DUE: Tues 11/15
Aim: This project is an experiment that aims to help the student to explore, articulate and question her aesthetic intuitions.
Components: (1) 4-page (min.) reflection paper, (2) artistic creation or study.
Questions: The student should consider the following questions before performing this experiment, then address ONE of them when you write your report.
What is the nature of beauty and ugliness?
Is beauty objective, subjective, intersubjective, interobjective, all of the above, none of the above?
How does taste relate to art?
Is the experience of beauty related to or independent of ethical feelings?
What is the difference between FORMAL beauty and CONTENT beauty? AND what does it matter for how you experience beauty?
What kinds of beauty are there?
What is the relationship between beauty and truth?
What is the relationship between beauty and life?
Version 1: Ugly Beauty Mashup
1. Find two images, one beautiful to you and the other ugly.
2. Create two visual images based on your images. The first which explores the beauty of the beautiful image and the second which explores the ugliness of the ugly image. Alternative version of the project: Have your first picture make the ugly found picture beautiful, and have your second picture make the found beautiful picture ugly.
3. While you are working on your pictures, be thinking about your aesthetic feelings. Ask yourself what is at the root of your responses.
4. Write a short 4 page reflection on your experience. Explain your creations and use the whole process to try and explain what beauty is and what it MEANS.
Version 2: Modernist Concepts of Beauty
1. Review the concepts of modernist art and beauty we examined in class.
2. Find examples of each concept. Explain in your own words what aesthetic principles are embodied by each example.
3. Write a short 4 page reflection on the meaning of modernism, relating it to one of the questions above.
Version 3: The Value of Artistic Beauty: An Answer to Plato
Our discussion of aesthetics began with Plato's famous criticism of art (poiesis) in his book The Republic. By now we've looked at a number of theories of art and beauty which contradict his scathing attack on the social value of art. Write a 4-page (min.) paper which (a) explains Plato's criticism and definition of art, and (b) offers a response to him, either agreeing or disagreeing with his position. Use specific works of art or theories of art discussed in class to support your argument.
Version 4: Theory of Beauty as Unfolding Wholeness
1. The first step in your project is to spend 4-8 hours in SILENT EXPLORATION of the UCONN campus (or somewhere else) as a PLACE of intersection between a human environment (a built environment within which humans do things, work, study, communicate, eat, etc. and the larger natural environment. Your objective will be to use your intuitive feelings to help you measure the contrasting degrees of LIFE in different places around campus. You are looking to find two places: (1) the PLACE-THAT-FEELS-MOST-ALIVE, and (2) the PLACE-THAT-FEELS-LEAST-ALIVE. What do I mean by “alive”? I do NOT mean the place that has the most biological beings living there, or the most natural place. I mean the place that makes you feel most alive, most at home in the world there, that is relaxing, that allows you to feel connected to the place and to yourself, and that gives you a feeling of living beauty. It is imperative that you DO NOT SPEAK OR VERBALLY COMMUNICATE during your search. Language (a feature of the left-brain) suppresses the feelings (created by the right-brain) and makes it more difficult for your intuitive FEELINGS to guide your perception of living form.
2. During or after your silent exploration, ask yourself: how do I express/represent life or the lack of life in this Place? Then create a landscape/ environmental artwork which explores, captures, articulates, expresses the life of the lively Place you found during your silent exploration. Use as many of the 15 properties of wholeness as you can in your project.
3. Write a 4 page paper on your experience, using it to explicate the theory of wholeness.
Version 5: The Meaning of Environmental Aesthetics
1. The theory of wholeness suggests that the deepest expressions of beauty in the natural and built environment correspond to the condition of COHERENCE between systems. As I discussed during a presentation, this suggests a structural connection between ecological well-being, and our perceptions of both ethics as well as beauty. In a 4-page paper, explore the importance of beauty perception as a tool for understanding environmental sustainability in however manner you find relevant.
3. Write a 4 page paper on your experience, using it to explicate the theory of wholeness.
Version 5: The Meaning of Environmental Aesthetics
1. The theory of wholeness suggests that the deepest expressions of beauty in the natural and built environment correspond to the condition of COHERENCE between systems. As I discussed during a presentation, this suggests a structural connection between ecological well-being, and our perceptions of both ethics as well as beauty. In a 4-page paper, explore the importance of beauty perception as a tool for understanding environmental sustainability in however manner you find relevant.
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