Week 8: Three-Dimensional Media - writing

Purpose

You will complete one of the writing prompts below, and: 

• Demonstrate your understanding of the information in this and previous modules by using the concepts and definitions correctly. 
• Demonstrate critical thinking by analyzing, conceptualizing, synthesizing, and communicating the concepts in this and previous modules through your writing.

Task

You are to complete ONE of the writing prompts listed below.

Specifications

1. Answer all of the questions under the prompt you choose.
2. Meet the writing specifications:
   
   • 1.5 line spacing
   • 12 point font

Writing Prompt #1: Form & Content
For thousands of years sculpture has been the foundation of art because by it's nature it could be incorporated into the physical aspects of civilizations. Objects were carved from stone, wood, or cast in bronze, they were often figurative and done in a culturally-specific, realistic style. The advent of modern art in the first half of the twentieth century has radically changed the formal characteristics of sculpture and, in some cases, the content.

View the three sculptures from the links provided below and comment on the issues of form and content in each one.

1. Egyptian: The Female Pharaoh Hatshepsut
    (Links to an external site.)
2. Pablo Picasso: Woman in the Garden
    (Links to an external site.)
3. Louise Bourgeois: Cell: Eyes and Mirrors

Writing Prompt #2: The Expansion of Time & Space
Since the 1960’s installation and performance art have taken their place alongside traditional sculpture and in some ways eclipsed it as the most significant contemporary three-dimensional art form.

View and read about the three installations and artists from the links provided below. Write your responses to their work, both objective and subjective, keeping in mind the context of the medium itself. How does performance and installation art expand our experience about what art is? Whether you like or dislike them, write about what makes these art forms unique.

1. View the installation Cold Dark Matter (Links to an external site.) by Cornelia Parker and read an interview (Links to an external site.) with the artist.
2. In addition, view and read about Ann Hamilton’s installation Corpus (Links to an external site.).
3. Finally, view and read about Marina Abramovic’s retrospective performance The Artist is Present (Links to an external site.) Links to an external site. (the MoMA website provides access to images and a video about the works).

Criteria

You will receive all 40 points by meeting the specifications and the deadline.