Contemporary art and the environment. University of Chicago. 2005
An inter-disciplinary class led by visiting artist Nils Norman organised by the Department of Visual Arts and Environmental Studies program of the University of Chicago in conjunction with the SMART Museum's exhibition Beyond Green, curated by Stephanie Smith.
The class met every friday at different locations from september 30 to November 18 2005.
The class consisted of 15 graduate and undergraduate students from different departments of the University, including Geography, Economics, English Literature, Visual Arts and Environmental Studies.
WEEK ONE – Friday, 30 September
Meeting Site: Midway Studios (6016 Ingleside Ave – Room 217)
Introduction to course
Critical Mass Bike Ride 5.30pm
WEEK TWO – Friday, 7 October
Meeting Site: The Smart Museum of Art (5550 S. Greenwood Ave)
Tour of the exhibition Beyond Green with curator Stephanie Smith
Tour of Dan Peterman's Experimental Station
Walking Woodlawn tour led by Dan S. Wang
Tour of First Presbyterian Church Community Food Center Development Project organised by Growing Power
Required Readings:
Bloom, Brett and Bromberg, Ava. Belltown Paradise/Making Their Own Plans, Whitewalls, 2005
Wang, Dan S. Downtime at the Experimental Station: A Conversation with Dan Peterman, Temporary Services Publication, 2004.
(entire text)
D’Eramo, Marco. The Pig and the Skyscraper: Chicago a History of our Future, Verso, 2002.
(Concluding chapter, Metacity: Market Missionaries Besieged in Fort Science)
WEEK THREE – Friday, 14 October
Meeting Site: Little Village Justice Organisation, 2856 S. Millard Ave
Toxic Tour of Little Village led by the Little Village Justice Organisation
Required Readings:
Finkelpearl, Tom. Dialogues in Public Art, Cambridge, MIT Press, 2000.
(Introduction, The City as Site)
Norman, Nils. An Architecture of Play: A Survey of London’s Adventure Playgrounds, Four Corners Books, 2004.(entire text)
Norman, Nils. The Contemporary Picturesque, Book Works, 2000.
(entire text)
Harvey, David. Spaces of Hope, University of California Press, 2000.
(Chapter 8, Spaces of Utopia)
WEEK FOUR – Friday, 21 October
Meeting Site: The Resource Centre, 1325 E. 70th Street. 2.30pm
Tour of the Resource Center's recycling, composting and community gardening initiative with the director Ken Dunn
Tyner White gave us a presentation of his various scavenged wood products, musical instruments and toys
Classmate Sara Black presented her collaborative project Material Exchange
Required Readings:
Florida, Richard. The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It’s Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life, Basic Books, 2004.
(Chapter 1, The Transformation of Everyday Life)
Lefebvre, Henri. The Urban Revolution, University of Minnesota Press, 2003.
(Chapter 1, From the City to Urban Society)
(out of class event)
Thursday 20 October Jean Luc Godard's Alphaville. DOC cinema 7pm
WEEK FIVE – Friday, 28 October
Meeting Site: 1741 n. western. The blue line, get off at Western. 2.30pm
Tour of the Acme Artists Community Center and Housing initiative, with Laura Weathered
Algren and the Anarchists: A tour of Wicker Park, the site of novelist Nelson Algren's work and the home to the martyred Haymarket defendants by historian/critic Warren Leming
(out of class event)
Critical Mass Halloween Ride 5.30pm Daley Plaza
Required Readings:
Harvey, David. Spaces of Hope, University of California Press, 2000.
(Chapter 9, Dialectical Utopianism)
Florida, Richard. The Rise of the Creative Class, Basic Books, 2002.
(Chapter 12, The Power of Place)
Careri, Francesco. Walkscapes: Walking as an aesthetic practice, Editorial Gustavo Gili, 2002.
(Chapter 1, Walkscapes)
Wolff, Janet. Feminine Sentences: Essays on Women and Culture, University of California Press, 1991.
(Chapter 3, The Invisible Flaneuse: Women and the Literature of Modernity)
(out of class event)
Wednesday October 26, 7:00 p.m. International House
DAVID HARVEY speaking on his book, A Brief History of Neoliberalism
Thursday October 27, 4:30 p.m SS 122, 3CT Distinguished Lecture Series, Theorizing the Present
DAVID HARVEY, Cosmopolitanism and the geographies of freedom
WEEK SIX – Friday, 4 November
Friends of the Chicago River Tour
Meeting Site: Midway Studios
Required Readings:
Smithson, Robert. Collected Writings, ed Jack Flam, University of California Press, 1996.
(A Tour of the Monuments of Passaic New Jersey, {1967})
Florida, Richard. The Rise of the Creative Class, Basic Books, 2002.
(Chapter 14, Technology, Talent and Tolerance)
Benjamin, Walter. Charles Baudelaire: A lyric poet in the era of high capitalism, Verso, 1985.
(Chapter 2, The Flaneur)
WEEK SEVEN – Friday, 11 November
Walking Tour of The Kinzie Industrial Corridor with artist Melinda Fries
Meeting Site: 1958 W. Walnut St. 2.30pm
Required Readings:
Florida, Richard. The Rise of the Creative Class, Basic Books, 2002.
(Chapter 16, Building the Creative Economy)
Lefebvre, Henri. The Urban Revolution. University of Minnesota Press, 2003.
(Conclusion)
Ford, Simon. The Situationist International: A user's guide, Black Dog Publishing, 2005.
(Chapter 1)
WEEK EIGHT – Friday, 18 November
Meeting Site: Metra Station 55th St
Exploration of the Pedway with class readings
Public Art in the Loop:Chicago's Outdoor Museum a tour by Terry Sullivan from Chicago Walking Tours
A virtual tour of Millennium Park
(If you have an MP3 player please download the tour for free before coming to class and bring it on the day. Or pay $5 at the park to rent a virtual tour)
Required Readings:
Florida, Richard. The Rise of the Creative Class, Basic Books, 2002.
(Chapter 17, The Creative Class Grows Up)
Deutsche, Rosalyn. Evictions: Art and Spatial Politics, MIT Press, 1996.
(Agoraphobia)
The Class
Sara Black
Alta Buden
David Hernandez
Kasia Houlihan
Andrew Kromer
Teage O'Connor
Jess Orfe
Liz Santori
Cat Scharon
Noah Schwartz
Nick Simmons
Bethany Strout
Megan Tormey
Emily Zobel
TA: Kristin Greer Love
