Welcome! You've landed on the BBB (Bittanti's Bulletin Board).
I'm lucky enough to be an academic researcher. I work with the Stanford Humanities Lab at Stanford University as a Research Associate. I also teach at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco and Oakland. I collaborate with the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose', California as a Curator. I like to write (WIRED, Rolling Stone, LINK, Duellanti). I like to create stuff.
Above all, I love playing videogames.
"So, it seemed that the United States government could solve its reputation problems with branding – it's just that it needed a branding campaign and product spokesperson sufficiently hip, young and exciting to compete in today's tough market. The nation found that in Obama, a man who clearly has a natural feel for branding and who has surrounded himself with a team of top-flight marketers. His social networking guru, for instance, is Chris Hughes, one of the young founders of Facebook. His social secretary is Desirée Rogers, a glamorous Harvard MBA and former marketing executive. And David Axelrod, Obama's top adviser, was formerly a partner in ASK Public Strategies, a PR firm which, according to Business Week, "has quarterbacked campaigns" for everyone from Cable vision to AT&T. Together, the team has marshalled every tool in the modem marketing arsenal to create and sustain the Obama brand: the perfectly calibrated logo (sunrise over stars and stripes); expert viral marketing (Obama ringtones); product placement (Obama ads in sports video games); a 30-minute infomercial (which could have been cheesy but was universally heralded as "authentic"); and the choice of strategic brand alliances (Oprah for maximum reach, the Kennedy family for gravitas, and no end of hip-hop stars for street cred)." (Naomi Klein, The Guardian)
Photo courtesy of Cerebration Sensation
Ok, here's the...
Course Description
The past two decades have witnessed an explosion of interest, research and writing on visual culture within the humanities, arts, and social sciences. This emerging field recognizes the predominance of visual forms of media, communication, and information in our times. Advanced Visual Studies provides an informative and extensive analysis of key aspects of contemporary culture that rely on visual images. By using a broad spectrum of approaches that include cultural studies, philosophy, anthropology, art history, media studies, gender studies, performance studies, and critical theory we will explore a series of works, practices, and phenomena in the fields of art, cinema, videogames, advertising, television, comic books, music videos, cartography, fashion, and digital media.
Advanced Visual Studies does not limit its investigation to the study of representation alone. Rather, it investigates the material production, dissemination, semiotics, and remediation of images and imaging systems in all their various manifestations - artistic, popular, and commercial. The course has three main goals: to provide a deep understanding of a wide range of methods, approaches, themes, and paradigms that constitute image-based research; to invite students to rethink the role and function of the critic in an image-saturated culture; to develop an innovative form of research that employs a mixture of visual methods and analytical approaches within one study.
Among the others, we will be reading and discussing contributions from Anne Friedberg, Slavoj Zizek, Jean Baudrillard, Lev Manovich, Susan Sontag, Marshall McLuhan, Scott McCloud, Linda Williams, Edward Tufte, and William Gibson. In short, following Nicholas Mirzoeff's definition of Visual Culture, this class will provide students with "a tactic for studying the functions of a world addressed through pictures, images, and visualizations, rather than through texts and words".
Advanced Visual Studies requires high levels of participation. In addition to a final project (a research paper), students will write weekly written responses to a variety of topics based on readings, screenings, and class discussions.And here's a visual walk-through of the course:
Launch your own SlideRocket presentation!
Additional information
Video Excerpts from:
Norman Mailer and Marshall McLuhan's conversation (CBC Television, 1968)
Six Degrees of Separation (Fred Schepisi, 1993)
Bibliography - recommended reading:
"A Big Theory of Culture. John Brockman interviews Brian Eno", EDGE. Third Culture, 1997
Paul Auster, New York Trilogy, 1985 (especially City of Glass)
Paul Kasarik, David Mazzucchelli, City of Glass: The Graphic Novel, New York: Picador 1994
William Gibson, Pattern Recognition,New York: Random House, 2003
Marshall McLuhan, a profile on Wikipedia
An essay on McLuhan's early views on art by Janine Marchessault (useful for future reference)
A definition of avant-garde.
And here's the schedule & reading material for the 2010 Spring course.
California College of the Arts
VISST-300-07: Advanced Visual Studies
Spring 2010 Course Schedule & Material
Instructor: Matteo Bittanti
This schedule is tentative and may change as needed.
Links, audiovisual material, and extras will be added onto the AVS class blog on a weekly basis
WEEK #1
1/15 Introduction to Advanced Visual Studies
What is Advanced Visual Studies?
Screening: excerpts from "Norman Mailer and Marshall McLuhan in conversation" (1968)
WEEK #2
1/22 Fashion Studies (1 of 2)
Readings:
Lars Svendsen, “The Origins and Spread of Fashion" in Fashion. A Philosophy, London: Reaktion Books, 2006, 36-63.
Roland Barthes, "Clothing History", in The Language of Fashion, New York: Berg, 2004, 3-41
Douglas Haddow, "Hipster: The Dead End of Western Civilization", Adbusters, July 2008. [highly recommended - the users' comments published online]
Assignment:
Write a critique of the fashion photoblog The Sartorialist .
WEEK #3
1/29 Fashion Studies (2 of 2)
Readings:
"Fashion, Clothing and Social Revolution" by Malcom Barnard from Fashion as Communication, New York: Routledge, 1996, 121-144.
Tom Reichert, "Designer Desire: Jeans", in The Erotic History of Advertising, New York: Prometheus Books, 2003, 203-231.
