History of Experimental
Film & Video
Spring 09
take-home midterm exam
due at the start of
lecture, Tuesday, May 5.
For the midterm you will
write an essay (of between 1400 and 1800 words) according to the following
instructions.
First, you must pick between
option A or B; then you need
follow the steps within each option.
Your main goal is to write an essay that has an argument and clear focus
and that also incorporates material from the readings and screenings. The objective is for you to demonstrate
not only your comprehension of the material but your ability to use that
material to develop your own ideas (while keeping those ideas grounded in that
material, of course). Because of
the short period of time, however, it will be difficult for you to review the
films and videos (sometimes impossible, as we do not have library copies for
all of them). If you do want to
review material, the best way to find it is through a keyword search of the
title on the Cruzcat Film & Video list (keyword is best because some of the
work is on compilation videos or DVDs).
It is really the best to use your notes on the screenings and your
journal entries to provide the visual analysis that you will need in your essay. Some of the work (though in
considerably lower resolution) can be viewed at www.ubu.com/film/ or on youtube.
Starting point: The concept
of "sublation" that Peter BŸrger uses to discuss the
"manifestations" of the avant-garde. You need to consider the contradictory aspects of sublation
(negation and affirmation, as discussed in lecture) and the role of sublation
in the attack on the autonomy of art as well as in the integration of art with
the praxis of life.
From this starting point, you
then must choose one of the
following subfoci to develop the argument and analysis in your essay.
1. How is Walter BenjaminÕs
idea of the aura – or more precisely, the withering of the aura brought
about by the mechanical reproducibility of art works – important to the
avant-garde processes of sublation?
Discuss two of the
following films to support your argument: AnŽmic CinŽma (Duchamp); Emak Bakia (Ray); Ghosts Before Breakfast (Richter); Man with a Movie Camera (Vertov); Entr'act (Clair); A Movie (Conner).
2. How do the ideas and
practices of Maya Deren and her "acolytes" correspond to or differ
from (or even, perhaps, sublate) the sublations of the earlier European
avant-garde? Address the role of
individual creativity, subjectivity, and/or ritual, especially as those
contrast to the practices of the Surrealists. Discuss two of
the following films to support your argument: The Seashell and the Clergyman (Dulac); Un Chien Andalou (Bu–uel & Dali); Ritual in Transfigured Time (Deren); Window Water Baby Moving (Brakhage); Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (Anger).
3. How do the practices of
the gay underground avant-garde (as discussed by Su‡rez) correspond to or
differ from the earlier modernist avant-garde sublations and manifestations? Consider the way in which popular
culture is reused in this work (you might also consult David James's section on
Kenneth Anger). Discuss two of the following films to support your argument: Flaming
Creatures (Smith – that is, the
portion that you saw); Kustom Kar Kommandos (Anger); Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (Anger); Two Four (Majano [this is not available in the library]).
Starting point: The crisis or
dilemma of modernism, from which artists attempted to escape through, in part,
the use of video. Consider the
contradictions of the efforts at escape, the nature of the impasse in
modernism, the role of technology, and the "intensive" and "extensive"
strategies (all discussed in Burris – but you only need to address one or
two of these).
From this starting point, you
then must choose one of the
following subfoci to develop the argument and analysis in your essay.
1. How do the Situationists
and/or Fluxus and/or General Idea (you can choose one or two of the three) respond to the crisis of
modernism. And in so doing, how do
their approaches correspond to and/or differ from the earlier efforts of the
modernist avant-garde (especially as discussed by BŸrger)? Discuss two of the following films/videos to support your
argument: Society of the Spectacle
(Debord); Can Dialectics Break Bricks
(ViŽnet); The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal (McCormick [as something in the spirit of the
Situationists]); Documenta 6 Satellite broadcast (Paik and/or Beuys pieces); Electronic
Opera #1 (Paik); Shut the Fuck Up (General Idea).
2. How does Burris's account
of the crisis of modernism compare to Su‡rez's account of development of
postmodernism in the gay avant-garde underground? How might Su‡rez offer a different perspective on the crisis
of modernism? Discuss two of the following films/videos to support your
argument: Flaming Creatures (Smith
– that is, the portion that you saw); Inauguration of the Pleasure
Dome (Anger); Shut the Fuck Up (General Idea); Vertical Roll (Jonas); Documenta 6 Satellite broadcast (Paik and/or
Beuys pieces); Electronic Opera #1
(Paik), Three Transitions
(Campus).
3. How can the focus on
technology and medium by artists in video and film be understood in terms of
the escape from the crisis of modernism?
Or the relationship between modernism and postmodernism? How does this focus on technology also
involve issues of personal expression and/or spatial experience (consider the
Morse essay for the latter). Your
answer should draw in part on Burris's section on Michael Snow (but should also
use Fleischer). You must discuss Wavelength (Snow) and one of the following works to support your argument: Vertical Roll (Jonas); Boomerang (Serra/Holt); Three Transitions (Campus); Anthem (Viola); Re Dis Appearing
(Cha); Ohio at Giverny (Lucier).