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Film 201: Introduction to Experimental Media Spring 2012
The Bellman himself they all praised to the skies--
Such a carriage, such ease and such grace!
Such solemnity, too! One could see he was wise,
The moment one looked in his face!
He had bought a large map representing the sea,
Without the least vestige of land:
And the crew were much pleased when they found it to be
A map they could all understand.
"What's the good of Mercator's North Poles and Equators,
Tropics, Zones, and Meridian Lines?"
So the Bellman would cry: and the crew would reply
"They are merely conventional signs!
"Other maps are such shapes, with their islands and capes!
But we've got our brave Captain to thank:
(So the crew would protest) "that he's bought us the best--
A perfect and absolute blank!"
- from Lewis Carroll’s The Hunting of the Snark
Objective:
Our gaze travels through space and gives us the illusion of relief and distance. That
is how we construct space, with an up and down, a left and a right, as in front and a
behind, a near and a far.
When nothing arrests our gaze, it carries a very long way. But if it meets with nothing, it sees nothing, it sees only what it meets. Space is what arrests our gaze, what our sight stumbles over: the obstacles, bricks, an angle, a vanishing point.
-- Georges Perec, from “Space,” in Species of Spaces, p. 81
What we’ll do:
Through screenings, presentations – some “spatial” guests, for instance -- and accompanying written work, projects, and discussion, this course explores the accomplishments, strategies, and possibilities of media considered “experimental” and the available models such work offers us -- as makers and viewers. Accompanying us on our surveying will be the antic and perceptive intellect and observations of French writer Georges Perec (1936-1982) whose considerations, both categorizing and liberating, in Species of Spaces (and some other writings) will offer additional models and prompts for our thinking.
Components:
Lecture: Mondays, 11:00am – 12:50pm, MUS 175
Instructor: Carl Bogner
Office: MITB69A, Hours: Wednesday, 11am to 2pm, and by appointment
Projectionist: Patrick Wodzinski
Discussion: Wednesdays, as follows:
Section #: Room Time Discussion Leader
Section 601: MIT B75 11am – 11:50am Kellie Bronikowski
Section 602: MIT B75 noon – 12:50pm Kellie Bronikowski
Section 603: MITB91 11am – 11:50pm Ben Balcom
Section 604: MITB91 noon - 12:50pm Ben Balcom
Section 605: MITB18 11am – 11:50pm Brian McGuire
Section 606: MITB18 noon- 12:50pm Brian McGuire
Section 607: MITB56 11am – 11:50pm Alex Torinus
Discussion Leaders: Contact Info/Office Hours
Kellie Bronikowski, Office: MITB53, Hours: W: 1-3pm
Ben Balcom: Office: MITB53, Hours: W: 1-3pm
Brian McGuire: Office: Union 323, Hours: W: 1-3pm
Alex Torinus: Office: Riverview, Hours: Tues: 5:30pm-7:30pm
Assignments and Materials:
Final grade will be based on a couple of written essays (engaging with your reading and weekly screenings) and a final project (topic and mode: mapping) as well as some other added-as-needed tasks and assignments (such as the observation assignment). Details on each forthcoming. Also: part of your grade will be your Classroom Contribution which includes participation; any in-class writing, overall engagement; and general attention.
Screenings: When possible, we will be viewing actual film prints, courtesy of the Archive of our very own Film Department. If available on DVD or VHS, work screened in class will be made available and on reserve at the Media Library, in the Basement of the West Wing of the library. [Call numbers for work that can be checked out follow the title in brackets] Please note: schedule subject to change.
Readings: Reading material -- both required and recommended -- will be shared on the D2L site, although there is 1 book required for this class:
Species of Spaces and Other Pieces by Georges Perec (translated and edited by John Sturrock, published by Penguin Press, ISBN 9780141442242)
The book is now available for purchase at Boswell Books(2559 N. Downer Ave., just a few storefronts south of the Downer Theatre. The store's hours are Monday - Saturday: 10 a.m. - 9 p.m;Sunday: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. You can call them at 414 332-1181) The book is also already on 2- Hour Reserve [Call Number PQ2676.E67 A6 2008]). And get started: you are encouraged to explore the entire book, but start working your way through Species of Spaces (Espèces d’espaces, 1974), the first 96 pages of the book.
Policies
Regarding Attendance: The primary texts of the class are the works screened in class on Monday: all of your graded written material and discussion will be based on your responses to that work. So: do not miss class. In fact: Starting on Monday, January 30, roll will be taken at lecture and in section. And after your third (3rd) absence, your grade will drop an entire letter (the best grade therefore possible a B). For every subsequent absence, you grade will drop by a third of a letter, (B to B-, for example, B- to C+).
