The records (images) of your archive will tell a story. How does the order/arrangement of visuals impact the narrative you are intending to convey?
This week, we will explore ways to arrange visual material and implement elements & principles of visual language.
.
Reading & Watching
- Short lecture introducing: Aby Warburg, Lorna Simpson, Willy Fleckhaus (password on Canvas).
- Van Alphen, Ernest. Staging the Archive: Art and Photography in the Age of New Media. London: Reaktion Books, 2015. Introduction (pp 7-20)
Making: Experiment 1 — Bilderatlas
Create 3 plates of a speculative atlas about your research topic
- Based on the images used in class, decide for a research topic—it’s just for this week not for the semester.
- Use Smithsonian Open Access to find visual records (images) of your research topic in the Smithsonian archives.
- Use 16 images—a combination of your own images and images from the Smithsonian archive to create 3 plates.
- Each plate must include all 16 images (they might not be fully visible though). Pay attention to the content of your visual records (images).
- Look for phrases/ inspiration in the reading to create three entirely different layouts (narrative, collective memory, postmodern, active/passive).
- You can use any software or analog process for this assignment. Don’t write anything on the plates.
- Bring to class:
3 plates, each on a tabloid size paper (11 x 17 inches)
→ Prepare
Research Document
Create a research document to collect everything you use/create in this class. Follow this example.
Willy Fleckhaus
→ Article on It’s Nice That
→ Spreads on Pinterest
Aby Warburg
→ About the Mnemosyne Atlas (The Warburg Institute)
Lorna Simpson
→ Lorna Simpson Studio
→ Studio Visit @TATE
Additional Introduction to the grid:
→ Ellen Lupton explains the history and usage of the grid
→ An Introduction to Grids and How-to by Andrew Maher