SYLLABUS
Course: ARTH 26616
Meetings: Fri :10:30am – 02:50pm
Location: Cochrane-Woods Art Ctr 153
Faculty: Andrew Schachman
Contact: schachman@chicago.edu
Overview
Tracing Time is a hybrid seminar and studio.
The first portion of the course will invite students to engage with a curated selection of techniques for representing time as a broad category of concerns, containing a wide range of nuanced conceptual frameworks and constructs.
The second portion of the course will invite students to develop their own tecniques for models, visualizations, and representations of time or temporal phenomenon as a support for considering time as a factor of change in relation to their own research or interest in a particular concern or context, or where time is bound to physical, psychological, ecological, climatic, biological, geological, economic, historical, geographic, or other entangled processes. This course requires no preparation and is therefore open to students from any discipline who share a general interest in urban design, architecture and the arts or who specifically wish to develop a deeper understanding of drawings, models, photographs, video and other perceptual frameworks or mediums as material supports for inquiry.
Seminars (Fridays, 10:30am – Noon)
Since this is a studio course, readings will help frame various discussions about time. Readings will introduce historic or theoretical approaches but each session will end with speculations about how time might be translated or mapped into other media and mediums.
Students will be encouraged to establish a Conversation Group to share reading responsibilities, discuss via an asynchronous platform, and give each other feedback. Each Conversation Group will be asked to lead one seminar conversation.
Studio Sessions (Fridays, Noon – 2:50pm)
Studio Sessions will focus on techniques and the agency of those techniques for shaping the interpretation of data. Students will receive regular feedback on their drawings or models. Feedback will tend to identify unchallenged or unconsidered modes of inquiry and representation as a grounding for future development.
Weekly Sketchbooks:
To facilitate review and asynchronous communication, students are asked to upload work each week in a digital sketchbook. Sketchbooks are located here.
Part I: Introduction
In the first weeks of the course, exercises will etablish a range of common references and terminologies. This will establish a basis for convivial critiques.
Part II: Prompts
In the second phase of the quarter, students will be invited to choose from a broad range of exercises to support a general curiosity or specific research interest.
Part III: Final Project
Students will be invited to develop an Independent Project in fulfillment of an academic or personal interest. This may include a the option to revisit or translate prevoiusly completed investigations tp rework or reconsider how to construct time, to develop techniques and craft.
Written Investigations
During the quarter, students will submit the following 250-word, written statements.
- A Proposal Statement.
- Two self-critiques, related to each students project progress.
- One Final Reflection, assessing the Final Project.
All written work should respond directly to a text (with quotations ), researched techniques (with images), and an evaluation of the work completed to date. Due dates for Written Investigations are indicated on the Course Schedule.
Final Documentation
Publication Template Here
We’ll use Adobe InDesign to collect and format weekly drawings and writings and publish them as an attractive record of the course. Short, instructional videos will assist. For those interested in developing a portfolio for graduate school, or wanting to publish your own magazine, InDesign is an incredibly useful platform. Once printed, Books will be made available for pick-up on campus.
Grading and Evaluation
Final grades will be determined as follows:
20% – Weekly Seminar Participation
20% – Weekly Studio Progress
30% – Mid Review
30% – Final Submittal
Resources
Camera Rentals:
Visual Resource Center
https://vrc.uchicago.edu/
Logan Media Center: https://www.logancenter.uchicago.edu/resources/techandmedia
Adobe Creative Cloud
Can be accessed several ways for free or a at a significant reduced rate for a monthly subscription:
- For free on most of the desktop computers in in MADD
- For free, by requesting a short-term license from (link)
- For a reduced price ($19.99/mo) directly from Adobe.
Recording and Deletion Policies:
The Recording and Deletion Policies for the current academic year can be found in the Student Manual under Petitions, Audio & Video Recording on Campus. (1) Do not record, share, or disseminate any course sessions, videos, transcripts, audio,or chats. (2) Do not share links for the course to those not currently enrolled. (3) Any Zoom cloud recordings will be automatically deleted 90 days after the completion of the recording.
A Note on Equitable Access:
The University of Chicago is committed to ensuring equitable access to our academic programs and services. Students with disabilities who have been approved for the use of academic accommodations by Student Disability Services (SDS) and need a reasonable accommodation(s) to participate fully in this course should follow the procedures established by SDS for using accommodations. Timely notifications are required in order to ensure that your accommodations can be implemented. Please meet with me to discuss your access needs in this class after you have completed the SDS procedures for requesting accommodations. To contact SDS: (website) disabilities.uchicago.edu (phone) 773-702-6000 (email) disabilities@uchicago.edu
A Note on Title IX:
Our school is committed to fostering a safe, productive learning environment. The University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, age, status as an individual with a disability, protected veteran status, genetic information, or other protected classes under the law (including Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972). For additional information regarding the University of Chicago’s Policy on Harassment, Discrimination, and Sexual Misconduct, please see The University of Chicago Policy on Harassment, Discrimination, and Sexual Misconduct. Sexual misconduct — including harassment, domestic and dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking — is also prohibited at our school. Our school encourages anyone experiencing sexual misconduct to talk to someone about what happened, so they can get the support they need and our school can respond appropriately. If you wish to speak confidentially about an incident of sexual misconduct, want more information about filing a report, or have questions about school policies and procedures, please contact our Title IX Coordinator, which can be found on the Office for Sexual Misconduct Prevention and Support website. Our school is legally obligated to investigate reports of sexual misconduct, and therefore it cannot guarantee the confidentiality of a report, but it will consider a request for confidentiality and respect it to the extent possible. As a teacher, I am also required by our school to report incidents of sexual misconduct and thus cannot guarantee confidentiality. I must provide our Title IX coordinator with relevant details such as the names of those involved in the incident.