Art for Engineers
Course proposals for a newly created University of Engineering
by Clyde Smith (circa 1999)
Site-Specific and Object-Oriented Performances
Students will be guided in the production of performances which combine
a specific environment not designed for such events and work with objects
which exceed the theatrical notion of props. Rather than creating works
which are then placed in a setting, the particular environment will be
the base for creating the performances. Integral to these productions
will be the use of objects designed to spark unique associations and original
thinking. These projects will not only spur creative thinking “out
of the [theatrical] box” but will also offer unique insights into
the possibilities for human interactions with material objects in specific
sites.
Dance, Science and Technology at the [Previous]
Turn of the Century
While art and science are typically viewed as opposites,
some artists have found ways to create work which draws on both areas.
The early modern dancers Isadora Duncan and Loie Fuller, working in the
late 19th and early 20th centuries, made unique dances which can also
be considered forms of scientific research and technological development.
Isadora’s writings reveal that she was strongly influenced by the
development of evolutionary theory and considered her work an element
of that development. Fuller’s work was deeply grounded in stage
technology of the time and focused on visual effects dependent on a dancer
immersed in a technological environment. She ultimately assembled a group
of creative technicians who furthered the development of technical theater.
Both Duncan and Fuller met and corresponded with important scientific
figures of their time. This course will look at art and science as related
enterprises which can learn from each other rather than existing as antagonistic
opponents.
Experiments in Art and Technology
The history of modern/postmodern art and related performance
works is full of the creative use of technology. This course will focus
on moments in which this use was forefronted in the process of making
and presenting art. Such experiments include the machine obsessed projects
of the Futurists, the 1960s Experiments in Art and Technology, from which
this course takes its name, and cyberart which depends on the computer
for its existence. Definitions of such terms as “modern,”
“postmodern,” “technology,” “science,”
and “art” will be closely considered rather than taken for
granted.
Clyde Smith can be reached at: clydesmith(at)culturalresearch(dot)org
Content ©1994-2007 Clyde Smith
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