Courses – Jose Falconi

José Luis Falconi, PhD

IMAGE AS WITNESS: Testimony, Witness, Confession

A COURSE ON THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SHOWING AND TELLING WHEN OFFERING TESTIMONY OF INCONCEIVABLE ACTS OR EVENTS

TWELVE INSTANCES IN WHICH WITNESSES RESORTED TO IMAGES TO TESTIFY

News of inconceivable acts or events often rely, at first, on the sole testimony of one witness, accounts which precisely due to the exceptional, surprising nature of what is revealed are usually met with skepticism, suspicion, or simple denial. In this course, we will examine several cases in which, because of the limits of oral expression, witnesses have resorted to images hoping they could convey the truth of their testimony in a more effective of way. By analyzing historical examples that range from 17th century’s testimony by indigenous subjects on the brutality of the Spanish domination in the Americas, to the deployment of billboards in the US of AIDS-related deaths in the early 1990s, the course will not only analyze perhaps the most decisive of dialectics within semiotic theory—the critical difference between showing something and telling something—but also how artistic practice has produced, especially in the last decades, some enduring, memorable pieces by showing its limits. The course will also cover the theoretical foundations of how testimony work, as well as the role of witnessing in historical accounts.

TWENTIETH CENTURY LATIN AMERICAN ART

A SURVEY OF MAJOR TRENDS AND VISUAL ARTISTS FROM LATIN AMERICAN ART

This course surveys the art of Latin America since the late 1800s—when the first solid proposals for “native expression” of the continents started to be developed—until the early 2000s, when the first Latin American artist considered to be a “global master,” Mexican Gabriel Orozco, emerges in the international contemporary scene. Thus, the course will familiarize students with the work of leading Latin American artists active in their native countries and abroad, in addition to major developments such as the rise of abstraction, conceptualism, and postmodernism. We will also explore significant issues that have shaped the production and reception of the region’s art, considering, for example, strategies used by Latin American artists to resist or reinterpret artistic discourses, negotiating local and international trends.

FROM OBJECT TO VOID, FROM VOID TO GESTURE, FROM GESTURE TO RELATION

A SURVEY OF (MOSTLY) CONTEMPORARY WESTERN ART (CA. 1950-2010)

When Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan hung on a wall of the last edition of Miami Art Basel (2019) a banana with duct tape—a “work” which was, by the way, tagged at 120,000 US$—the reaction was immediate and furious, making it an instant (commercial and critical) success. The reaction –both in the press and in social media—revealed the way in which the general public perceives “art” and the “artistic object”, as the two main questions articulated in relation to the piece were, predictably, “how can that be art?” and “what does it mean?”

As was probably calculated by the artist, the reaction brought to the surface deep-seated beliefs that we, as a society, still espouse in relation to what art should be; the basic materiality (a banana) and the“poor” technique (duct tape applied over a wall) of the piece felt as not conforming to an idea what art is. More crucially, it is clear from the questions that the piece is suspect of not being art because its meaning is not accessible and, surely, art should mean something. But how should art be? Who establishes that parameter? And why should art mean anything at all?

This survey course on (mostly Western) Contemporary art –which roughly goes from 1950 to 2010—is organized to give student the tools and information to answer such questions by themselves (to the extent that they can be answered). Structured around the contentious and slippery history of objecthood in art—how it started to erode circa 1870s until it basically disappeared by the late 1950s and how it has transformed itself even further after such dissapearance—the course presents a number of key works of art, primary texts and discussions to assist in the understanding of how our normative idea of art has changed radically over the decades.

Thus, through the systematic confrontation with a selected number of notable examples in each session, as well as exposure in the key discussions of the time, the course aims for students to be able to understand how, while art is not dead, it is very possible that we might be living in an era in which the once sacrosanct object of art might be as obsolete as a VHS tape or a cassette player. More crucially, the course aims for the student to understand how as the very idea of art has changed over the decades, ways in which the artistic community has come to understand its practice as well as the function we ascribe to it (what is supposedly doing in and for our society) has also, necessarily, shifted.

BETWEEN GOOD AND THE GOODS

SOME ETHICAL PROBLEMS IN CONTEMPORARY ART

One does not need to go any further than browsing the days’ news to re- cognize that the picture, the idea of what art is, in popular culture, situates its practice and values outside the normative—usually against the uses and costumes of everyday life. The artistic domain—which includes all works of art—seems to be perceived as a field inherently transgressive to the uses of its time, especially of its ethical conventions.

