Units

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Sample subject outline - Semester 1 2013

Note: Subject outlines often change before the semester begins. Below is a sample outline.

Rationale

As a creative industries student it is important to possess an informed knowledge of developments in art and culture since 1990. This has included Installation Art, New Media, Relational Aesthetics, the nature of today's international art market and the role of art schools in today's creative industries. It is also essential that graduates enhance their ability to organise and evaluate information, synthesise research material into a coherent form, and write and verbally articulate ideas in ways that communicate effectively. This unit is intended as a foundation skill-base for students in Creative Industries applicable to all disciplines and cultural industries including art criticism, arts practice, architecture and fashion.

Aims

The aim of this unit is to introduce you to the key ideas and styles of art practice that have emerged since 1990 in a global experience economy. You will also increase understanding and skills that are pertinent to the study of cultural literature and visual analysis. The unit will seek to improve your expertise in problem solving, creative thinking and your ability to effectively communicate your knowledge in a variety of contexts and modes.

Objectives

On completion of the unit you should be able to:
1. apply a sound knowledge of developments in art and culture since 1990;
2. seek out, research and evaluate data relevant to an understanding and analysis of contemporary art and culture;
3. critically debate issues in the visual arts and its contemporary impact and significance;
4. display the confidence to present and articulate in written and verbal forms a sophisticated, critical and independent understanding of art and its relevance to today's creative industries and global consumer culture.

Content

The unit addresses content such as the economic, political, social, cultural, artistic and formal issues related to the production of art since 1990 in the contemporary era. Major topics include an examination of the international art system and the ways in which the art market, nationally funded biennial exhibitions and art schools play central roles in the exhibition and marketing of cultural expression. You will also study post-avant-gardism, Neo-Conceptualism, Installation Art and New Media. You will study the philosophical underpinnings of Relational Aesthetics and 'Post-Theory' and movements such as Grunge Art. The study of these issues will assist you in understanding the nature of arts production in today's global environment and the role that creative industries plays in this world. This unit will assist you to define, research and articulate the key issues and art works that have been produced in the last 15 years.

Approaches to Teaching and Learning

This unit will consist of lectures (including slide shows), seminars, verbal presentations and written essays. The lectures will provide you with skills for critical inquiry and independent thinking. Seminars will encourage intellectual debate and enhance your capacity to formulate and articulate arguments in a group situation. Verbal presentations will enhance your skills in public speaking and engagements. Your research and written skills will also be developed through essay assessment. The display of art work will encourage you to identify and carefully scrutinize visual material in an objective, clear and balanced manner It will also enable you to recognize contemporary art styles and cultural themes with greater accuracy. The refinement of your critical and creative thinking when forming judgments about visual information will enhance your capacity for life-long learning.

Assessment

LATE ASSIGNMENTS
An assignment submitted after the due date without an approved extension will not be marked. If you are unable to complete your assignment on time, you should submit on time whatever work you have done.

Faculty Assessment Information
To access the Creative Industries Faculty Assessment Information please refer to the Blackboard site for this unit. FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
The overall aim of the assessment schema is to foster a combination of skills between textual and visual critical analysis. Tutors and unit coordinators will be available in person at specified times or via email to answer questions from students. Assessment task 1 is to be submitted after the presentation and feedback will be provided by peers and teaching staff. Assessment task 3 will assist you to improve on critical, analytical and argumentative skills and is to be submitted at the end of semester and will be returned with critical comment within one week.
Weight: 0%

Assessment name: Oral Discourse
Description: (Summative and Formative) This assessment requires a 5 minute verbal class presentation in tutorials that will critically examine the form and content of a work or issue relating to contemporary art and culture. Equivalent 1,000 words.
Relates to objectives: 1, 2, 4
Weight: 25%
Internal or external: Internal
Group or individual: Individual
Due date: Mid semester

Assessment name: Written Discourse-Major Essay
Description: (Summative and Formative) Essay Format: select and critically analyse the work of a contemporary artist and consider their strategies and tactics in relation to particular issues in the international art system, the creative industries, and the global economy. Length: 2,500 words.
Relates to objectives: 1, 2, 3, 4
Weight: 45%
Internal or external: Internal
Group or individual: Individual
Due date: End semester

Assessment name: Examination (Theory)
Description: (Summative and Formative) Examination of 5 images: provide a brief analysis of a contemporary art work that covers its descriptive content and refers the artist's practice to broader contemporary contexts in art and society. Equivalent 1,000 words.
Relates to objectives: 1, 2, 4
Weight: 30%
Internal or external: Internal
Group or individual: Individual
Due date: End semester

Academic Honesty

QUT is committed to maintaining high academic standards to protect the value of its qualifications. To assist you in assuring the academic integrity of your assessment you are encouraged to make use of the support materials and services available to help you consider and check your assessment items. Important information about the university's approach to academic integrity of assessment is on your unit Blackboard site.

A breach of academic integrity is regarded as Student Misconduct and can lead to the imposition of penalties.

Resource materials

Texts, references and images are available through the Blackboard site for this unit. Electronic resources can be accessed through QUT's computer labs. No personal computer hardware or software is required. Preliminary reading of Nicholas Bourriaud's Relational Aesthetics>/em> (Paris: Les presses du reel, 2002); Lev Manovich, The Language of New Media (Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press 2001); Michael Archer, Art Since 1960 (London: Thames & Hudson, 2003) would be helpful background reading for this unit.

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Risk assessment statement

There are no undue risks for you when participating in this unit.

Disclaimer - Offer of some units is subject to viability, and information in these Unit Outlines is subject to change prior to commencement of semester.

Last modified: 26-Sep-2012