form a deep interest I briefly took a few years ago in the extraordinariness of anachronism (related to Breton's love of the recently outmoded mentioned by Benjamin) i.e. the continued presence of urban monuments which seem (as is their raison d'etre) to persist most strangely amid the ever-more rapidly changing city environment. I have a large amount of images collected on this theme so hopefully this final session will be a bit more visual.
'Dark Horses' are what you of course often see in the militarist monuments, but in English this is a phrase that refers to someone with a quietly clever strategy of moving to the top almost unnoticed -it is slightly shifty, derogatory and unsavoury, and yet, simultaneously admiring. 'Hollow Men' could also refer to the process of bronze castiing from which the city's monuments are largely made but it is also the title of a classic modernist poem by T.S. Eliot that you might want to take a look at online or in the library before the session.
What I also want to do with this session is trace the path of the Hero, from Baudelaire's use of the heroic to instigate modern art, through James Joyce's appropriation of classicism in 'Ulysses', to Robert Smithson's Kodak-snapped 'MONUMENTS OF PASSAIC' (certainly worth re-reading), through to Carl Andre's 'rugs' (on which the people finally occupy sculpture's plynth) and finishing with Marc Quinn and Anthony Gormley's (and now the RAF's) use of Trafalgar Square's so-called Fourth Plynth.
Thus, in this final session of the Option the monument and the Hero operate as vehicles for the historic (if not History itself) to enthuse and inspire modernist, postmodernist and contemporary artists alike.
What is and is not a monument? What is and is not historic? And who is and is not a hero?
hope you have manged to make some more of the puzzling aphorisms of Walter Benjamin's 'Theses on history'. I would love to have a lot more time to go through these with you, they are so dense but illuminating we could tackle just one or two per session and take a term to get through them all, bending our minds all the time into new shapes regarding History.
Nevertheless, I WILL try to look at a few at the start of Thursday's session just to keep you interested. I hope also that the other handouts - on Surrealism, W.G. Sebald, and J.D. Salinger- have also been used and not merely become studio detritus. They are all very rich in ideas an wonderful means of expressing them.
What is and is not a monument? What is and is not historic? And who is and is not a hero?
The title I am using this week is my own and it arises form a deep interest I briefly took a few years ago in the extraordinariness of anachronism (related to Breton's love of the recently outmoded mentioned by Benjamin) i.e. the continued presence of urban monuments which seem (as is their raison d'etre) to persist most strangely amid the ever-more rapidly changing city environment. I have a large amount of images collected on this theme so hopefully this final session will be a bit more visual.
'Dark Horses' are what you of course often see in the militarist monuments, but in English this is a phrase that refers to someone with a quietly clever strategy of moving to the top almost unnoticed -it is slightly shifty, derogatory and unsavoury, and yet, simultaneously admiring. 'Hollow Men' could also refer to the process of bronze castiing from which the city's monuments are largely made but it is also the title of a classic modernist poem by T.S. Eliot that you might want to take a look at online or in the library before the session.
What I also want to do with this session is trace the path of the Hero, from Baudelaire's use of the heroic to instigate modern art, through James Joyce's appropriation of classicism in 'Ulysses', to Robert Smithson's Kodak-snapped 'MONUMENTS OF PASSAIC' (certainly worth re-reading), through to Carl Andre's 'rugs' (on which the people finally occupy sculpture's plynth) and finishing with Marc Quinn and Anthony Gormley's (and now the RAF's) use of Trafalgar Square's so-called Fourth Plynth.
Thus, in this final session of the Option the monument and the Hero operate as vehicles for the historic (if not History itself) to enthuse and inspire modernist, postmodernist and contemporary artists alike.
What is and is not a monument? What is and is not historic? And who is and is not a hero?
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
The Uses Of History (and contemporary Art) week 3
Hi,
thanks for your attendance last week. Hopefully it was clear that we were referring occasionally back to the first session (when I glossed my PhD extract called 'Giving Forms To History') then lightly reading through Bourriaud's 'Altermodern' essay to see how he is linking a rejuvenation of History to contemporary artist's practices.
