USC Roski School of Art / Fall 2007 / with: Flora Wiegmann / students: Michael Parker, Christian Cummings, Nicole Miller, Emily Mast, Dianna Molzan, Keith Bormuth, Michael Hayden, Lee Lynch, Joel Kyack, Marissa Mandler, Lisa Williamson, Mores McWreath, Nick Kramer, Maya Lujan, Kristin Botshekan, Lawrence Rengert

By “corporal architecture” I refer to the physical structure, space or environment that is created by human bodies when they are in proximity.

How do artists engage with this space and create work within it?

Our goal in this workshop will be to communicate as little as possible with words and as much as possible with actions.

We will explore the possibility for work to exist outside of the conventional space for making (the studio) and the conventional space for viewing (the gallery).

What happens when we don’t have the “art crutches” of the studio and gallery to legitimize the work so easily?

The opportunity to work together will always be an option. What happens to work in the public realm when the audience or participants have not necessarily made the decision to engage with the work (as the gallery visitor does)?

We will aim for projects that engage with the immediate architectural and social realities that confront us.

Specificity, observation and an outward gaze will be important. In this workshop we will be looking at two forms of expression at opposite ends of the temporal spectrum: the ephemeral action vs. the edifice of architecture.

We will not be confined to a room for this workshop. The MFA building and it's immediate environs will be our home.

From the seminar with Flora Wiegmann we will take inspiration and understanding of the significance of the action, happening, performance in the story of contemporary art.

For the open studios on December 8th we will present a project to the public. This may be alone, in pairs, in groups or the entire class.

This may be participatory activity or a spectacle or anything in between. It may even go unseen with only evidence or stories left behind.

THE ACTIONS:

Student initiated actions, activities, happenings, performances will be presented during each workshop. We will pay careful attention to them and maybe even take notes after, but we will not formally discuss them during class. They will remain something experienced and not verbalized, deconstructed or critiqued. These may be developed individually, in pairs or groups. We will have approximately 20 minutes for each one, though their actual duration may be much longer (days) or shorter (seconds).

THE DOCUMENTATION:

Each project will need to have an attitude towards documentation. In this way each project may have two parts: the action and the record of the action. Should it be photographed and how are those photographs experienced? Should it be video recorded and how is the video presented? Should there be an official oral or written record and how is that told? Or should there be no record at all, just the stories passed down from the people that were there?

ARTISTS & PROJECTS TO LOOK AT & THINK ABOUT:

{more will be added to this list}

Francis Alys {When Faith Moves Mountains - Lima, Peru}

Ant Farm {Media Burn - Cow Palace, San Francisco}

Marina Abramovic {Great Wall walk with Ulay - China}

Bas Jan Ader {In Search of the Miraculous - the Atlantic Ocean}

AVAF {roller skate circle - Central Park, New York}

Tamy Ben-Tor {Exotic, the Rat and the Liberal} Joseph Beuys {I like America and America Likes Me - New York}

Michael Bramwell {Building Sweeps - Harlem, New York}

Paco Cao {Rent a Body - New York)

Peter Coffin {Perfect if On}

The Cockettes {performances at the Palace Theater, San Francisco}

Vaginal Davis {VD as VB: Black and White Men and Women Together Again Forever piece 483- 8070 - New York Performa 2005}

Gelatin {The Dig Cunt - Coney Island, New York}

Katie Grinnan {Aspen Fourth of July Parade Float - Aspen, Colorado}

Cai Guo-Qiang {Transient Rainbow - the East River, New York}

Anna Halprin {Circle the Earth - throughout the San Francisco area}

Dynasty Handbag K8 Hardy and Wynne Greenwood {News Report}

Marc and Robby Herbst {October Surprise - Highland Park, Los Angeles}

Jan Family {Clap in Time - the Tate, London}

Yayoi Kusama {happenings - Central Park, New York City}

Mierle Laderman Ukeles {Sanitation Celebration - Manahattan}

LTTR {A Wave of New Rage Thinking, A Radical Read-in - Generali Foundation, Vienna}

Jonathan Meese {Dr. Cyclops}

Gordon Matta Clark {Food - SoHo, New York}

My Barbarian {Medieval Morality Play! - The Mak Center, Los Angeles}

Yoshua Okon {Lago Bolsena - Santa Julia, Mexico}

Yoko Ono {Cut Piece}

William Pope L. {Crawl series}

Alison Smith {The Muster - Governors Island, New York}

Valie Export {Tapp- und Tast-Kino ("Touch Cinema") - European Cities}

REQUIRED READING FOR THE FIRST CLASS:

“The Interpreter” by John Colapinto from the New Yorker, April 7th, 2007