Reading, Writing & Research Methods
Reading, Writing, and Research Methodologies 2016-17
Led by Steve Rushton (trimester 1&2) and Steve Rushton & Kate Briggs (trimester 3)
Handbook description: "The Reading, Writing, and Research Methodologies Seminar is tailored towards (further) developing research methods within the first year of this master. By establishing a solid foundation of research skills, it will eventually prepare students for their Graduate research in the second year. Through reading core theoretical texts, they will establish a common vocabulary and set of references to work from. They will learn the practice of classic ‘essayistic methodologies’, including close reading, annotation, description and notation, students learn to survey a body of literature, filter what is relevant to their research and create comparative pieces of analysis. The seminar helps students to establish methodical drafting processes for their texts, where they can develop ideas further and structure their use of notes and references. The course takes as axiomatic that the perceived division between ‘practice’ and ‘theory’ is essentially an illusion."
Curriculum:
The seminar over the two trimesters will involve:
(a.) Identifying the object of your research: description and analysis of your work
(b.) Contextualizing your work through description and reflection on contemporary and historical practices.
(c.) Identify research material key to your practice.
(d.) Synopsis and annotation of key texts
(e.) Writing machines: creating methods for group and individual writing.
Throughout, there will be an emphasis on working collectively, whether in a larger discussion group or in smaller reading and writing groups.
Outcome: Text on Method
The specific outcome for the RW&RM seminar of 2016-2017 will be a 1500 word text which reflects on your own method and situates your work in relation to a broader artistic and cultural context. The various texts produced within the RW&RM seminar will serve as source material for your text on method. In common with all modules on the course RW&RM serves to support the other elements of the course (Self-directed Research, Issues in Art & Theory, Practice-Group Critiques &c.). Therefore, the text on method will inform your Self-Evaluation at the end of the third trimester and provide the basis for your Graduate Project Proposal that you will produce in the fourth trimester.
Here are the Text on Method guidelines; and here is the link to previous texts on method: '''FINAL VERSIONS''' deadline 6th May
Wiki Basic style sheet
Titles and works = italics
Essays = Title in Caps
Notation = Harvard System (writer, page number) = (Smith, 26)
URL = make link
Some tips on normative writing
Active / passive mode of address Orwell's Politics and the English Language &c.
TRIMESTER TWO
Session Nine- 8-10 March: Serving Library Workshop
Stuart Bertolotti-Bailey writes:
This brief workshop is based on The Serving Library, an archiving/publishing platform located online at www.servinglibrary.org, and offline at an art school gallery in Liverpool. The engine of its activities is a journal originally titled ‘Dot Dot Dot’ (since 2000), now ‘Bulletins of The Serving Library’ (since 2011). The Liverpool venue is conceived as a ’satellite seminar space’, set up to work with local, national and international groups of students. Its walls are lined with around 100 framed objects, each of which originally appeared as an illustration in one of the two journals. Classes are typically based on the journal’s wide-ranging themes, such as Time, Psychedelia, Numbers, or Perspective, with the works on the walls reflexively drawn into the discussion.
Following an introductory talk, during which I will elaborate on the past, present and future of The Serving Library, you are then invited to propose a new object and accompanying (short) text, to be written *in the manner of The Serving Library* – whatever we decide that means – and presented by the end of Friday’s session. We will discuss your proposals in progress, individually and in groups.
Those intending to participate should familiarize themselves with the Serving Library website and make sure to read the following sample Bulletin before we begin on Wednesday morning:
http://www.servinglibrary.org/journal/9/three-object-lessons
Practical details
Program:
10:00 Wednesday: Introduction to workshop
Wednesday PM: Studio Visits with Stuart
Friday AM: Studio Visits with Stuart
Friday PM: Group review work done
What you need to do
1) Please attend the introductory seminar (10:00 Wed)
2) Please sign up to discuss your object and text with Stuart (you can do this in groups of 2 or 3 if you wish)
Sign below
3) Please attend the session on friday afternoon in which we review what you have all done
Studio Visits with Stuart Bertolotti-Bailey
Wednesday
14:00 Marta
14:45 Viktor T
15:30 Timur & Alex
16:15 Connie
THURSDAY NEW SLOTS:
14:45 -15:30
16:15- 17:00 Katharina
FRIDAY:
10:00 George
10:45 Collette
11:30 Anne
12:15 Nick T.
13:00 LUNCH
Waiting list:
Outcome Serving Library: Make page for 300 words of text and an image of the object you chose below. Deadline 12:00 Friday
Meet in Large Project Space at 14:00 Friday 10 March for review of work done
Session Eight - 23-2-17
To prepare..
as a mental exercise...
imagine...
you have a show in
THE PERFECT SPACE and
THE PERFECT AUDIENCE
come to see it!
What is THE SPACE and who are the AUDIENCE and WHAT WOULD YOU SHOW THEM?
This session will involve
interview, transcription of interview and editing of interview.