We then went off on a reading tangent, looking at the art of Jimmie Durham and comparing his museological works with a nice extract from J.D, Sallinger's classic American novella 'The Catcher In The Rye'. I'm not sure what I expect you to do with that but I like the qualities of the link and the way that stories keep getting wrapped up with histories, literature with art and history etc. -enjoy' as they say.
Durham's recent car pieces were used as a great example of the way that the passage of time has very different values in different cultures, while the earth and its inhabitants may also have very different 'notions' of time, so that we might not call them 'History' at all.
The idea that history may not be to do with the past but what we called 'the consequences of the present' was illustrated, both by Durham's works and by the clearly political or ethical purposes of Bourriad's writing.
Finally we read some of W.G. Sebald's 'Rings Of Saturn' which nicely linked the theme of 'combustion' as a historical force in both Durham and Bourriaud.
We ran out of time before getting to read Sebald's epiphany scene in Austerlitz, so I hope you have been able to read that during the week. It is a wonderful thing.
This week, we can start by reflecting on all this, and then I want to turn to what will necessarily be a very close and shared reading of Walter Benjamin's 'Theses on a Philosophy of History'. You can find it in the collection 'Illuminations' and elsewhere but I will again provide photocopies.
Actually, there are many links to the whole texts and numerous debating sites, but here is one that looks easy to use -perhaps we can use it in class because what I am hoping to do is see if you can hare my enthusiasm for solving these riddling little paragraphs (aphorisms) of Benjamin's and feeling your mind bend about History as you do so:
http://www.sfu.ca/~andrewf/CONCEPT2.html#Carthage
We will need to clarify the distinction made between 'Historicism' and 'Historical Materialism' running through this text. and it would be good to consider Benjamin's 'Arcades Project', his essay on Surrealism, and his relationship to History, modernity and theology in general if we have time.
Hopefully, we will get to talk about Benjamin as a whole, why he has been so influential in the past 20 years, and again, try to find contemporary art and artists who relate to these materials.
Though we seem to be transported back to the 1930s with this text, I hope you will see that its questions, and their unusual form, make their suggestions just as interesting to contemporary art and artists today as they might of been for their time (when in fact they were probably not utilised or appreciated).
Again, we can make clear links between the extremely influential Benjamin and recent cultural contributors like Bourriad and Sebald.
see you on Thursday.
thanks for your attendance last week. Hopefully it was clear that we were referring occasionally back to the first session (when I glossed my PhD extract called 'Giving Forms To History') then lightly reading through Bourriaud's 'Altermodern' essay to see how he is linking a rejuvenation of History to contemporary artist's practices.
We then went off on a reading tangent, looking at the art of Jimmie Durham and comparing his museological works with a nice extract from J.D, Sallinger's classic American novella 'The Catcher In The Rye'. I'm not sure what I expect you to do with that but I like the qualities of the link and the way that stories keep getting wrapped up with histories, literature with art and history etc. -enjoy' as they say.
Durham's recent car pieces were used as a great example of the way that the passage of time has very different values in different cultures, while the earth and its inhabitants may also have very different 'notions' of time, so that we might not call them 'History' at all.
The idea that history may not be to do with the past but what we called 'the consequences of the present' was illustrated, both by Durham's works and by the clearly political or ethical purposes of Bourriad's writing.
Finally we read some of W.G. Sebald's 'Rings Of Saturn' which nicely linked the theme of 'combustion' as a historical force in both Durham and Bourriaud.
We ran out of time before getting to read Sebald's epiphany scene in Austerlitz, so I hope you have been able to read that during the week. It is a wonderful thing.
This week, we can start by reflecting on all this, and then I want to turn to what will necessarily be a very close and shared reading of Walter Benjamin's 'Theses on a Philosophy of History'. You can find it in the collection 'Illuminations' and elsewhere but I will again provide photocopies.
