The course puts into practice strategies aimed at the development of artistic projects in which students experiment with and investigate the coherence between different degrees of complexity and specificity, moving from a direct reality towards an artistic reality. The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the dual task of producing both artistic work and critical thinking, laying the foundations of their artistic practice through their own creative process, understood as a set of decisions and choices from which they must plan, execute, and evaluate.
Titular Professors
Not required.
The purpose of the course Project I is to introduce students to the methodological practice of artistic projects. The objectives pursued with the development of the project are as follows:
-Encourage reflection on what Art is.
-Strengthen analytical skills, critical thinking, and observation.
-Introduce local and international artists and artistic references.
-Introduce exhibitions, artist residencies, and other related spaces.
-Understand and internalize the phases and processes of an artistic project.
-Experiment with methods of artistic research.
-Enhance expressive and communicative abilities by developing artistic projects through the use and application of artistic languages.
-Apply materials and techniques learned during the academic year in other subjects.
- Existential crisis vs. artistic attitude: how do I position myself in relation to what I do not understand?
- Artistic language.
- Art is not universal.
- Aesthetic categories.
- How to write and cite? Formal aspects.
- Writing as an artistic practice.
- What is subjectivity (vs. autobiography).
- Artist’s notebook: awakening sensitivity and valuing personal experience.
- Activity: “we are what we eat.”
- How to search for references on the internet?
- What is methodology (artistic); materials, techniques, and the process of artistic work.
- Exhibition space design in a real environment.
- Workshops, events, talks, class exercises.
Students will be assigned a group project to be developed throughout the academic year and presented both orally and in written form at the end of the course. These projects will address aspects of art theory, the image of the artist, and the artwork. The work will focus on researching references, methodologies, technical problem-solving, and the production of the proposal. In the exhibition component, project presentations and the design of the exhibition space will be addressed, specifically within the Digital Arts projects exhibition, Mostra.
The course will be delivered through a variety of teaching methodologies. Topics will begin with lectures in which different concepts useful for project development will be introduced. Audiovisual material will be provided, and teaching activities based on active methodologies will be carried out, gradually integrating the different areas of knowledge and the discipline’s specific vocabulary.
- Explanation of artistic concepts through analysis of references in class.
- Assigned readings in class.
- Project-based group learning.
- Group presentations.
- Peer instruction.
- Project supervision and tutoring.
- Mandatory visits to spaces (with written test afterwards).
- Workshops.
- Studio classroom activities.
During regular teaching weeks, the workload of exercises will be minimal. Additionally, during certain scheduled weeks of the course, regular classes will be suspended and replaced by so-called project weeks, periods in which there are no ordinary classes and students work intensively on the project course.
Ordinary assessment period
1. Attendance and participation - 10%
2. Continuous assessment exercises - 25%
3. Final project: artwork - 25%
4. Final project: written report - 25%
5. Exhibition - 15%
Continuous assessment
The final grade will take into account: student involvement in class, submission of exercises and assignments, and the instructor’s evaluation.
Extraordinary assessment
Not considered under normal circumstances. Only possible in duly justified exceptional cases (e.g., accident, serious illness, or other accredited circumstances). Students may opt for this according to the criteria set by the program coordination and current academic regulations.
General criteria
If conditions for passing are not met, the maximum grade will be 4.
Students have the right to review their grade on the date set by the instructor. In this review, the grade may be raised or lowered.
Contemporary Art Theory
- Art in Flux (2016), Boris Groys
- After the End of Art (1997), Arthur C. Danto
- What is Art? (2013), Arthur C. Danto
- Art Theory and Digital Culture (2023), Juan Martín Prada
- Saving Beauty (2015), Byung-Chul Han
- Look at What You’re Missing (2021), Will Gompertz
Methodologies
- Fantasy (1977), Bruno Munari
- The Creative Reflective Practitioner (2019), Linda Candy
- Art Thinking (2017), María Acaso & Clara Mejías
- Uncreative Writing (2011), Kenneth Goldsmith
Current Context
- The Burnout Society (2010), Byung-Chul Han
The supplementary materials will be provided in class.