Grading Policy: Final grades will be based on the work done on all of the assignments, and on overall participation and investment in the experience of the class. Understand that by just turning in the work as assigned, one is just doing what is expected and required. By meeting just the minimum requirements, you are therefore offering only average work, which earns at best a C. Higher grades acknowledge greater evident effort, more pronounced investment in the class, A’s awarded to exceptional work only. Late work cannot be accepted without penalty.
Incompletes will only be considered for situations in which a student with a grade of "B" or above is unable to complete the class due to conditions beyond their control. Students must prove to the instructor that they were prevented from completing the course requirements and students must complete course work for an Incomplete during the first eight weeks of the next semester of enrollment. No drops after the 5th week of the semester.
Email / D2L Upon occasion, I or your Discussion Leader may wish to email you and/or your entire section. They will be using your UWM email account, via the D2L site. If you don’t already, get in the habit now of using and checking this account. You will be responsible for all information in the messages sent to this address.
Similarly, get in the habit of regularly using the D2L site. Class readings, assignments, questions for further thought, and important announcements and reminders will be posted there. I mean it to be an important resource for the class so: make it one of your principal tools for the class.
Regarding the Screening Space: Cell Phones, Laptops, Chatter, etc: In order to insure that each of us has the best viewing/thinking experience possible during Mondays’ lectures and screenings, the following disruptions will not be tolerated: cell phones that are not turned off or switched to “silent”; texting; unexcused tardy entrances and exits; and distractingly audible commentary during the screening/lecture. Also, taking notes is expected, but laptops cannot be open during screenings (their glow is a distraction).
Remember: all of us will have different reactions to the work screened in class, but we cannot let our reactions disrupt or challenge the viewing experience of our classmates and colleagues, who may, understand, be having an entirely different experience. Lack of respect for classmates and for the space in general will affect your grade. My apologies if such a statement is superfluous.
SCHEDULE:
Monday, January 23 - Lecture MUS 175
“experimental”: Introductions, and the starts of definitions
in lieu of scheduled screenings, introductory remarks and discussion around the word “experimental.”
Featured: Reading from the introduction to George Perec’s “e”-less novel A Void (1969, Gilbert Adair’s translation, 1995) [PQ2676 E67 D513x 1994]
Wednesday, January 25 – Discussion
Further introductions
Monday, January 30 – Lecture MUS 175
On Species of Spaces (I) Looking Around
Observation Assignment Introduced , due February 8
To screen:
The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal (Matt McCormick, 16mm on DVD, color/sound, 16min, 2001)
[DVD-3603]
Market Street (Tomonari Nishikawa, 5 min., black-and-white/silent, 5 min., 2005) [DVD-5826]
& possibly more
Readings:
Start reading into Species of Spaces, from “Forward”; “The Page”; …through “The Apartment” (p. 39)
But also read: “The Rue Vilin,” Georges Perec, from Species of Spaces, pp. 212-221, and recommended:
“Introduction,” John Sturrock, from Species of Spaces and Other Pieces, pp. ix – xvii
Wednesday, February 1 - Discussion
Monday, February 6 Lecture, MUS 175
“Certainly a film must be about whatever appears most often in it”:
Looking at film, acknowledging those looks
To screen:
A Lecture (Hollis Frampton, projectionist performance +16mm projector and pipe cleaner, sound)
Squares (Oskar Fischinger, 16mm, color/silent, 5 min., 1934)
Mothlight (Stan Brakhage, 16mm, color/silent, 4 min., 1963) [DVD-0499]
Variations (Nathaniel Dorsky, 16mm, color/silent, 24min @ 18fps., 1992-1998)
To Read:
“Approaches to What?” George Perec, from L’Infra-ordinaire, Species of Spaces and Other Pieces, pp.
209-211
“A Lecture,” Hollis Frampton, 1968, from On the Camera Arts and Consecutive Matters: The Writings of Hollis Frampton, edited by Bruce Jenkins, MIT University Press, 2009, pp. 125-130 [on D2L] [PN1995 .F69 2009]
Wednesday, February 8 – Discussion
Observation Exercise Due
Monday, February 13 – Lecture, MUS 175
Spatial Assertions: Reacting to Vito Acconci
To screen:
Theme Song (Vito Acconci, video, black-and-white/sound, 33’min, 17 seconds, 1973) [VHS-4973]
other Acconci work / and possibly more work, by others
Readings: Acconci notes on video [D2L]
Paper #1 Assigned Due, Wednesday, March 14
Wednesday, February 15 – Discussion
Monday, February 20 – Lecture, MUS 175
Species of Spaces (II): Some rooms mostly
To screen: (will include):
Inflatables Illustrated (Ant Farm, video on DVD, black-and-white and color/ sound, 21minutes, 20
seconds, 1971/2003) [DVD-2480]
La Chambre (Chantal Akerman, 16mm on DVD, color/silent, 11min., 1971) [DVD-4539]
Polaroid Image Series 1970/1974: Room (Mary Lucier, b&w Polaroid slides on DVD, 23 min) w/ Alvin
Lucier’s I was sitting in a room
Readings:
…continue with Species of Spaces, should be through “The Countryside” (p. 68) at this point…
and possibly more
Wednesday, February 22 - Discussion
Monday, February 27
Presenter: Ben Balcom
To screen:
Wavelength (Michael Snow, 16mm, color/sound, 45min., 1966-1967)
Readings: TBA
Wednesday, February 29 – Discussion
(please note that this discussion only happens once every 4 years)
Monday, March 5 Lecture MUS 175
Spaces and Historical Traces
To screen:
This Side of Paradise (Ernie Gehr, 16mm, color/sound, 14min., 1991)
An Injury to One (Travis Wilkerson, 16mm on DVD, color & black-and-white/sound, 53min., 2002)
possibly more
Reading:
…have finished Perec’s Species of Spaces by this point..