Actually, there are many links to the whole texts and numerous debating sites, but here is one that looks easy to use -perhaps we can use it in class because what I am hoping to do is see if you can hare my enthusiasm for solving these riddling little paragraphs (aphorisms) of Benjamin's and feeling your mind bend about History as you do so:
http://www.sfu.ca/~andrewf/CONCEPT2.html#Carthage
We will need to clarify the distinction made between 'Historicism' and 'Historical Materialism' running through this text. and it would be good to consider Benjamin's 'Arcades Project', his essay on Surrealism, and his relationship to History, modernity and theology in general if we have time.
Hopefully, we will get to talk about Benjamin as a whole, why he has been so influential in the past 20 years, and again, try to find contemporary art and artists who relate to these materials.
Though we seem to be transported back to the 1930s with this text, I hope you will see that its questions, and their unusual form, make their suggestions just as interesting to contemporary art and artists today as they might of been for their time (when in fact they were probably not utilised or appreciated).
Again, we can make clear links between the extremely influential Benjamin and recent cultural contributors like Bourriad and Sebald.
see you on Thursday.
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
Week TWO -History and Contemporary Art
Whoops!, I got behind with my Blogging there. Sorry I meant to post something here last night but am working on many courses simultaneously, supervising lots of dissertations and contributing to a show at present.
Anyway, today I am just preparing to close read Bourriaud's Altermodern essay in terms of History, and hoping that by going through it with you we can perhaps glean more from it than you might previously have done in terms of 'The Uses 0f History'.
I'm used to filling two hour seminar sessions so these one and a half hour sessions are going to be rather crammed I think. I also have the tendency to fill the session with my own thoughts so students are advised to break in and raise their voice -but I will of course invite questions and try to allocate time for discussion throughout.
In making some preparations I also re-encountered one or two other favourite texts relating to our theme and I will try to photocopy all so that, even if the sessions and the course are quite short, you will have the materials to develop your interests and continue your discussions.
These other texts are: a reading of a section of W.G. Sebald's Austerlitz, Charles Baudelaire's On The Heroism Of Modern Life (1846) and a small extract from J.D. Sallinger's The Catcher In The Rye where he describes the child's experience of the museum.
Hopefully we can make some useful connections here. There are of course many,many artists we could discuss today, including and in addition to those raised by Bourriaud e.g. Jimmie Durham remains a vital force I think in terms of this debate. We will do our best to keep this session about the contemporary so that next week we can make a change of gear towards the philosophical considerations of Walter Benjamin informed by Marx, Hegel, Surrealism etc.
Anyway, today I am just preparing to close read Bourriaud's Altermodern essay in terms of History, and hoping that by going through it with you we can perhaps glean more from it than you might previously have done in terms of 'The Uses 0f History'.
I'm used to filling two hour seminar sessions so these one and a half hour sessions are going to be rather crammed I think. I also have the tendency to fill the session with my own thoughts so students are advised to break in and raise their voice -but I will of course invite questions and try to allocate time for discussion throughout.
In making some preparations I also re-encountered one or two other favourite texts relating to our theme and I will try to photocopy all so that, even if the sessions and the course are quite short, you will have the materials to develop your interests and continue your discussions.
These other texts are: a reading of a section of W.G. Sebald's Austerlitz, Charles Baudelaire's On The Heroism Of Modern Life (1846) and a small extract from J.D. Sallinger's The Catcher In The Rye where he describes the child's experience of the museum.
Hopefully we can make some useful connections here. There are of course many,many artists we could discuss today, including and in addition to those raised by Bourriaud e.g. Jimmie Durham remains a vital force I think in terms of this debate. We will do our best to keep this session about the contemporary so that next week we can make a change of gear towards the philosophical considerations of Walter Benjamin informed by Marx, Hegel, Surrealism etc.
Friday, 13 November 2009
Session One -'My Histories' - Giving Form To History
http://www.okpaul.com/essays.
Hi, I will post a new Blog about a day after and a day before each session, so look here again next Wednesday evening.
The above is a link to a page of my website from which you can click on the 'Giving Forms To History' Phd Extract and download a PDF of the document I read from yesterday. there you will have any spellings, images etc. you didn't get and it is ALWAYS a worthwhile learning experience to go over a text a second time.
Thank you for great attendance and please keep coming. As I say, I hope we will generate real discussion as we go along about what I feel is a truly motivating aspect of being an artist.