Here is today's pad:
https://pad.bleu255.com/p/Steve23FedMFA
And here is the program:
10:00-16:00
1) Boomerang. Nancy Holt & Richard Serra
2) Perfect, Perfect
3) Normal, Usual
Normalville Contemporary Art Centre for Contemporary Art
[Very clear notes from today's pad:]
Normalville Contemporary Arts Centre of Art (CACOA)
3 works will be installed in 1 of the 500sqft space.
What does the audience need to know about the work?
The audience live in Normalville but 90% of them are not from the art industry.
2 hour plan:
for 30 min ::::0) Prepare for the interview
for 30min :::: 1) You will be the curator and will ask questions to elicit responses from the artist (that will encourage the ppl from Normalville to visit the show?
for 30 min :::: 2) You will be the artist and will be interviewed by the curator on the show you are proposing, you will negotiate your position.
for as long as it takes ::::3) Transcribe the interview
for as long as it takes ::::4) discuss and edit interviews.
As artist: Plan the exhibition
As curator: Plan the questions you want to ask
For interview:
Talk NO MORE than 30 MINS -- or a focussed interview will become an 'interesting conversation'
Please don't talk "industry language"
References:
Tate Shots: 5 minute artist interviews: http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/audio-video/search?
From 16:00
At 16:00 those who want to be part of the radio re-do meet in the small project space.
Steve will introduce the "orwell writing machine"
Orwell's Politics and the English Language
Upload interviews here
Outcome Session Eight
16:30: Review today's session
Session Seven - 9 - 2-17
Thinking together about reading
Today's outcome: a publication which survey's what we read, how we read it and why we read it.
10:00 Intro
'We are street readers [...] info junk dealers'
Reading: I Read Where I Am, Gerritzen & Lovink, eds.
10:15
brief discussion
Intro to survey with Steve as test subject
11:00
In pairs:
Player 1 types notes (half hour max)
Player 2 answers survey
Player 2 types notes (half hour max)
Player 1 answers survey
Survey:
Please talk to your note taker about your relationship with reading, please include discussion of the following
what you read:
Online
Magazines and journals
Currently reading
Do you take notes? if yes, how?
Could you talk generally about your reading history and reading habits?
14:00: Editorial team meets
16:00 review outcome
OUTCOME Session Seven- IN PAIRS
OUTCOME Session Seven- EDITORIAL TEAM
Editorial team work on texts made in pairs and synthesises them and uploads it here
https://pad.bleu255.com/p/Steve9Feb
OUTCOME Session Seven- GROUP READING
Session Six 26-1-17. Writing Machines
This is the task for this session
Set yourself a writing assignment, design a writing machine.
Use the methods employed so far, or design your own methods, to develop a procedure (constraints) for writing (AKA a writing machine) You can use the methods we have experimented with = (for instance Task4; WHW; think of your subject from the point of view of ecology, machine, discourse; swap interviewee-interviewer roles...
Your subject: the piece you are working on now, the piece you have just finished or the piece you are about to make.
Word count 1500 words max
If last time you didn't get a chance to speak to Steve about what you want to achieve with writing over the next two years, sign up here and we will do it today:
http://pzwiki.wdka.nl/fineart/Calendars:Fine_Art_Calendar/Fine_Art_Calendar/26-01-2017_-Event_1
Timetable for this session:
10:00 Steve's intro
11:00-(1) make plan
12:00 (2) execute plan
15:00 upload outcome of today's session here:
Outcome Session Six
ALSO
UNFINISHED BUSINESS:
Please also find time today to edit and upload Steve's notes on what you want to do with writing whilst at Piet Zwart:
Steve's notes on what I want to do with writing
If you missed the slots today, try:
http://pzwiki.wdka.nl/fineart/Calendars:Fine_Art_Calendar/Fine_Art_Calendar/01-02-2017_-Event_2
15:05 regroup to discuss todays outcome.
16:00
Meet outside: KINO - Gouvernestraat 129 -133
As part of the film festival a number of video installations open this evening
From Google translate:
" Traditionally IFFR looking for the cross-pollination between film and visual art, and there are also outside the cinema plenty of activities, performances, objects and admire installations. We invite you therefore like from the official opening of all exhibitions within the framework of the IFFR 2017 program on Thursday, January 26, from 16:00
4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in KINO - Gouvernestraat 129 -133 installations HEIS (on the wall) - ORAL HISTORY - AZADAAR
5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the Studio (former CBK) - New Shortcuts 75 The exhibition NUTS & BOLTS; with speech by Bero Beyer at 17:30
19:00 to 20:00 in V2_ - Eendrachtsstraat 10 installations ROBOT BODIES and TESTAMENT OF HOPE AND FAILURE
20:30 to 21:30 in the Czech Centre - Westersingel 9 the exhibition Jan Němec and the Czechoslovak New Wave - Movie Posters The complete overview of all the art projects at the festival can be found at IFFR.com/expo
Nuts & Bolts was realized with the collaboration of the Mondriaan Fund"
Google translate ends
Session 8 december
10:00 Steve gives intro to: 'why the hammer can only think nail'.