The historical reasons for such belief are hard to track—perhaps they include the stubborn presence at the very base of our culture of some (diluted) version of romanticism, or some remnant of Nietzschean thought—the fact remains that the perception of what art is in our society seems to be defined, necessarily, by some kind of ethical transgression. That is: something (might) be art precisely because it is beyond the ethical realm, some object might be deemed artistic if and only if remains beyond the “accepted” conventions.

Nonetheless, up to what point can this extended belief hold some scrutiny? Beyond the Dadaist dictum of “scandalizing the bourgeois” is this just an empty cliché with no truth behind it anymore? What does it mean to understand the artistic practice as “autonomous” from the ethical one and could that position even be sustained? And more importantly: If we believe that art could be anti-ethical what would its role in society be? How could art have a function or and any sort of social value if it is ultimately harmful to society?

This course is an invitation to think the place of art and of the aesthetic experience in general by examining some key works in contemporary art, especially some pieces coming from the Global South during the last three decades. From Brazilian Sebastião Salgado’s “aesthetization of poverty” to Spanish Santiago Sierra’s “conscious exploitation” of workers to create “works of art” sellable in top tier galleries, the practice of contemporary art is filled with examples that problematize and tease up the very possibility of finding a place for art in society. Thus, by careful consideration of these particular cases, students will be asked to ponder the consequences of the possible existence of an object (or action) that could be aesthetically valuable but ethically harmful, mainly:

– Can we justify aesthetic pleasure directly derived from human suffering?
– Can we justify breaking the law to produce a work of art?
– Can we justify preserving an “unquestionable” art masterpiece in detriment of the wellbeing or the integrity of common citizens?

TEN OBJECTIONS TO OBJECTHOOD

A SURVEY OF THE MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY WESTERN ART (CA 1850-2000)

When Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan hung on a wall of the last edition of Miami Art Basel (2019) a banana with duct tape—a “work” which was, by the way, tagged at 120,000 US$—the reaction was immediate and furious, making it an instant (commercial and critical) success. The reaction –both in the press and in social media—revealed the way in which the general public perceives “art” and the “artistic object”, as the two main questions articulated in relation to the piece were, predictably, “how can that be art?” and “what does it mean?”

As was probably calculated by the artist, the reaction brought to the surface deep-seated beliefs that we, as a society, still espouse in relation to what art should be; the basic materiality (a banana) and the “poor” technique (duct tape applied over a wall) of the piece felt as not conforming to an idea what art is. More crucially, it is clear from the questions that the piece is suspect of not being art because its meaning is not accessible and, surely, art should mean something.

But how should art be? Who establishes that parameter? And why should art mean anything at all?

This survey course on (Western) Modern and Contemporary art – which roughly goes from 1850 to 2000—is organized to give student the tools and information to answer such questions by themselves (to the extent that they can be answered). Structured around the contentious and slippery history of objecthood in art—how it started to erode circa 1870s until it basically disappeared by the late 1950s—the course presents a number of key works of art, primary texts and discussions to assist in the understanding of how our normative idea of art has changed radically over the decades.

Thus, through the systematic confrontation with a selected number of notable examples in each session, as well as exposure in the key discussions of the time, the course aims for students to be able to understand how, while art is not dead, it is very possible that we might be living in an era in which the once sacrosanct object of art might be as obsolete as a VHS tape or a cassette player. More crucially, the course aims for the student to understand how as the very idea of art has changed over the decades, ways in which the artistic community has come understand its practice as well as the function we ascribe to it (what is supposedly doing in and for our society) has also, necessarily, shifted..

RECOGNITION AND EXPRESSIVENESS

WHAT IS THE FUNCTION OF IMAGES IN HUMAN RIGHTS

How do we picture human rights? Has this picturing becoming an enormous effort now
that images hardly moved anyone anymore?

Exploring two of the most important discussions on the place and function of images in the last decades –the 1990s debate about Sebastião Salgado’s photographs and the early 2000s debate on the pertinence of images for atrocities between Lanzmann and Didi-Huberman—we will reflect on the possible ways in which images might (and just might) remain useful for the cause of Human Rights.

The course poses that, to a large measure, whether we end up believing that images still matter or not, is due to the way we understand the complicated process of “recognition” in which Human Rights rests. For that reason, the course will start by presenting students to some of the most important philosophical discussions on it.

This course is an invitation to think the place of images and of the aesthetic experience in
relation to some of the most important and pressing societal context Furthermore, by
teasing out these fundamental questions will also shed light and hone some of our basic
intuitions in relation to the value of artistic practice in general and of the artist in particular,
in our society. Thus, this course will allow us to keep exploring questionssuch as what isthe
relation between art and politics Can images really change a given political environment
or unlock an otherwise intractable situation?