Designed to emulate industry environments, this task requires students visit a relevant public showcase and produce a critical written appraisal in response. In ARTT2128 this has taken the form of a UQ Art Gallery exhibition, but could be readily adapted to a variety of public showcases across HaSS disciplines. In dedicated class time (or at their convenience), students visit a contemporary showcase nominated by the course coordinator and take contemporaneous notes intended to address a line of inquiry related to course content. Depending on learning outcomes course coordinators may set questions related to the showcase, or alternatively, ask students to apply salient theoretical or conceptual frameworks covered during the course. Reviews should assume the tone of a relevant industry publication (e.g. online opinion piece, news/scholarly journal article etc.). This technique encourages students to (1) proactively engage with a showcase – and by extension, contemporary disciplinary issues; (2) exercise critical and creative skills in interpreting material culture as it relates to course content; and (3) practice written competencies similar to those found in industry contexts. Collegiality is further encouraged by uploading students' reviews to the Blog function of course Blackboard sites where students comment on each other's work, similar to professional environments.
Details
- CLASS SIZE
- 40-60
- CLASS LEVEL
- Second year
- ASSESSMENT SECURITY
- Medium security
- TIME REQUIREMENTS
- Low time
- GRADUATE ATTRIBUTES
- In-depth knowledge in the field(s) studied, Effective communication skills
- FEATURES
- Authentic
- TAGS
- review, field visit, peer-led learning
Advantages
Allows for student flexibility, wherein students can complete the task of visiting the relevant showcase at their convenience. Promotes the acquisition of disciplinary knowledge whilst encouraging creativity, critical evaluation and analytical skill. Readily adapts to any discipline in which public showcases are held (e.g. Social Science students might visit natural history museum; Music students could attend a public production etc.)
Challenges
Some students may struggle with scheduling an appropriate time to visit the showcase. To mitigate against this coordinators might consider dedicating class time to visiting the site as a group.
Tips for implementation
For optimal implementation coordinators should select a contemporary showcase that is (1) within local proximity, (2) free to access (unless a course budget can accommodate otherwise), and (3) operational for a time period consistent with the delivery of the assessment. Building (or using existing) industry partnerships is recommended.
How it supports academic integrity
The specificity of this task aids in managing academic misconduct. Through its focus on a contemporary and local exhibition (where students must physically visit a location), this task limits the extent to which work can be plagiarised or outsourced, with attempts to do being readily identifiable.
Dr Amelia Barikin
a.barikin@uq.edu.au
am a Senior Lecturer in Art History in the School of Communication and Arts. My research often focusses on the relationship between contemporary art and time, working across the areas of philosophy, time studies, art history and critical theory. I completed my art history PhD at the University of Melbourne. Prior to joining UQ, I was ARC Senior Research Associate at the University of Melbourne, and have also worked as a curator and editor with various Australian arts institutions. In 2013 I was the recipient of an Art Gallery of New South Wales residential fellowship at the Cité internationale des arts, Paris, and have presented invited talks on my research at numerous institutions including for the Biennale of Sydney, Mildura Palimpsest Biennale, Wellington City Gallery New Zealand, Marian Goodman Gallery New York, the Australian Center for the Moving Image, Institute of Modern Art Brisbane, Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art Brisbane, National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Gertrude Contemporary, Auckland University of Technology, Institute for Visual Research University of Oxford, Artspace Sydney, and Helsinki Academy of Fine Arts, Finland.
My books include the monograph Parallel Presents: The Art of Pierre Huyghe (MIT Press, 2012, winner of AAANZ Best Book Prize 2013); the co-edited anthology and now low-key cult classic Making Worlds: Art and Science Fiction (Surpllus, 2015); Pierre Huyghe: TarraWarra International 2015 (catalogue for the first major solo exhibition of Huyghe's work in Australia); Tom Nicholson: Lines Towards Another (IMA and Sternberg Press, 2018); and Robert Smithson: Time Crystals (Monash University Publishing, 2018), the latter published to accompany a major exhibition of works by Robert Smithson that I co-curated with Chris McAuliffe for presentation at the UQ Art Museum and Monash University Museum of Art. My research has been supported by organisations including the Australian Council for the Arts, Arts Victoria, the Terra Foundation for American Art, City of Melbourne, the Australia Korea Foundation, the Australian Research Council, and the Gordon Darling Foundation, and I also publish widely in arts magazines and exhibition catalogues.
Currently available to supervise art history MPhil and PhD projects: I particularly welcome applications from researchers working in the areas of contemporary art, queer theory, feminisms, geophilosophy, science fiction, Australian art, or time studies (or all of the above!). Find out more