RTF 331R unique #
An
ACTLab New Media Course
TAKING IT TO THE STREET:
PERFORMANCE AND POLITICS / THE POLITICS OF
PERFORMANCE
Mon 3-6 pm in the
ACTLab (cmb 4.110)
Allucquére Rosanne Stone, Instructor,
phone 695-6732 email sandy@actlab.us
Joseph Lopez and
Brandon Wiley, Teaching Assistants, phone numbers and email tba
| | Course
description: This course is about the
theory, history, and practice – mostly practice -- of technology
and performance as sociopolitical
intervention. This will include performance in an urban context;
site-specific and street theater; puppetry; environmental theater;
culture jamming, including radio, television, billboards, and
recording; and digital interventions. Over the
semester we will complete four projects: three mini-projects at
roughly four week intervals plus one final project at the end of the
semester, which takes the place of a final exam.
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Our Founder |
Stuff
you’ll need:
A cushion or pillow
to sit on. Setup exercises always include floor time,
and the actlab floor is concrete. You’ll find that sitting
directly on it for more than a minute or so will be increasingly
uncomfortable. Get a small cushion. Between classes you can store it
in the Death Star, across the hall from the actlab.
Various construction materials
– papier maché, construction board, paint, cloth, glue,
sticks, x-acto knives, scissors, paint. We’ll discuss these in
more detail in class.
Stuff we’ll
provide:
Video and audio
equipment. On reserve for you in the production checkout
area. We’ll discuss the whens and wheres of these
later.
Readings:
Reader 1 will be available at the
copy shop across from our building during the third week. You are
required to purchase the reader. No other readings are required, but
we will post a list of suggested additional readings which you may
read at your option.
Also, remember your best resource is always
your own curiosity, and Google or Dogpile or Clusty are your best
tools. Experiment with keywords and see what happens. When you find
something interesting, share it, either in person or via the class
mailing list, street@actlab.us.
Reader 2 we will write ourselves
over the semester. Each of you contributes to this reader by keeping a
paper or online journal in either text or blog form. The tenor and
form of your journal is that you are writing to an imagined future
class on the same topic as this one, sharing your thoughts and
experiences over the semester with those hypothetical students, and
offering suggestions to help them along. At the end of the semester we
will cull the journals, and the most useful parts will go into an
actual future reader, as well as becoming part of the class
website.
Documentation
requirement:
During the semester each of you
will produce an individual web site documenting your work. Your site
will include images (still and video), sound, and text, as
appropriate. Your site will have a professional
“look”– i.e., just a bare index page with your name
and links to your work is not, repeat, not acceptable
– you will have to think about aesthetics of web design, ease of
use, narrative flow, and human interface issues. We’ll help you
acquire this knowledge, but we can’t design your site for you,
since it’s part of your grade. Documenting each intervention by means of video and sound is
of critical importance, and is an integral part of our classwork,
since in the case of street work the conditions for legal, political,
and aesthetic viability are fast, short interventions below the radar
of potential counter-intervention. Don't slight this step,
because a spectacular web page significantly raises your visibility in
the professional world. No grade will be issued until your web site is
up and working -- i.e., no broken links, all animations or Flash
movies actually run, etc. To keep all of us sane, final presentations
and web pages are not due on the same day...there is some time
built into the course schedule after final presentations for you to
finish your web pages.
Tutorials: During the semester, Joe and
Brandon will offer a number of tutorials on the use of the software
you need in order to do better projects and get your webpages
working. They will announce the schedules for these at various times
during the semester. It's a *really* good idea to take advantage of
them. Some folks don't, and then find themselves helpless when
projects are due. Because a few diehards inevitably wind up in this
situation, we provide this disclaimer: The scheduled tutorials are
the only ones we are obligated to provide. Use 'em or lose
'em.
Other ACTLabbies are your greatest
resource. A number of people in this class have taken ACTLab New
Media classes before, and understand the way we do things. (We call
them repeat offenders.) They can be your best resource for how to
approach and complete your projects and
documentation.
Mailing
list:
Outside of class time we keep in
touch via the class mailing list,
street@actlab.us. Use it to swap ideas, ask
questions, get and give alerts of schedule changes, share weird urls,
and whatever else you can think of. Most of you have already been
subscribed to the list, but we didn't have email addresses for a
few. Be sure to give us your email address the first day of
class. Equipment:
The ACTLab
equipment (in cmb 4.110) is there for you to use, play with, and
experiment with. Don't waste the opportunity to stretch your creative
skills in the digital domain. We have computers, DJ turntables, a
mixer, a quadraphonic sound system, and other stuff. We also have some
gear that we've never used yet, and we invite you to play with it and
see what you can make it do.
