excerpt: ""Mark Dion's Project: A Natural History of Wonder and a Wonderful History of Nature" by Lisa Graziose Corrin

Dion's 'model' for these arrangements begins with the wunderkammer, an encyclopedic, albeit idiosyncratic collection of rare objects, natural wonders and curiosities amassed by aristocracy and wealthy bourgeoisie from the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries. The inventory of a typical wunderkammer included examples of naturalia (specimens created by God: animals, vegetables and minerals and unique examples of nature's oddities and deformities); artificialia (things made by man such as paintings, sculpture, musical instruments and scientific inventions and hybrid combinations of elements made by nature but 'perfected' by man, perhaps a nautilus set in an ornate gilt mount and transformed into a vessel; antiquities (objects of historical significance such as medals of rulers); and ethnographica ('exotica associated with Native peoples from the New World).

...

Displayed in glass cabinets, on shelves, set in niches and hanging from ceilings, the assorted contents of a wunderkammer were seen in one contiguous space as a holistic group of objects that could be touched and rearranged poetically to produce a kind of awe that could enlighten the mind, delight the senses and encourage conversation. Objects might be divided in any number of ways, for example, by the type of material they were made of, or according to a philosophical statement, such as that depicted in a painting of the Archdukes Albert and Isabella in their collector's cabinet (1626). More usually, the objects were organized according to what was visually pleasing to the owner generally without regard for function, origin, historic continuity, artistic style or school. Comparisons might suggest similarities between cultures by juxtaposing a multitude of objects from different cultural groups, or the endless artistry in nature as embodied in a bountiful array of objects of a particular shape or design.

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Moreover, these collections were neither completed nor systematized because God had made nature infinite and the 'order of nature was not shackled to coherent sets of laws, but was subject to unlimited variability and novelty'. These arbitrary visual arrangements therefore seemed 'natural', and capable of revealing knowledge that was at once empirical and metaphorical without need of explanatory texts.

Assignment 3: Wunderkammer

Objective To describe a cultural phenomenon in a single image.

Project Description The history of collecting runs parallel to the development of art and science. The cabinet of curiosities, or “wunderkammer,” has existed as a microcosm of culture.

In this project you will photograph a collection, a setup prepared in the studio or at home. This photograph should culturally enlighten and inform, as well as heighten interest in the collection. (note: You may composite images in order to achieve more density but your image should not have the appearance of a collage.)

Sept 14/15, in class:

1. with a partner, assemble a collection in class

2. brainstorm 3 ways to present this information

3. choose one and work on it in class - present to class at end

Over the next week:

1. photograph some kind of collection - consider the lighting, you do not need to finish an extensive set-up for next week, but you need to formulate what that setup is going to be for your final image

2. sketch 3 ways you might present it that will heighten interest in the collection. (these should be mounted and consist of drawings, diagrams, test photographs)

For extra credit (pass/fail), visit one of the museums listed below:

1. Museum of Jurassic Technology

2. The Getty: Engaged Observers: Documentary Photography since the Sixties

3. Museum of Contemporary Art, LA: Dennis Hopper photographs

take notes and show me for credit

Sept 21/22

1. present your sketches to the class

2. we will have individual crits and talk about what direction you are taking, you must bring to class a paragraph describing your final image

(there will be an in-class reading)

Sept 28/29

Bring in your FINAL collection image. Full class crit. Required: You must use either staged lighting, or a copystand camera if one is available for use. Image must be larger than 8 x 10 and of good print quality and paper stock, mounted.

Heart and Lungs

Hi Riah,

Here is my picture for week 2. My concept is to show how strange it is to smoke cigarettes with all the knowledge we have on how dangerous they are. Anti-smoking ads with harsh images that show the effects Nicotine has on our vital organs just aren't enough to deter smokers from puffing away. I made a couple of cut-outs of a decaying heart and lungs made from cigarettes. I am the subject and I just used a timer but I did take the shot.

James Alworth

Conform. Sequential Imagery. Jung Suh. 2010

Departure from Self. Sequential Imagery. Jessica Dillon. 2010.

Making the familiar strange

Olafur Eliasson: outdoor installation/sculpture

Christo: outdoor installation

Alec Soth: photography

Angela Strassheim: photography

David Lynch: film

Assignment 2: Magical Realism

Olafur Eliasson

Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman

Project Description: Create a seamless image in which a normal, everyday scene everyday scene exhibits a magical or fantastic intervention. Utilize real-world norms of perception in order to suggest the magic in our world and express a larger theme.

Remember: You are not creating a new world, you are tweaking the world that already exists. This should not be a totally surreal image ala Dali. It can be an image that evokes a surreal mood, but exists in probable space, such as you see with Cindy Sherman. Or it can be an element that intrudes on the normal, making the familiar strange. If you have ever seen Twin Peaks, or any David Lynch film, he is an excellent example of an artist utilizing magical surrealism.

Requirements:

1. You may create one image or several. You should experiment with ideas at first, brainstorm, sketch. Beware of going with your first idea. Or if you do, post it to the blog so you can get feedback.

2. You may not use Photoshop to create your 'intervention' (use it to color correction and clean as usual)

Presentation: You may choose your own size and the way you want to show your image. But please do not leave this as an afterthought, try to present your image in a way that supports its meaning. A nice print spray-glued on board is the default, it is acceptable, but I would encourage you to go further.

TODAY IN CLASS:

Work with a partner or alone (you will need a camera). Make the familiar strange on campus in a single image. Bring back 30 minutes before end of class.