Wednesday, March 7 – Discussion
Monday, March 12 Lecture MUS 175
Make torrential rain fall, smash everything, make grass grow, replace the people by cows and, where the Rue de Bac meets the Boulevard Saint-Germain, make King Kong appear, or Tex Avery’s herculean mouse, towering a hundred metres above the roofs of the buildings!
(Georges Perec, “The Street,” Species of Spaces an Other Pieces, p. 53)
To screen:
Felix Woos Whoopee (Otto Messmer, 16mm, black-and-white/sound, 10min., 1927) [VHS-3312]
*Corpus Callosum (Michael Snow, 16mm on DVD, color/sound, 91min., 2004) [DVD-2084]
Wednesday, March 14 – Discussion
Paper #1 Due
Spring Break: No Class Monday, March 19 / Wednesday, March 21
Monday, March 26 - Lecture MUS 175
To screen: TBA
Mapping Project Introduced (Due May 2) /Paper #2 (Parts A & B) Assigned (Due May 7 & 9)
Reading:
“Think/Classify,” Georges Perec, from Penser/Classer in Species of Spaces and Other Pieces, pp. 188-205
Wednesday, March 28 - Discussion
Monday, April 2 – Lecture MUS 175
Topic: The Diary
Presenter: Kellie Bronikowski
To screen:
The Passing (Bill Viola, video, black-and-white/sound, 54min. 13 seconds, 1991) [DVD-6636]
possibly more
Reading:
“Attempt at an Inventory of the Liquid and Sold Foodstuffs Ingurgitated by Me in the Course of the Year Nineteen Hundred and Seventy-Four,” Georges Perec, from Species of Spaces and Other Pieces, pp. 244-249
and more TBA
Wednesday, April 4 - Discussion
Monday, April 9 – Lecture MUS 175
Spatial Guest Presenter: Steve Wetzel
To screen: TBA
Wednesday, April 11 – Discussion
Monday, April 16 ; Lecture MUS 175
Virtual Space: Locating Google Earth
Spatial Guest Presenter: Josh Weissbach
To screen/ readings: TBA
Wednesday, April 18 - Discussion
Monday, April 23 – Lecture MUS 175
Presenter: Brian McGuire
To screen/ Readings: TBA
Wednesday, April 25 – Discussion
Monday, April 30 – Lecture MUS 175
Spatial Guest Presenter: Cecelia Condit
To screen/Readings: TBA
Wednesday, May 2 – Discussion
Mapping Project Due
Monday, May 7 – Lecture MUS 175
Last Class
Paper #2, Part A – In Class
To screen: TBA
Wednesday, May 9 – Discussion
Paper #2 Due
To write: to try meticulously to retain something, to cause some thing to survive; to wrest a few precise scraps from the void as it grows, to leave somewhere a furrow, a trace, a mark or a few signs. -- Georges Perec, from “Space,” in Species of Spaces, p. 92
Please note:
No guns or weapons allowed in the class.
The Department of Film follows UWM academic policies which are posted on the departmental bulletin board, or available online at http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/SecU/SyllabusLinks.pdf
Special Needs and Questions: If you need special accommodations to meet any of the requirements of this course, please contact the instructor (your specific TA/instructor or the course instructor) as soon as possible. Feel free to visit your instructor to discuss assignments or any questions or requests you have. Office hours/emails listed above.
Media Library & Reserve Desk Hours at http://www.uwm.edu/Libraries/hours/
Film Department Office, Mitchell Hall B70, 414 229 6015
Hrs: M-F 8:30-4:30pm
Film Department Undergraduate Advising Office
Undergraduate Advisor: Bruce Charlesworth, Office MITB83
Hours: Monday, noon – 3pm, KSE 449
Thursday, noon-3pm, MIT B-83