Guillermo Gomez-Pena in Temple of
Secrets | Form of the
class:
In general, each class starts with setup
exercises. These include seated work, floor work, and improv to
music. Techniques are heuristic and aleatory (i.e., for the most part
we invent them), and I invite and expect you to contribute your
own. Occasionally I’ll ask you to lead the exercises. Exercises
are meant to loosen us up physically and creatively, and are important
for the rest of class time. Following setups, we’ll talk about
ideas we’ve gotten from the readings, our ownexperiences on the
street, in class, at home, on the web, from dreams, and so forth, and
how they might connect with classwork. During this time we may sketch,
paint, make physical models such as masks, puppets, scenery, props,
costumes, miniature sites of potential interventions (to plan entrance
and exit strategies), and so forth.
We may take field trips to
check out potential sites. We’ll stage performance exercises,
helping each other to become loose and quick-witted and to think on
our feet. During the last part of class, we’ll do journal and
web site work. On actual designated performance days, we’ll go
do it. |
Grading:
Attendance at class and participation in classwork 20%
Three mini-projects during the semester (excluding final one), 8.33% each, total
25%
Final project 30%
Documentation and web pages 25%
Total 100%
Course
schedule:
August
31: Meet 'n greet. Administrative-fu. Introduction to the course and
to each other.
Reading
assignment for September 7 discussion:
George Ulrich, "Masks"; Antonin Artaud, "Manifesto in a Clear
Language" (which is not so clear after all; available on the ACTLab Street
resources pages http://actlab.us/street)
PART ONE:
MASKS AND MASKMAKING: Dancing with the gods
September
7: Histories and theories of masks and masquerade. Histories of mediumship.
Oracles. Clothing, gods, and humans. Theories of subjectivity and persona.
Film:
Jan Svankmajer's Alice, and possibly one or two other Svankmajer
films.
September
14: Anthropological inflections of displacing agency. Laws as societal
masking. Carnival and the carnivalesque.
Equipment
needs: If you need special equipment such as video cameras, lights
or mics to help prepare your first presentation on September 28, be sure
to talk to Joe or Brandon today and familiarize yourself with the Equipment
Checkout online scheduling procedures.
Materials
for September 21 studio time:
This is a heads-up for next week. Bring whatever you think you'll need:
foam board, plaster, cloth strips, papier maché, etc.
September
21: Theories of the grotesque and constructions of otherness. Marginalization,
romanticizing and/or demonizing otherness. Orientalism. Inflections on otherness
and everyday life in theories of gender and sexuality.
Discussion:
What we expect from your first presentation. Actlabbies who have run through
this drill before will offer encouragement.
Studio
time: Using the materials you brought.
September
28: FIRST PRESENTATION.
PART TWO:
PUPPETS AND POLITICS: Displacement and agency
October
5: Puppets and masks. Histories of puppetry. Puppetry and politics.
Review of theories of displacement.
Materials
for October 12 studio time:
Bring whatever you think you'll need for the design and construction studio
session.
Equipment
needs: If you need special equipment such as video cameras, lights
or mics to help prepare your first presentation on October 19, be sure to
talk to Joe or Brandon today and familiarize yourself with the Equipment
Checkout online scheduling procedures.
October
12: Types of puppets. Form and purpose. Puppet design. Puppets and
technology. Use of prerecorded sound. Scripting.
Studio
time: Using
the materials you brought.
October
19: SECOND PRESENTATION.
PART THREE:
SITE-SPECIFICS: Medium and Location
October
26: Understanding a site. Casing the site. Preparing plans. Escape
techniques 1.
Technology
and politics.
How technology is changing the nature of politics: ACTLab TV, podcasting,
and future possibilities for using communication technologies as interventions
in global information hegemonies. Culture jamming.
November
2: Escape techniques 2. Using technical aids. Reviewing practicalities.
The importance of advance planning. Understanding the specifics of rehearsing
for site-specific events. Documentation. Understanding the special requirements
for documenting public interventions. Preparing and protecting equipment.
Special purpose staging and vehicles.
