4.360
Performance Workshop— Action (an archeology of the sea)
Instructor: Joan Jonas
Telephone: 617-252-3876
Office: N51-340
jjonas@mit.edu
Units: 3-3-6
Level: H
Prerequisites: Permission of instructor
Working with the medium of video and the materials of sound, light, and time, this workshop will involve the construction of performative works in found and imagined spaces. An introduction to the history of this discipline will include a consideration of Happenings and the Situationists from the 1950s and 1960s In a parallel study of form we will look at structuralist films made in the 60s and 70s.
However, in relation to content, the basic subject of the workshop will involve an exploration of deep sea life. To begin we will look at the poetic films of Jean Painleve who recorded the movements of aquatic life forms. We will also view the films of Charles and Ray Eames. Students will be involved in this subject and related problems as each develops a theme for a final project.
