msdm: mobile strategies of display & mediation

The 2007-08 edition of the MA in Art and Media Practice led by Peter Dunn at the University of Westminster has started a couple of weeks ago and this week was my turn to present the upgrade edition of the module Thinking Practices: Critical Dialogues for Contemporary Art and Media Practices, to the new students. A lot of changes have been made to the 06-07 edition when the module was still called Theory. Having passed the full revalidation process this summer, the module has now become a pedagogical test ground in the uses of social media in post-graduate art education.

As the title suggests, we take the notion of dialogue to its full consequences, both as a topic and a method. As such, the weekly meetings are conceived as situations of dialogue. The module takes place in one of the computer rooms in the Learning Resources Centre at the Harrow campus and as such it occupies a privileged space between the paper and the screen, accessing multiple formats of thinking in contemporary art: from printed matter- (books, magazines) to audio-visual (tapes to dvds), passing by the networked media (and the internet).

Teaching and learning methods combine presentations and discussions, “field research” in the library and online, e-tivities, blogging, guided individual research, team work, and tutorial support.

There are 5 main topics for debate that inform the weekly sessions and the coursework.

Topic 1 The shifting roles of artist and audience: 1- focus/case study: installation art (beyond the object); 2- focus/case study: relational aesthetics and the role of dialogue in art

Topic 2 working with place and space: 1- focus/case study: the site-specific and the nomadic site; 2- focus/case study: the public space and the (g) local

Topic 3 semiotics, photography and visual culture: 1- focus/case study: signs and deconstruction; 2- focus/case study: the real and the simulacra

Topic 4 cross-cultural practices: 1- focus/case study: hybrid identities and post-colonialism; 2- focus/case study: technology and globalisation

Topic 5 gender, subjectivity and the body: 1- focus/case study: feminism and the post-feminist body; 2- focus/case study: performativity and daily life

The way it works:
During the first class meeting, the class divided itself into teams of two.
Each team is responsible for one topic and each team member is in charge of a particular focus/ case study and facilitating a discussion around it.
The discussion will use printed and audio-visual materials sourced from the documents available in the learning centre (Harrow campus) and/or the Internet.

As with all process-based art work, the same question arises: how to assess the qualitative aspects of the learning? This is the way we do it. The module is marked in a format of continuous assessment (weekly topic discussions and e-tivities) and a final essay.

1. The essay mark (weighting: 80%) is broken down into two blocks (40% + 40%)

1.1. Facilitate discussion around the topic: 40%.
for the participating in the presentation of topic and facilitating of a discussion around chosen case study. The sources, images and documentation selected for topic discussion are published to the blog to the assigned page
1.2. final essay on the topic: 40%.
for developing topic into a 3000-4000 word essay, structured according to the academic format and using the Harvard referencing system.

2- The e-tivities mark (weighting: 20%) is broken down into two blocks (10% + 10%)
Each week, as an assignment related to the weekly topic, all participants except those preparing the weekly debate are requested to create a post in the TiiP’s blog, and respond to other students’ posts. These are to be related to the weekly debate and presentations.

The process is developing at http://thinkingpractices.wordpress.com/