Producing the Documentary Photography Exhibition

ART/JOUR/MED 343: Producing the Documentary Photography Exhibition

Roosevelt University: Spring 2015

Michael Ensdorf, Professor of Photography
Department of Communication

How to reach me:

E-mail: mensdorf@roosevelt.edu
Phone: 312-341-6458
Office Hours: Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, 10am-4pm, AUD 620

The best way to reach me is by e-mail. I check it daily.

Course description: Conceptualizing, editing, and production of a documentary photography exhibition using student and/or professional work. Working together, students will generate ideas for an exhibition in the Gage Gallery, locate/produce work, and install the project in the gallery. The class will focus on the practice of curating a photography exhibition, which will include developing a theme, selecting and editing work, writing statements and artist biographies, arranging and installing the exhibition in the gallery, and promoting the exhibit to the community.

Time: 2pm-4:30pm, Thursdays
Place: Gage 507

Evaluation: Writing assignments and presentations: 25%, 
attendance and participation: 75%

Attendance: Mandatory. Lateness and any unexcused absence will affect your final grade. Three absences is considered to be deserving of a failing grade.

Readings: Handouts provided by the instructor.

Plagiarism: All work must be original. Using another artist’s illustration, photograph, or design without giving the artist credit is considered plagiarism and will not be accepted.

Accommodation of students with disabilities: Students with disabilities or other conditions that require special accommodations should let me know or contact the Academic Success Center/Office of Disability Services at (312) 341-3810 as soon as possible.

Final date for official withdrawal: The final date for an official withdrawal from a spring-term course is MARCH 19th. If you withdraw by that date, your grade for the course will be a “W” for withdrawal. After that date, if you wish to withdraw from the course, you will need to petition the registrar for late withdrawal.

Goals of the class:
 To introduce students to the practice of curating a documentary photography exhibition, and to successfully install a student-produced exhibition in the Gage Gallery. Additionally, the course will require students to develop effective ways to talk and write about photographic work.

Class Structure: Slide lectures, readings and museum/gallery excursions related to the technique, theory, history, ethical considerations, and creative process of documentary photography.

Class organization:

Week 1 (Jan 15): What is Documentary Photography? The Gage Gallery as an exhibition space.

Reading: Documentary Practice in Photography and the work of Lauren Greenfield
Assignment: For Next Week: Choose one social-documentary photographer and be prepared to present and talk about the work. (No more than a 10-15 minute presentation.)

Week 2 (Jan 22): Social-documentary presentations.

Contemporary Documentary Photography: The Ninth Floor/Sleeping by the Mississippi

Reading: On Curating
ASSIGNMENT: Attend the opening reception and lecture of the Crime Then and Now exhibition in the Gage Gallery. (Thursday, Jan. 22, 5-7pm.) Write a one-page reaction paper to the exhibition.

Week 3 (Jan 29): Photography and the Internet: A New American Picture

ASSIGNMENT: LOCATE pictures using Google Street View.

Week 4 (Feb 5): Guest Lecture: The Making of a Documentary Photography Exhibition

Week 5 (Feb 12): Gage Gallery Lecture by Richard Ross.

Documentary Photography in the 60’s and 70’s

ASSIGNMENT: Develop a theme and LOCATE pictures from a specific historical period to illustrate your idea.

Week 6 (Feb 19): Documentary Photography in the 80s and 90’s

ASSIGNMENT: Develop three possible themes for an exhibition and write them down. (You will present these ideas in class next week.)

Week 7 (Feb 26): Narrowing the Focus

In-class ASSIGNMENT: Working in groups, discuss the themes presented in class and come to a consensus on the concept for the final exhibition.

Week 8 (Mar 5): Locating Photographic Images

ASSIGNMENT: FIND PICTURES!

Week 9 (Mar 12): SPRING BREAK!

Week 10 (Mar 19): Museum and gallery excursion to view exhibitions.

Week 11 (Mar 26): Editing

ASSIGNMENT: Edit the exhibition to a manageable amount of images.

Week 12 (Apr 2): Finalizing the Exhibition

ASSIGNMENT: Create the final edit of the exhibition. Write the opening statement. Write captions.

Week 13 (Apr 9): Installation

ASSIGNMENT: Arrange and install the exhibition in the gallery.

Week 14 (Apr 16): Installation

ASSIGNMENT: Arrange and install the exhibition in the gallery.

Week 15 (Apr 23):
 Installation

ASSIGNMENT: Arrange and install the exhibition in the gallery.

Week 16 (Apr 30, 3:30-6): Final exhibition critique

Note: Weekly course content is subject to change.

 

About your instructor:

Mike Ensdorf, Associate Dean/Arts & Sciences, Professor of Photography/Journalism & Media Studies, Founder and Director/Gage Gallery at Roosevelt University. Master of Fine Arts, University of Illinois at Chicago.

Ensdorf helped develop the Journalism and Media Studies program at Roosevelt University in Chicago. In Roosevelt’s Department of Communication he teaches: Film and Digital Photography, Photobook History and Practice, and Pinhole to Cameraphone: Photography’s History and Practice. Ensdorf’s photographic work was included in the Iterations exhibition at the International Center of Photography in New York, and in the book of the same name published by MIT Press. His work was also included in the Photography after Photography exhibition, touring museums in Germany, Austria, Denmark, Switzerland, Finland, and finishing at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia. His work is represented in the German and English editions of the book, Photography after Photography: Memory and Representation in the Digital Age, published by G+B Arts. Ensdorf’s work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago. As founding director, Ensdorf has developed the Gage Gallery at Roosevelt University into “Chicago’s premier space for showcasing contemporary critical social photo-documentary work.” (Michael Weinstein, NewCity, Chicago.)