1 Jan 13
class intro
lecture: Copying from Mies to Bowie
discussion: What is a copy?
add things to the list of case studies
2 Jan 20
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
3 Jan 27
screening: Orson Welles, F is for Fake.
4 Feb 3
discussion: Marcus Boon, In Praise of Copying, pp 12–26, 26–40.
Intro to design bootlegging
discussion: Experimental Jetset, “Unlicensed,” Walker Art Blog.
determine topics and dates of research presentations
due: Cheap Knock Off
5 Feb 10
no class
6 Feb 17
discussion: Jorge Luis Borges, “Pierre Menard: Author of the Quixote”
discussion: studio copies
Come prepared for a collective brainstorming session about possible studio projects related to copying. Briefly, informally present to the class a concept or concepts for a copying project. Use printed visual aids, if necessary. For each possible concept, specify the thing or things being copied, the technologies with which you will reproduce these things, and the aesthetic or other transformation your copying will introduce into the original.
7 Feb 24
discussion: “Meme Formalism,” Michael Dango, LA Review of Books.
due: written concept for copying project, one paragraph
research presentations: Josh, Grace
due: Quintuplicate
8 March 2
class visit: Gene Booth, “Cover Versions”
Paper Materials
Discussion: Charles Bernstein, “Lift-off”; Jonathan Froer, “Emptiness”; Lisa Gitelman, “Near Print and Beyond Paper” (pp 111–115); Kenneth Goldsmith, “Revenge of the Text” (pp 14–18)
Read each of these short texts. Think through what they might mean taken together. For instance how is Bernstein’s poem related to, but different from, Froer’s empty pages? Pick any one comparison between at least two of these texts to elaborate in discussion.
due: Use these texts as prompts with which to materially develop a sense of paper as both a specific medium AND an object of documentary enquiry in the context of your studio project.
9 March 9
Means of Reproduction: The Image
séance discussion: Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”
research presentations: Mikealy, Kristin, Trevor
10 March 16
Spring break
11 March 23
Spring break
12 March 30
Virtual convention
discussion: portable document format
13 April 6
Means of Reproduction: The Image
discussion: Alessandro Ludovico, “The Death of Paper”
research presentations: Nicole, Sarah, Emina
14 April 13
discussion: Metahaven, “Captives of the Cloud: Part 1”
research presentations: Piper, Momo
desk crits
15 April 20
discussion: tbd
research presentations: Bansri, Anya
16 April 27
final PDF due