THE
ROBERT GORDON
UNIVERSITY
ABERDEEN
Gray’s School of Art
Stage 2 and 3: 2005-2006
Contextual and Critical Studies – Mini-Programme 3
From Here to Modernity
Tutor: Andrea Peach
email: a.peach@rgu.ac.uk (tel: 263692)
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FROM HERE TO MODERNITY
What was modernism all about and what interest (if any) is it to artists, architects and designers today?
Has modernity endured and in what form? What does it really mean to ‘be modern’?
This programme will look at the ongoing impact of Modernism on contemporary art, design and culture
and consider its relevance to 21st century practice. We will revisit key images and texts in twentieth
century modernism, locate modern art design and architecture in a variety of contexts, and look at
modernism’s ongoing presence in today’s post postmodern society.
1.
INTRODUCTION AND TIMETABLE
This programme comprises one of three mini-programmes running in Semester One 2005/06. Each
programme runs across 3 weeks, and includes a lecture on Mondays at 1.00 pm, SB42 Scott Sutherland
School, followed by seminars for Stage 2 on Tuesdays in SC24 Scott Sutherland School and workshops for
Stage 3 on Thursdays in SC24 Scott Sutherland School. Seminar and workshop groups and times will be
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posted on the CCS noticeboard (by the art school shop). Students must come to the seminars/workshops
prepared participate in the seminar. Seminar tasks will be assigned in advance by tutors. Assessment will
be based on seminar participation and a written assignment. Details of the assignment are given below,
and the Introductory lecture in Week 2 will address this component of the course.
In Semester One Stage 2 students will elect 2 mini-programmes; Stage 3 students will elect only
1 mini-programme.
Seminar
1
Tuesday
Seminar
2
Tuesday
Mini-Programme 2
Lesley Scott
Lecture Monday
Seminar
3
Tuesday
Seminar
1
Tuesday
Seminar
2
Tuesday
Seminar
3
Tuesday
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
3 Oct
10 Oct
17
Oct
24
Oct
31 Oct
7 Nov
14 Nov
Work
shop
1
Thurs
Research
Training
Thurs
Mini-Programme 2
Lesley Scott
Lecture Monday
Work
shop
2
Thurs
Work
shop
1
Thurs
Research
Training
Thurs
11
5 Dec
12
12 Dec
Mini-Programme 3
Andrea Peach
Lecture Monday
26
Sept
Mini-Programme 1
Ken Neil
Lecture Monday
10
28 Nov
Seminar
1
Tuesday
9
21
Nov
Seminar
2
Tuesday
10
11
28 Nov
5 Dec
Seminar
3
Tuesday
12
12 Dec
Mini-Programme 3
Andrea Peach
Lecture Monday
Work
shop
2
Thurs
Work
shop
1
Thurs
Research
Training
Thurs
13
Work
shop
2
Thurs
14
13
14
15
Assessment
Mini-Programme 1
Ken Neil
Lecture Monday
9
21
Nov
15
Assessment
8
14 Nov
Assessment
7
7 Nov
Assessment
6
31 Oct
Reading
Week
5
24
Oct
Reading Week
4
17 Oct
Christmas
Break
3
10 Oct
Christmas
Break
STAGE
THREE
2
3 Oct
Intro and sign
up
STAGE
TWO
WEEK
2005/06
1
26
Sept
Intro and sign up
WEEK
2005/06
3
2.
OVERALL OBJECTIVES OF THE CONTEXTUAL AND CRITICAL STUDIES MINI-PROGRAMMES
The Contextual and Critical Studies mini-programmes aim to encourage discussion of contemporary
practice and theory with a view to situating that discussion in a wider cultural and historical framework,
and enable you to make links with your studio practice. At the end of this series of mini-programmes you
will be expected to:

Demonstrate an increased understanding of both the historical and contemporary context relating to
art and design theory and practice.

Demonstrate, by way of a Critical Evaluation, the ability to analyse and criticise your own studio work
in relation to a wider cultural context.

Demonstrate an ability to undertake research relevant to the critical aims of the programme, using
both paper based and electronic sources.

Build up confidence in discussing and sustaining a critical argument that is clear and consistent.

Begin to develop self- directed areas of research in Contextual and Critical studies related to your
studio practice and emerging critical interests
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3.
STAGE TWO COURSEWORK
Seminar Participation and Attendance
There are three seminars for each mini-programme in Stage 2. The seminars will follow the theme of the
lectures and will address a particular issue each week. Students will be placed in groups and are expected
to contribute to the seminars as part of their assessment. For this reason, it is essential that students
attend all lectures and seminars relating to their elected mini-programme. If for any reason, you are
unable to attend, please email your tutor. Details of the seminar tasks and groups will be found in the
weekly schedule that follows and will be discussed in the first seminar.