A field exercise in which:
The subject is
1) an ecology
2) a machine
3) a discourse
11:00 - we go into the field, observe the subject and take notes.
15:30
Group performance of our notes in three acts
1) an ecology
2) a machine
3) a discourse
This session's outcome: a recording of the above archived on the wiki.
OUTCOME SESSION 5
Session 24 Nov. What kind of writing practice do you want to build?
This session’s agenda
10:00 : Kate Briggs
will extend an invitation for you to become involved in the February Writing Event on the 14 of February 2017. The first of these events took place last year. Students gave readings of texts they were working on and we invited some professional writers to come along and talk with the students individually about the role of writing in their studio practice. Kate will outline the project and discuss with you how you might participate.
11:00-16:30
Continue from the last session:
11:00-16:30
Meetings with Steve:
Aim: to talk about your ambitions over the next two years, specifically related to writing. What kind of writing practice do you want to build? Agenda: please consider these points of discussion beforehand:
1) What role does writing currently play in your practice?
2) What role would you like writing to take in your practice over the next two years?
3) What you read and how you read it – what you write and how you write it (from tweets to shopping lists)
4) Throughout, Steve will take minutes and hand them to you for your own use at the end of the session.
Sign up here:
http://pzwiki.wdka.nl/fineart/Calendars:Fine_Art_Calendar/Fine_Art_Calendar/24-11-2016_-Event_1
16:15 Upload texts below:
16:30 Meet in Project space to recap the day’s activities
Upload outcome of Session 4 - 24 Nov
Session Three 10 Nov
10:00- 11:00
Meet in project space for update with Steve
Feedback from readers (continued from last session)
In groups of 2
(1) give feedback on the second draft of the What? How? Why? texts.
(2) Make edits to your text and upload changes
Session: weaving research strands, making collective notes
Task three
11:00-17:00
Select three things
1) a piece of media (YouTube clip, film, TV show)
2) a text you are reading which has a useful relation to your work
3) a work of art (by another) which delights or infuriates you
Make a link to media, text &c (where possible) here:
https://pad.pzimediadesign.nl/p/Steve_Rushton
Bring a lap top
( When we discuss the texts you choose, Steve will outline handy note taking technique)
Outcome of Session Three
Please upload your wiki content on a new page here
Session Two 27 Oct
Task Two:
10:00 Intro
10:00 - 12:00
Describe three of your works
for each work describe
What (100 words max)
How (100 words max)
Why (100 words max)
300 word description of three works = 900 words (max)
12:00
Outcome of Session Two
12:15 - 13:00
In groups of three,
Read each other's texts
Readers: give feedback (what were you given to understand by the text? how can it be improved to make it clearer?)
Writer: remain silent, do not try to defend the text, concentrate on what the text is actually communicating to your readers.
Make notes of your reader's comments
13:00 LUNCH
14:00 Continue reading in groups and making notes
15:00 Make changes to your text
Keep original draft
17:00 Meet in large group to review and to wind up
Steve will introduce next session.
17:30 FINISH
Session One: 13 Oct
10:00: Introduction to RW&RM by Steve Rushton
(a) What happens in the seminar?
(b) How does this fit in with the other aspects of the program?
(c) How does the the seminar feed into the course over two years?
For every session there is a different task, which employs a different writing method. I will set no assignments outside of the class, but you must commit to trying the methods I suggest for at least the day of the seminar. Over the three trimesters you will accumulate a collection of texts and approaches to writing which serve as a resource as you go into the second year.
10:30: Steve will outline the task for this session:
www.servinglibrary.org/space
11:00 We will catch the 21 or 24 tram to the
Stedelijk Museum Schiedam
PLEASE BRING:
1) NOTEBOOK AND PEN
2) an OV CHIP CARD with a few Euro on it
3) and a PACKED LUNCH
4) STUDENT CARD/ and or/MUSEUM PASS/ ROTTERDAM PASS
Exhibition: The Volkskrant Art Prize 2016-17: Alexis Blake*, Jan Hoek, Anouk Kruithof, Jay Tan* and Evelyn Taocheng Wang
AND
Ten Years of the Volkskrant Art Prize A group show of recent work by past winners Nathalie Bruys (2006) | Guido van der Werve (2007) | Eylem Aladogan (2009) | Navid Nuur* (2010) | Ahmet Ögüt (2011) | Tala Madani (2012) | Femmy Otten (2013) | Floris Kaayk (2014) | Bram De Jonghe (2015) And public's favourites: Sharon Houkema (2010) | Nik Christensen (2011) | Sarah van Sonsbeeck (2012) | Zoro Feigl (2013) | Floris Kaayk (2014) | Levi van Veluw (2015)
(*Piet Zwart alumni / alumna)
16:00: Meet up back at the Piet Zwart to review work done.
17:00: Finish
Useful links
Venue:
http://www.stedelijkmuseumschiedam.nl/nl/
Route: 21 or 24 tram (25 mins)
Outcomes of Session One
here are the notes:
and here is the sound file of your collective reading:
http://pzwart1.wdka.hro.nl/~acastro/descriptive%20description.mp3