Curated Art Exhibit Assignment

25% of final grade (15% group; 10% individual)

Project Plan DUE: 10/10

Project Update DUE: 10/31

Final Project DUE: 11/30

For this major project, you will work in groups of four to curate an exhibit in the arts for an interested, relevant audience.

This “exhibit” can take many forms. For example:

·         A collection of photographic images

·         A series of paintings or sculptures or other types of visual art pieces

·         A podcast of music

·         A selection of videos

·         An anthology of writing

·         Other? Sure! Come up with something.

Invention

Before you decide which medium you want to focus on, though, you need to decide what the purpose of your exhibit will be. What is the exigence for this argument? Do you want to showcase local student work at the elementary level? Focus on art that supports a particular political or social stance, like LGBT or women’s or worker’s rights? Illuminate an audience to hip hop or country music artists with a political platform? Introduce your audience to poets or fiction writers from your home state or a particular region? Investigate “performance artists” who trouble the line between taboo and socially accepted art?

The possibilities are numerous, but you must agree upon a rhetorical exigence that will drive the decisions you make about what to include in your exhibit. You must also consider a possible audience. Who needs to understand this art presented in this way at this time?

Once you decide what kind of art you want to showcase, then choose the medium that will best showcase the artwork. It might seem obvious that writing is normally displayed on a page or a screen, but maybe you want to record writers reading their work. You can create a website or a podcast or work in paper and ink. Whatever medium you choose, however, remember that the end product must be impeccably designed and professionally (or at least, very cleanly) produced, and that it must engage and enlighten the audience.

Some Sample Exhibits

These podcasts could be considered a curated look at pop music of the 1980s.

And this program features the work of poets just from Pennsylvania, printed on posters and distributed for free.

Here is an online exhibit of cat art. Meow.

This tumblr celebrates football…or, what we call soccer.

The Museum of Modern Art in NYC offers some video exhibits that might be of interest.

We’ll look at other examples in class together.

Penn State has resources to help you create all kinds of media-rich presentations, and based on your specific group needs, I will help you get connected with the appropriate services.

Production

Whatever medium you choose to work with, your exhibit must be contained. That is, it must exist someplace—either virtually or actually—as a whole that I (and possibly other audience members) can view all at once.

Probably the best venue will be a website or a blog that will showcase your exhibit. The Blogger platform we have been using for class would be an adequate space for such a project, but there are other options open to you as well, which you will learn about when visiting with the media librarians.

If you have other ideas for places or ways to show your work, come talk with me early on and I will help to facilitate.

Group Expectations

You will collaborate with your group members to:

·        --Decide upon the kind, purpose, audience and appropriate medium for your presentation;

·         --Meet regularly to work on the project inside and outside of class as needed;

·         --Research  and select the art;

·         --Arrange the individual pieces in a rhetorically interesting and persuasive way;

·        --Create the actual exhibit in the chosen medium;

·        --Assemble an annotated bibliography that details the sources you use in your research;

·         --Write a 6-10 page critical introduction to your exhibit that will orient your audience to the rhetorical situation and help them understand the main purpose of the collection, and situate your work inside of a larger conversation about the arts.

Individual Expectations

Each group member will be expected to:

·       -- Contribute two individual pieces to the overall exhibit;

·        --Write a coherent statement (around 750 words) about each of their chosen pieces that will speak specifically about the art, the artist and the reasoning for its inclusion in the exhibit;

·        -- Do their fair share of research and offer input and ideas freely and cooperatively;

·         --Complete both self and group evaluations of the process to be turned in with the final project.

Grading

Group Grade= 15%

·             2%--Annotated Bibliography

·             5%--Critical Introduction

·             8%--Final exhibit

Individual Grade= 10%

·             5%--2 Art Statements

·             5%--Overall contribution to group efforts

Each group will also create a Project Plan by Wednesday, October 10^th that details your ideas for the exhibit and seeks permission to go forward, and a Project Update by Wednesday, October 31^st, in which you detail your progress to that point. These documents will be sent to me via email, and I will provide more specific guidelines for each in class.