Representing Space

Select between two to five places in Atlanta as sites that display the landscape aesthetics we have discussed in this unit. Your task is to represent these spaces by using the opposing views of the "measured stage" and the "an uninterrupted field of potential pictures" discussed by Galessi. First frame the issue using Gombrich's ideas about how we read paintings, then proceed to represent and analyze the spaces and means of representing the spaces.

Gombrich
To set up the problem, you should use some (not all) of these key ideas:
· organizing data into information (page 73)
· mental set (58-60)
· classification, schema, and/or stereotype (73-74)
· Art is a language (86-88)

Measured Stage
1. Theorists: The aesthetics of Gilpin and Burke (on the sublime, beautiful and picturesque) and Kodak on rules for taking pictures. Include quotations from these works.
2. Artists: The vantage of Gainsborogh's or Constable's work. How do your images align with theirs. Use their images and the Bermingham's text to support your claim.
3. Poets: You may include quotations from works of William Wordsworth that resonate with your images

An Uninterrupted Field of Potential Pictures
1. Theorists: The aesthetics discussed by Galessi and invoked at times by Kodak.
2. Artists: At moments Gainsborough and Constable work against the "measured stage" to provide an intimate view, a "palpable materiality" according to Bermingham.
3. Poets: You may include quotations from works of Clare, Dorothy Wordsworth.

Web Architecture of your Spaces

Links: Think of the links as part of your argument. Use multiple links per page--some links complementing "the measured stage" and others working against it toward "an uninterrupted field of potential pictures." For example, a singular word "overview" at the top of the web page with a link to an overview would comply with Gilpin's picturesque. A link at the bottom of the page that promises "a closer look" might lead to an anti-picturesque page. The word "motion" could lead to a blurred image and a discussion of the singular point in time system used by Burke and Gilpin in contrast to the "potential pictures" multiple points of view.

Text: The font color, placement of text, and font style all contribute to your argument. You can shift between formal and informal fonts or use different colors to designate different discourses (aesthetic vs. anti-aesthetic) or different speakers (Burke, Gilpin, Bermingham, Galessi, you). You can use different background colors to designate different optical perspectives (overview as blue, eye level as green, ground view as brown) or different opinions.

Length: Your project web site should be 1,000-1,200 words with at least twelve images (some contemporary, including ones you've taken yourself, and some by "classical" artists) distributed over approximately 12-18 documents.

Schedule

Discussion of web construction...how to. Jan 31st & Feb. 5th
Conferences on project. Including logistics and review of ideas and work. Feb 7th an 8th
Due date: Work should be linked from your chrome account page by class time February 12th.

Exceptional Student Projects Spring 2002: