2 pages for each one

PHIL 405 -- Theories of Beauty (Online)

Due Date: See Critical Path

Assignment # 5 Out and About

Over the past weeks we’ve explored the role of the artist as we tried to discover where beauty lies. In the last half of the course we’ll turn our attention to considering the role of audience as we explore the strange and mesmerizing power which beauty has over us.

Out and About (10 marks)

There is nowhere better to begin than by going out and about and experiencing art. In this assignment, you will be asked to attend an event. Try something new, something different. You can go to an art gallery, watch a documentary, see a play, go to a museum, go listen to an author reading, see a musical or participate in one of the other events taking place on campus and around the city. I’ve provided you with a list of some free events taking place in the upcoming weeks that you might consider. If you know of any other events aimed at students or taking place in the broader community let me know and I’ll post them in the EVENTS file you’ll find on our web-ct site.

After attending your event, sit back and summarize your experience. In your account be sure to include the following information:

1. Provide a ticket stub, program, business card, etc. for the event.

2. Provide a description of the event itself. Tell me who put on the event, where it took place and when you attended. Then give a description of what you saw or heard or witnessed.

3. Give an account of the other people in attendance at this event. Try as well to measure their response in comparison to your own feelings or thoughts in relation to what was going on.

The Phenomenology of Art (10 marks)

Now sit back and answer one of the following questions reflecting on your outing and in light of your readings, lectures and class discussions.

1. Bourdieu outlines two different approaches to art. Was yours a “respectful” or “intimate” response to this event? Explain your response. Consider the implications of your answer in relation to attendance at other art events.

2. Imagine you pulled someone off the street and gave them a free ticket to attend this event. Would they be subject to Testadura’s Problem? Why or why not? Consider the implications of your response.

3. Bourdieu argues that “a work of art has meaning and interest only for someone who possesses the cultural competence, that is, the code, into which it is encoded.” Explain this claim. Did you have the necessary code in order to understand and be interested by the works on display at this event? Why or why not? Reflect on the implications of your response in relation to your attendance at subsequent art events.

4. Describe the audience in attendance at your event. Relying on the information you could glean from your observations, what common qualities and features defined this group? Bourdieu argues that art is a means for maintaining divisions in our society. Was this hypothesis proven by your experience? Defend your answer making reference to one of the theorists we have discussed in this course.

5. Did you like the work(s) you saw at this event? What factors would Danto went into shaping your “taste”? Is his argument convincing? Why or why not? Reflect on the implications of your view.