Equipment
needs: If you need special equipment such as video cameras, lights
or mics to help prepare your first presentation on November 16, be sure
to talk to Joe or Brandon today and familiarize yourself with the Equipment
Checkout online scheduling procedures. If you sign out equipment this week
please be sure you understand, and have been signed off on, special procedures
for equipment care during site-specific events.
November
9: Studio time: Preparing for site-specific work. Review, review,
review.
November
16: THIRD PRESENTATION.
PART FOUR:
INTERVENTIONS: Mixing it up and putting it all together.
Four weeks to
go until final presentations! We shift into studio mode full-time. From here
on out we expect you to concentrate on your final presentation, absolutely
spectacular documentation of it, and a killer website to show it off.
November
23: Review of documenting site-specific interventions and the special
needs of street theatre. Review of requirements for your web pages and techniques
for producing them.
Equipment
needs: If you need special equipment such as video cameras, lights
or mics, or additional stuff we don't usually provide for the mini-projects
but do try to help you scrounge up for the final projects, such as projectors
or additional sound equipment for your presentation on December 8, be sure
to talk to Joe or Brandon today.
November
30: Studio time. Two weeks to go! Are you suffering enough yet? Project
updates. Check timelines. Joe, Brandon and I will be meeting with you individually
during class, checking on how you're coming along and making suggestions now
and then. We'll also be on the alert for places where you might get stuck,
but we're not psychic--so even though you know you're shy, please try to ask
for help when you need it.
December
1: Studio time. Joe, Brandon and I will be walking around discussing
your projects with you individually. Plenty of time to complete your project
if you bear down and concentrate now. At this point the whole key to success
is your ability to recognize where you are on your project timeline, adjust
your academic and personal priorities accordingly, and to trust yourself (and
us) enough to ask for help. No matter whether you think your project is going
well or badly, the important thing is that it's yours, that it comes from
inside you and monstrates with your voice.
December
8: FINAL PRESENTATION. Crit, review. Wrapup and farewells. Have a great
holiday break!
December
18: Drop Dead Date for Web Pages. My grades are due in the RTF office
on the 19th. You know what that means.
The
Fine Print:
This syllabus is V.1.1, dated 18 August 2005. It may be updated as necessary.
Regarding
Scholastic Dishonesty: The University defines academic dishonesty as
cheating, plagiarism, unauthorized collaboration, falsifying academic records,
and any act designed to avoid participating honestly in the learning process.
Scholastic dishonesty also includes, but is not limited to, providing false
or misleading information to receive a postponement or an extension on a test,
quiz, or other assignment, and submission of essentially the same written assignment
for two courses without the prior permission of the instructor. By accepting
this syllabus, you have agreed to these guidelines and must adhere to them.
Scholastic dishonesty damages both the student's learning experience and readiness
for the future demands of a work-career. Students who violate University rules
on scholastic dishonesty are subject to disciplinary penalties, including the
possibility of failure in the course and/or dismissal from the University. For
more information on scholastic dishonesty, please visit the Student Judicial
services Web site at http://www.utexas.edu/depts/dos/sjs/.
About
services for students with disabilities: The University of Texas at
Austin provides upon request appropriate academic accommodations for qualified
students with disabilities. For more information, contact the Office of the
Dean of Students at 471-6259, 471-4641 TTY.
About
the Undergraduate Writing Center: The Undergraduate Writing Center,
located in the FAC 211, phone 471-6222, offers individualized assistance to
students who want to improve their writing skills. There is no charge, and students
may come in on a drop-in or appointment basis.
Advisory:
This class may contain explicit descriptions of, or may advocate simulations
of, one or more of the following: Nudity, satanism, suicide, sodomy, incest,
bestiality, sadomasochism, adultery, murder, morbid violence, paedophilia,
bad grammar, deviate sexual conduct in a violent context, the use of illegal
drugs or alcohol, or offensive behavior. But then again, it may not. Should
your sensibilities be offended at any time, you are free to leave the
classroom without penalty provided that you notify either the instructor
or teaching assistant when you do so. Fragile: Do not bend, fold, spindle
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in the United States. Substantial penalty for early withdrawal. Slightly
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League Baseball is prohibited. Please keep your hands and arms inside
the car while ride is in motion. Any resemblance to real persons, living
or dead, is purely coincidental. Contestants have been briefed before
the show. Do not write below this line.
|
Sandy
Stone in Next Sex |