Written Assignment
Students will also submit a written assignment for assessment. The written assignment will allow you to
explore further, the theme selected for your presentation. With reference to ideas from the lectures and /
or recommended texts, and including a critical analysis of one or two chosen works, expand on your initial
response to one of the following questions: Select a work of art, architecture or design which you
feel embodies the ideals of ‘modernity’ and argue why – or – Select a work of art, architecture
or design which you feel does not embody the ideals of modernity and argue why.
The final written assignment should not exceed 1,200 words, must be fully word-processed and include a
comprehensive bibliography. You will be expected to reference all sources used in your text, using the
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Numeric referencing system (see section 5: ‘Referencing Sources’ for details). The submission date for this
written assignment is: Monday 9 January 2006.
4.
STAGE THREE COURSEWORK
Workshop Participation and Attendance
There are two workshops for each mini-programme in Stage 3. The workshops will encourage students to
develop their own line of study and research related to the theme of the lecture. Students will be placed in
groups and expected to contribute to the seminars as part of their assessment. For this reason, it is
essential that students attend all lectures and seminars relating to their elected mini-programme. If for
any reason, you are unable to attend, please email your tutor. Details of the workshop tasks and groups
will be found in the weekly schedule that follows and will be discussed in the first workshop.
Research Training
In addition to the workshops, there will also be a research training session at the RGU library. This session
will give students advanced information retrieval skills necessary to conduct self-directed research and is a
mandatory part of the mini-programme. Details of the programme schedule and groups will be given in
the first workshop.
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Critical Notebook Assignment
Stage 3 students will be asked to submit a Critical Notebook, which should explore a critical theme of your
choice, directly relating to the mini-programme, your own studio activity and interests. The Critical
Notebook should be contained within a hard-backed notebook, no larger than A3, and can comprise
writing, drawings, photographs, sketches and any other materials relevant to the analysis and criticism of
your chosen mini-programme. It should contain your responses and thoughts in relation to the lectures
and seminars, as well as any additional research and development you have undertaken in relation to
these.
Your Notebook will also include a formal written component, to be based on a critical theme of your
choice and a specific research question to be developed in the workshops. Where possible your response
should make links between the programme theme and contemporary practice, and where appropriate,
with your own studio interests. Your final written assignment will be 2500-3000 words in length, fully
word-processed and include a comprehensive bibliography. You will also be expected to reference all
sources used in your text, using footnotes (see section 5: ‘Academic Presentation’ for details).
The submission date for the Critical Notebook for this mini-programme is: Friday 20th January 2006.
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5.
REFERENCING SOURCES
RGU has adopted two systems for referencing sources: Harvard (also known as Author/Date) and
Vancouver (also known as ‘endnotes’ or ‘footnotes’). For your written assignment, we recommend that
you use the Vancouver. Details about this system, and about how to cite references generally, can be
found on the handout from the RGU library (‘How to Cite References Using the Vancouver Style’), or on
the RGU Library website: http://www2.rgu.ac.uk/library/usered/citerefs.htm. You will also find important
information about the University’s statement on plagiarism and other forms of academic misconduct at
this site, as well as examples of plagiarism.
6.
LATE HAND-INS AND EXTENSIONS OF WRITTEN COURSEWORK
Please note that extensions must be requested before the hand-in date. Requests for extensions must be
accompanied by a medical certificate or documentation of genuine extenuating circumstances.
Coursework handed in after the hand-in date, without a formally agreed extension, will either accrue a
maximum mark of 3 or not be marked. There will be no exceptions.
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Week 10 Semester 1
Monday 28th November
1.00 SB42
Scott Sutherland School
Required Reading
Additional Reading
Seminar Assignment
LECTURE 1: What is and When was MODERNITY?
Key Issues and Questions
 What is and when was modernity?
 Revisiting the modernist ‘canon’
 What does it mean to be modern?
Key Writers
 Charles Baudelaire
 Roger Fry
 Clive Bell
 Clement Greenberg
 Wood, P. ‘Art of the Twentieth Century’, in Graiger, J. (ed) Frameworks for Modern Art. London: Open
University; 2003. Try to read the whole chapter if you can, but as a minimum you should look at the
section ‘Modernity and Modernism’ pp. 16-27.
 Greenberg, C. ‘Modernist Painting’, Art in Modern Culture – An Anthology of Critical Texts. London: The
Open University; 1992 pp. 308-314.
 Williams, R. ‘When Was Modernism’, The Politics of Modernism. Verso: London, 1989, pp. 31-35.
 Graiger, J. and Wood, P. ‘Modernism and the Crisis of Modernism’, Art of the Twentieth Century – A
Reader, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003, pp. 3-52.
