Admission requirements
For 2nd, 3rd and 4th year Bachelor students of the Royal Academy of Art and Leiden University.
Description
The course Archives Unfinished will address Western practices of the archive in order to develop new forms of collecting, making and critical thinking in art practice. How do artists reframe, reclaim and re-invent archival materials in order to understand and challenge the authority of the archive? What could the powers of art be in the face of colonialism and globalized capitalism? The course will introduce methods that launch contemporary art practice into active relation with historical documents and develop methods for inquiry between politics and aesthetics.
Course objectives
Within this course the student will:
learn about artists who work with archives in their practice;
position artistic research in relation to historical photographs and documents;
learn about Western concepts of space and visuality that the archive operates within;
expand knowledge and understanding of institutional and colonial context of archives;
develop a project that engages with archival materials.
Timetable
Academic year 2019-2020, first semester
Dates and times
The course consists of five meetings during the 1st semester on Wednesday afternoons from 12.00-18.00 hrs (Room and dates TBA).
Session #1:
Introduction: Artists working with archives and colonial context of archiving.
Required preparation: Read/look at referenced artists links.
Assignment: Start to research one’s own project working with archives.
Session #2:
Lecture: Spatial Thought and the Archive (how the archive takes place/space).
Required preparation: Read Hiryczuk/Oevelen’s blog ‘The Detached Gaze. Thoughts and Sources on Alternative Ways of Seeing’: www.thedetachedgaze.com.
Assignment: Continue to research one’s own project working with archives.
Session #3:
Field trip and discussion: The Black Archives in Amsterdam: www.theblackarchives.nl.
Required preparation: Read selected reading from Fred Moten and Stefano Harney, The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning & Black Study, New York: Autonomedia, 2013.
Assignment: Continue to research one’s own project working with archives.
Session #4:
Lecture: Performance and the Archive: How can the presence of our bodies and performance in the present affect the archives we are examining?
Required preparation: Read/look at referenced artists links.
Assignment: Continue to research one’s own project working with archives.
Session #5:
Presentation and discussion of final project: Archives Unfinished.
Required preparation: Complete final assignment and 1-page reflection.
Assignment: Examine an archival document and produce/record your relationship to this document.
Final assignment: A presentation [LB1] of an open format work (performance, photographic, writing, video) that integrates the course’s learning objectives and reflects upon the artist’s critical and creative relation to archival material.
Location
The lectures/workgroups take place at KABK.
Mode of instruction
Lectures
Seminars
Course Load
This course is worth 5 EC, which means the total course load equals 84 hours.
Assessment method
weekly seminar assignments
final assignment: A presentation [LB1] of an open format work (performance, photographic, writing, video) that integrates the course’s learning objectives and reflects upon the artist’s critical and creative relation to archival material.
Reading list
Hiryczuk/Oevelen’s blog ‘The Detached Gaze. Thoughts and Sources on Alternative Ways of Seeing’: www.thedetachedgaze.com.
Read selected reading from Fred Moten and Stefano Harney, The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning & Black Study, New York: Autonomedia, 2013.
Referenced artists links.
Registration
Participants will be selected on the basis of their motivated application.
Apply before Monday 10 September 2019 23:59 h (CET) by contacting Emily Huurdeman, coordinator of the lectorate, at lectoraatktp@kabk.nl.
You will be required to send a brief letter of motivation (max. 300 words) and a sample of written work (both in PDF). The result of the selection will be announced on Thursday 13 September 2019 at the latest. Incomplete or late submissions will not be accepted.
For questions, please contact Emily Huurdeman at lectoraatktp@kabk.nl.
In addition, enrolment through uSis is mandatory.
General information about uSis is available on the website
Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs
Registration Studeren à la carte
Registration Contractonderwijs
Contact
Lecturer: k.g. Guttman
Coordinator: Dhr. ir. R.T.W.L. Schneemann
Remarks
For other courses in the domains of music and fine arts, please visit:
Overview of elective courses in music and fine arts
Information about ACPA's education: Elective courses music and fine arts