You can prepare for next week if you want by re-reading the Altermodern essay, or anything else by Bourriaud with an eye for any references he makes to History.
I hope you enjoyed reading the Olaudah Equiano text I handed out if you had time to look at it. It is not crucially linked to course content but we might still be able to briefly discuss it next week.
For those who asked, my PhD is titled 'A Hesitation of Things' and was submitted to The University of London's Senate House Library and a copy to Goldsmiths College library this summer. A Microfiche copy is I believe available at the British Library, but whether any of these are available YET I don't know as there are thousands to process every year.
Se you next week, please keep up attendance and come prepared to listen and contribute. I will keep the session to 90 minutes and clear time for your Qs and do my best to overcome any technical problems in advance.
Hi, I will post a new Blog about a day after and a day before each session, so look here again next Wednesday evening.
The above is a link to a page of my website from which you can click on the 'Giving Forms To History' Phd Extract and download a PDF of the document I read from yesterday. there you will have any spellings, images etc. you didn't get and it is ALWAYS a worthwhile learning experience to go over a text a second time.
Thank you for great attendance and please keep coming. As I say, I hope we will generate real discussion as we go along about what I feel is a truly motivating aspect of being an artist.
You can prepare for next week if you want by re-reading the Altermodern essay, or anything else by Bourriaud with an eye for any references he makes to History.
I hope you enjoyed reading the Olaudah Equiano text I handed out if you had time to look at it. It is not crucially linked to course content but we might still be able to briefly discuss it next week.
For those who asked, my PhD is titled 'A Hesitation of Things' and was submitted to The University of London's Senate House Library and a copy to Goldsmiths College library this summer. A Microfiche copy is I believe available at the British Library, but whether any of these are available YET I don't know as there are thousands to process every year.
Se you next week, please keep up attendance and come prepared to listen and contribute. I will keep the session to 90 minutes and clear time for your Qs and do my best to overcome any technical problems in advance.
Thursday, 12 November 2009
INTRODUCING 'The Uses of History'
This Option for Chelsea college is in four weekly sessions.
I have decided to take a semi-lecture / semi-seminar approach.
I have roughly broken the Option down into four themes.
12 / 11 / 09 Week One: 'My Histories' - Introduction of general content and presentation of my own Paper (PhD extract) 'Giving Form To History' - Plus Q& A session.
19 / 11 / 09 Week Two: 'Bourriaud's Histories' - Close reading of Nicolas Bourriaud's 'Altermodern' catalogue preface with particular attention to references to History and artists (also implicating other Bourriaud texts. -Plus Q&A session.
26 / 11 / 09 Week three: 'Walter Benjamin and Historical Materialism' - Close reading of Walter Benjamin's Theses on the Philosophy of History Plus Q&A
03 / 12 / 09 Week Four: 'Dark Horses & Hollow Men'- the record of time in monuments photographs, memoir and film. Plus Q&A
I will use thsis blog to briefly reflect on each session and point students to readings, spelllings or other information they might want to pursue. However, you can contribute and respond in any way that is useful to the group and the subject of the seminar.
I have decided to take a semi-lecture / semi-seminar approach.
I have roughly broken the Option down into four themes.
12 / 11 / 09 Week One: 'My Histories' - Introduction of general content and presentation of my own Paper (PhD extract) 'Giving Form To History' - Plus Q& A session.
19 / 11 / 09 Week Two: 'Bourriaud's Histories' - Close reading of Nicolas Bourriaud's 'Altermodern' catalogue preface with particular attention to references to History and artists (also implicating other Bourriaud texts. -Plus Q&A session.
26 / 11 / 09 Week three: 'Walter Benjamin and Historical Materialism' - Close reading of Walter Benjamin's Theses on the Philosophy of History Plus Q&A
03 / 12 / 09 Week Four: 'Dark Horses & Hollow Men'- the record of time in monuments photographs, memoir and film. Plus Q&A
I will use thsis blog to briefly reflect on each session and point students to readings, spelllings or other information they might want to pursue. However, you can contribute and respond in any way that is useful to the group and the subject of the seminar.
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