DXARTS 490 - Assignments

"How can art be realized? Out of volumes, motion, spaces bounded by the great space, the universe. Out of different masses, tight, heavy, middling– indicated by variations of size or color– directional line-vectors which represent speeds, velocities, accelerations, forces, etc. . . . these directions making between them meaningful angles, and senses, together defining one big conclusion or many. Spaces, volumes, suggested by the smallest means in contrast to their mass, or even including them, juxtaposed, pierced by vectors, crossed by speeds. Nothing at all of this is fixed. Each element able to move, to stir, to oscillate, to come and go in its relationships with the other elements in its universe." - Alexander Calder

• 1: "The Demonstrative Linkage" Conceive, design, and build a mechanical likage that does one of the following: amplifying a small kinetic force into a larger one, attenuating a large kinetic force to a smaller one, or making a complex motion out of a simple one. Attach a mark-making device of some sort to record the motion produced.
•   Completion Cycle: 16 days


• 2: "The Circumstance of Balance" Conceive, design, and build an artwork the achieves a durational expression of equilibrium.
•   Completion Cycle: 21 days


• 3: "The Aerial Moment" Conceive and build a work that exists above the ground, that produces a moment of purity and lightness.
•   Completion Cycle: 28 days

Lab Project

• Design and build a universal mount for an instrument of your choice (fictional or actual). Pick a site in the Fremont Studio to mount your instrument. Take into account the purpose and properties of the instrument (mass, volume, movement, etc.) and the demands of the site (safety, fastening system, properties & limitations of the substrate, etc.) This will be due on June 2.

REQUIRED READING

Required readings associated with each assignment will be provided via downloadable PDF files throughout the quarter. To download, click the titles below.

• Reading 1 :
• Greg Goebel, "Introduction to Plastics"
• Daina Taimina, "How to Draw a Straight Line"
• Wikipedia entry on mechanical linkages
  
• Reading 2 :
• George Rickey, "A Technology of Kinetic Art"
• Daina Taimina, "Historical Notes on Universal Joints"
• Reading 3 :
• Otto Piene "More Sky" (excerpt)

RECOMMENDED READING

Readings associated with previous class assignments are provided via downloadable PDF files. To download, click the titles below.

• John Cage, "Some Rules an Hints for Students and Teachers (or Everybody Else)"
• Richard Serra, "Verb List Compilation: Actions to Relate to Oneself"
• Piero Manzoni, "For The Discovery of a Zone of Images"
• Myke Predko, "Glues & Fasteners" (excerpt)
• Clifford A. Pickover "Time" (excerpt)
• Flats, Risers, & Turntables
• NASA Fastener Design Manual