overview
Lesson 3 | Summary
Activity Pages
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lesson 3 | converging media
activity | art phyla
Horticulturists classify plants on many levels, dividing them into
groups, phyla, and families to differentiate them from other types
of plants. Artistic practice has been similarly classified over
the centuries, being grouped and sub-grouped into forms, disciplines,
and styles, but the divisions between these classes are becoming
increasingly difficult to distinguish. With your students, discuss
the traditional categories of visual art: painting, drawing, architecture,
and sculpture, as well as categories of performing arts: theater,
film, dance, and music. How and why have art disciplines been distinguished
from one another throughout history? Who has made the distinction?
Some critics and artists like Michelangelo, who considered sculpture
a higher art form than painting, have gone beyond categorizing art
forms to claiming that one form is better than others. Why have
these kind of hierarchies developed and how have they changed over
time? How are traditional “high” art forms, like painting
and classical music, distinguished from contemporary “low”
forms, like cartoons and hip hop?
How has visual and performing arts training changed over the last
500 years? Consider the traditional concept of mastery as opposed
to experimentation. What are the benefits of specializing in a form
or, conversely, experimenting with and combining many forms?
After discussing traditional categories and hierarchies of the art
world, ask your students to brainstorm a preliminary list of all
the media used in contemporary art and then expand it by looking
at architecture, drawing, performance, sculpture, painting, installation,
and printmaking slideshows (see links above) to illustrate and diversify
the discussion. How do the pieces included in these slideshows fit
or break with traditional characteristics associated with their
medium?
Watch the video segments on Ann Hamilton
and Matthew Barney and discuss contemporary
art media and the hybridization of visual forms, cross fertilization
between visual and performing art forms, and the blurring of hierarchical
boundaries in contemporary art practice. Compare and contrast the
cross-disciplinary work of these two artists using their slideshows
and interviews (see links above) as jumping off points. How do Matthew
Barney and Ann Hamilton create hybrid art works using traditional
and contemporary visual media as well as various forms of performing
arts? How have they used traditional forms to create something new?
Can their work be classified?
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