LA 430

Ethics of Art and Design

Instructor: Crispin Sartwell

Bunting 435

phone: 410 225 2302

People who will eventually be artists and designers must grapple in a serious way with the ethical and legal issues that will arise in their practice. These include: Who am I working for, and what is their place and my place in the economy and polity? What are the limits of free expression? What is the place of art in public spaces and of artists in public discourse? What is the relation of art to technology and of technology to social issues? Is art a luxury of the rich and are artists their servants? What kind of sexual or political content is appropriate to art and design in various contexts? Should governments fund the arts and if so how? How does our made environment affect our characters? What is the role of the media and popular art/culture in making consciousness? What kind of society are creative people creating?

Required Texts:

The Tilted Arc Controversy, by Harriet Senie

many xeroxed handouts

The Society of the Spectacle, by Guy Debord

Required work for the course consist of weekly one-page essays, a take-home mid-term and a take-home final. The essays will account for 40% of the grade, and each of the exams 25%. The other 10% is class participation and improvement through the semester. Plagiarism is grounds for failure.

Readings:

September 16

Senie, pp. 1-73

September 23

Senie, pp. 74-153

September 30

selection from Utility Reassessed (handout)

October 7

Lang, "The Development of a Visionary" (handout)

October 14

Papanek, "Do-It-Yourself Murder" (handout)

mid-term due

October 28

Klein, "The Brand Expands" (handout)

November 4

Foster, "Design and Crime" (handout)

November 11

Margolin, "The Politics of the Artificial" (handout)

November 18

Bennett, "Commodity Fetishism and Commodity Enchantment" (handout)

November 25

Mau, "Life Style" (handout)

December 2

Debord, pp. 7-90

December 9

Debord, pp. 91-154

December 16

review and smackdown

final due