The Ephemeral and Letting Go

Both a survey of fleeting work from contemporary
art history as well as an exploration of
ephemerality's expressive potential in our own
studio practice. Performance, sound, social
sculpture, impermanent materials and their
afterimage will all be investigated. We will
question the necessity of archival standards and
embrace letting go as a means of preservation.
In this course students will realize several
projects that will fall somewhere on the spectrum
of sculpture, installation, performance and/or
intervention. There will be readings, lectures,
writing assignments and critique.
What does it mean to make work that doesn't last?
What is the role of the audience in work that is
no longer there? How do we know if it even
happened? If a tree falls in the forest and no one
is there to witness it. can we find the potential
in its decline to the duff?