 Habermas, J. ‘Modernity – An Incomplete Project’, in Foster, H. (ed), The Anti-Aesthetic – Essays on
Postmodern Culture. New York: The New York Press; 1983, pp.3-15
 Harrison, C. Modernism. London: Tate Publishing; 1997
 Hopkins, D. After Modern Art 1945-2000. Oxford: Oxford University Press; pp. 25-34.
 Meecham, P. and Sheldon, J. ‘What is and When Was Modernism?’ Modern Art: A Critical Introduction,
London: Routledge; 2000, pp. 1-31.
 Reflect on the ideas raised in Lecture 1 and in the Required Reading and come to the seminar with
preliminary questions about what is and when was Modernity.
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Week 11 Semester 1
Monday 5th December
1.00 SB42
Scott Sutherland School
Required Reading
Additional Reading
Films
Seminar Assignment
LECTURE 2: Modernity and The Machine Age
Key Issues
 The Machine Aesthetic
 Utopia and Dystopia
 Form Follows Function
 The Hegemony of Modernism
Key Practioners and Writers
 Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe (1886-1969)
 Le Corbusier (1887-1965)
 Adolf Loos (1870-1933)
 Le Corbusier. ‘Mass Production Houses’ and ‘Architecture or Revolution’, Towards a New Architecture,
London: Butterworth Heinemann; 1989 (1923) pp.6-8.
 Meecham, P. and Sheldon, J. ‘From the Machine Aesthetic to Technoculture’ Modern Art: A Critical
Introduction. London: Routledge; 2000. It would be helpful to read the whole chapter, but as a
minimum read: pp. 113-119.
 Read, H. ‘The Function of Ornament’ (1936) in Greenhalgh, P. (ed) Quotations and Sources on
Design and the Decorative Arts. Manchester: Manchester University Press; 1993, pp.19-20.
 Crouch, C. ‘The Machine Ethic – Functionalism and the Collective’ Modernism in Art, Design and
Architecture. London: St Martin’s Press; 1999, pp.46-71.
 Greenhalgh, P. ‘Introduction’, Modernism in Design. London: Reaktion Books; 1996, pp.1-24.
 Harrison, C. and Wood, P. (eds), ‘The Idea of the Modern World’ Art in Theory 1900-2000 An
Anthology of Changing Ideas. London: Blackwell, 2003; pp. 128-131.
 Loos. A. ‘Ornament and Crime’ (1908) in Greenhalgh, P. (ed) Quotations and Sources on Design and
the Decorative Arts. Manchester: Manchester University Press; 1993, pp.14-15.
 Marcus, G. ‘Machine Art’ Functionalist Design. New York: Prestel; 1995, pp. 115-126.
 Woodham, J. ‘Design and Modernism’ Twentieth Century Design, Oxford: Oxford History of Art; 1997,
pp. 29-35.
 Modern Times – Charlie Chaplin (1936) – V2772
 Things to Come - William Cameron Menzies, (1936) – V2573
 Metropolis - Fritz Lang (1926) – DVD12
 In pairs, please prepare a 5 minute response to one of the following: 1. Select a work of
art, architecture or design which you feel embodies the ideals of ‘modernity’ and argue why
– or – 2. Select a work of art, architecture or design which you feel does not embody the
ideals of modernity and argue why. When delivering your presentation, please make
reference to one or two readings from the programme. Where possible, bring images
and/or relevant quotations.
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Week 12 Semester 1
Monday 12 December
1.00 SB42
Scott Sutherland School
Required Reading
Additional Reading
Films
Seminar Assignment
LECTURE 3: From Here to Modernity
Key Issues and Questions
 Less is more – or Less is a bore?
 Minimalism and neo-Modernity
 The end of modernity?
Key Practioners
 Donald Judd
 Sol LeWitt
 Dan Flavin
 John Pawson
 Droog Design
 Rem Koolhaas
 M. Berman, ‘Modernity, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow’, in P. Greenhalgh (ed) Quotations and
Sources on Design and the Decorative Arts. Manchester: Manchester University Press; 1993, pp.19-20
 Hadid, Z. ‘The Eighty-Nine Degrees’ in Jencks. C. (ed) Theories and Manifestoes of Contemporary
Architecture. Chichester: Academy Editions; 1997, p. 280.
 Ramakers, R. ‘Introduction’, Less is More – Droog Design in Context. Rotterdam: 010 Publishers;
2002, pp.6-10.
 Andre, C. ‘Minimalism’, Cuts – Texts 1959-2004, Cambridge, MIT Press, 2005, pp. 149-151.
