Arts & Sciences: Looking and Listening

Interdisciplinary exploration of topics in the arts. May be repeated for credit with different content. Topics vary by offering; periodic offering at intervals that may exceed four years.

Open to degree and PACE students

This team-taught course is an interdisciplinary investigation of contemporary art and visual culture, bringing together methodologies from artmaking, Art History, Studio Art, Dance, Music, Performance, and more. In this course, you will be exposed to various creative practices across the arts and engage in intellectual and experiential learning. Through lectures, discussions, field trips, film screenings, and live performances at UVM, Burlington, and beyond, participants in this course will gain a deeper and broader understanding of what is happening across art today and interdisciplinary methods for studying making art in a broad sense. The goals of the course are to heighten an individual's understanding of the value of art and how experience, perception, intellect, and empathy are interrelated. The course will serve as a theoretical and occasionally practical study of contemporary art and performance from around the world, emphasizing contexts, meanings, interpretations, biographies of the artists, etc., and how they might reflect, shape, support, and challenge our world(s). Are there new ways to look and listen to art and performance? And by witnessing, how might we become agents for deeper understanding and change?

This course will be divided into 3 parts: (1) Looking, (2) Listening, (3) Embodiment. Professors Richter, Lehner, and Kono look forward to bringing their perspectives to each of these topics as they relate to Looking and Listening. Critical to this course are the interactions between these multiple perspectives and the interdisciplinary conversations that develop from these interactions. Emphasis will be on weekly readings, lectures, discussions, and writings, anchored around specific performances taking place at UVM, Burlington, and beyond. This includes field trips, film screenings, live Dance, Music, Theater, and more. In addition, students should expect to spend 2-4 hours a week on coursework outside of class, with additional time for specific presentations. Expected Expenses: While there is no required textbook, students are required to purchase tickets to performances which can be $5 or more. iClicker: Students are expected to use iClicker for attendance and other activities Attendance Policy: Students are required to be present for all lectures. Attendance is recorded using iClicker app. Students are allowed to miss three classes with out excuse. Four or more unexcused absence will result in deduction from the Attendance/Participation points.

Grading Rubric: 35% Attendance/Participation 40% Assignments 25% Final Project Assignment Breakdown: Eight assignments, 5% each (total of 40%) 4 Responses to visual art or performing art Mini artist research assignment Fleming Museum Response Concert report 1 Concert report 2 Final Group Project, 25% (due last four class sessions, reports/plans due 11.29)