 Batchelor, D. Minimalism, London: Tate Gallery Publishing; 1997
 Causey, A. ‘Modernism and Minimalism’, Sculpture Since 1945, Oxford: Oxford History of Art; 1998,
pp.109-129
 Crouch, C. ‘After Modernism? Or Developing Modernism?’ Modernism in Art, Design and Architecture,
London: St Martin’s Press; 1999, 162-179.
 Harris, J. ‘Conclusion – “Post” Script’, Writing Back to Modern Art – After Greenberg, Fried and Clark.
London: Routledge; 2005.
 Hopkins, D. ‘Modernism in Retreat: Minimalist Aesthetics and Beyond’, After Modern Art 1945-2000.
Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2000, pp.131-159.
 Marcus, G. ‘Where are we at?’ Functionalist Design, New York: Prestel; 1995, pp.152-165.
 Reynolds, A. ‘Minimalism’s Situation’, in Wood, P. (ed) Varieties of Modernism. New Haven: Yale
University Press; 2004, pp.215-239.
 Pawson, J. Minimum, London: Phaidon; 1996, pp.7-21.
 Modern Times: Bare – V256

In pairs, please prepare a 5 minute response to one of the following: 1. Select a work of art,
architecture or design which you feel embodies the ideals of ‘modernity’ and argue why – or
– 2. Select a work of art, architecture or design which you feel does not embody the ideals
of modernity and argue why. When delivering your presentation, please make reference to
one or two readings from the programme. Where possible, bring images and/or relevant
quotations.
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7.
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND ADDITIONAL SOURCES
Berman, M. All that is Solid Melts into Air – The Experience of Modernity. London: Vergo; 1983
Brettell, R. Modern Art 1851-1929. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 1999
Causey, A. Sculpture Since 1945. Oxford: Oxford History of Art; 1998
Crouch, C. Modernism in Art, Design and Architecture. London: Macmillan Press; 1999
Foster, H. (ed), The Anti-Aesthetic – Essays on Postmodern Culture. New York: The New York Press;
1983
Franscina, F. and Harris, J. Art in Modern Culture – An Anthology of Critical Texts. London: Phaidon
Press; 1992
Graiger, J. and Wood, P. Art of the Twentieth Century – A Reader. New Haven: Yale University Press;
2003
Greenhalgh, P. (ed), Modernism in Design. London: Reaktion Books; 1990
Greenhalgh, P. (ed) Quotations and Sources on Design and the Decorative Arts. Manchester: Manchester
University Press; 1993
Harris, J. Writing Back to Modern Art – After Greenberg, Fried and Clark. London: Routledge; 2005
Harrison, C. and Wood, P. (eds), Art in Theory 1900-2000 An Anthology of Changing Ideas. London:
Blackwell; 2003
Harrison, C. Modernism. London: Tate Publishing; 1997
Hopkins, D. After Modern Art 1945-2000. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2000
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Jencks, C. and Kropf, K. Theories and Manifestoes of Contemporary Architecture. Chichester: Academy
Editions; 1997
Le Corbusier. Towards a New Architecture. London: Butterworth Heinemann; (1923) 1989
Marcus, G. Functionalist Design. New York: Prestel; 1995
Meecham, P. and Sheldon, J. Modern Art: A Critical Introduction. London: Routledge; 2000
Pawson, J. Minimum. London: Phaidon; 1996
Ramakers, R. Less is More – Droog Design in Context. Rotterdam: 010 Publishers; 2002
Weston, R. Modernism. London: Phaidon; 2001
Williams, R. The Politics of Modernism. London: Verson; 1989
Wood, P. Frameworks for Modern Art. London: Open University; 2003
Wood, P. (ed), Varieties of Modernism. New Haven: Yale University Press; 2004
Wood, P., Franscina, F., Harris, J., and Harrison, C. Modernism in Dispute – Art Since the Forties.
New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993
Woodham, J. Twentieth Century Design. Oxford: Oxford History of Art; 1997
An excellent interactive website on Modernism in Britain:
http://www.open2.net/modernity/home.htm
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8.
ACADEMIC RESERVE
Core texts will be placed on Academic Reserve in the Library. Academic Reserve is the desk at the far end
of the Issue desk as you enter the Library. Books on Academic Reserve are issued for a 2 hour period
during the day, but after 4pm they go out overnight and are due back the next day. On Friday, books can
be taken out after 2pm and they are not due back until 10am on Monday. Books can be booked in
advance, and 2 can be borrowed at a time. Fines for overdue Academic Reserve books are charged at the
following rate: £1 per hour for the first hour overdue, 50 pence per hour thereafter, every hour, with a
maximum fine of £15 per item.
TUTOR FOR PROGRAMME: Andrea Peach
(a.peach@rgu.ac.uk)
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