Ken Gelder, "Anachronistic Self-Fashioning. Dandyism, tattoo communities and leatherfolk", in Subcultures, London: Routledge, 2007.
Optional:
Kawamura, Yuniya, "Adoption and Consumption of Fashion", in Fashion-ology. An Introduction to Fashion Studies, New York: Berg, 2005, 89-103.
Lars Svendsen, “Fashion and Consumption" in Fashion. A Philosophy, London: Reaktion Books, 2006, 111-137.
Screening
Excerpts from Just for Kicks (Lisa Leone, 2005)
Assignment
Describe the fashion style of a specific subculture of your choice: geeks, nerds, drag-queens, gamers, metrosexuals, ganguro girls... Feel free to collect and use images to support your explanation/illustration. If you can, explain the rationale behind their choice of garment (hint: Douglas Haddow' essay on hipster could be helpful here - ditto for Gelder's).
WEEK #4
2/5 Celebrity Studies (1 of 3)
Readings:
“Spending Time With (a) Celebrity: Sam Taylor's Wood's video portrait of David Beckham" by Catherine Fowler, in Sue Holmes and Sean Redmond (Eds.), Framing Celebrity, New York: Routledge, 2006, 241-252.
Momin Rahman, "Is Straight the New Queer? David Beckham and the Dialectics of Celebrity", in P.D. Marshall (Ed.), The Celebrity Culture Reader, London: Routledge, 2006, 223-229.
Clive Thompson, “The Age of Microcelebrity: Why Everyone's a Little Brad Pitt”, WIRED, November 2007.
Assignment:
Write a critique of the photoblog LastNightParty.
WEEK #5
2/12 Celebrity Studies (2 of 3)
Readings:
P.D. Marshall, "The Meanings of the Popular Music Celebrity: The Construction of Distinctive Authenticity" in The Celebrity Culture Reader, London: Routledge, 2006, 557-580.
Sheila Whiteley, "The Killing Fields of Popular Music", in Sue Holmes and Sean Redmond (Eds.), Framing Celebrity, New York: Routledge, 2006, 241-252.
Hugh Barker and Yuval Taylor, "Where Did You Sleep last Night? Nirvana, Leadbelly, and the Allure of the Primeval", in Faking It. The Quest for Authenticity in Popular Music, New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2007, 1-29.
Chuck Klosterman, "Oh, The Guilt", in Eating the Dinosaur, New York: Scribner, 2009, 25-51.
Screening
Excerpts from Last Days (Gus Van Sant, 2005)
Assignment
Write a critique of Lady Gaga's iconography - your analysis should focus in these three music videos, but could be augmented by looking at other visual elements (photos, magazine covers, tv appearances etc.). By critique I mean a visual deconstruction of the motifs, themes, and recurring elements in her aesthetics.
Lady GaGa "Poker Face"
Lady GaGa "Just Dance"
Lady Gaga "Bad Romance"
Highly recommended: Ann Powers, "Frank Talk With Lady Gaga", LA Times, Dec 13 2009.
WEEK #6
2/19 Celebrity Studies (3 of 3)
Readings:
Kathy Davis, "Beauty and the Female Body", in P. David Marshall, The Celebrity Culture Reader, London: Routledge, 2006, 557-580.
Despina Kakoudaki, "Pinup: the American Secret Weapon in World War II", in Linda Williams (Ed.), Porn Studies, Durham: Duke University Press, 2004, 235-370.
Roosemary Coombe, "Author(iz)ing The Celebrity. Engendering Alternative Identities", in P. David Marshall, The Celebrity Culture Reader, London: Routledge, 2006, 721-769.
Jackie Stacey, "Feminine Fascinations. A Question of Identification?", in P. David Marshall, The Celebrity Culture Reader, London: Routledge, 2006, 253-285.
Screenings:
Excerpts from Beauty in a Jar (A&E, 2008), America the Beautiful (Darryl Roberts, 2007).
Assignment:
Pick your favorite celebrity and explain why you find him/her so captivating and charismatic. The celebrity has to bee human (sorry, no cartoon characters or videogame avatars this time). Once again, use the readings as a starting point for your critique, that is, if pertinent, reference ideas, models, and explanations provided by the authors - feel free to use all the readings in the celebrity studies cluster.
WEEK #7
2/26 Advertising (1 of 2)
Readings:
Chuck Klosterman, "It Will Shock You How Much It Never Happened", in Eating the Dinosaur, New York: Scribner, 2009, 177-188.
Judith Williamson, Decoding Advertising, London: Marion Boyars Publishers. (excerpt). Chapter 1 ("A Currency of Signs") and 2 ("Signs Address Somebody") (15-40).
Tom Reichert, "Intimate Intimations 1950-1975", in The Erotic History of Advertising, New York: Prometheus Books, 2003, 166-190.
Screening
Various clips from Mad Men, series 1, 2 and 3.
Assignment
Write a critique of the Absolut Ad campaign “In An Absolut World”
WEEK #8
3/5 Advertising (2 of 2)
Readings:
“Calvin Klein Jeans_A case study”
“Benetton’s Campaign”
“The King is Naked. Advertisement and Fashion. The Benetton's Phenomenon” by Annamaria Silvana De Rosa from Representations of the Social by Kay Deaux, Gina Philogène, 2002 (Download DeRosaBenetton)
Screening
Excerpts from The Production of Meaning (Adbusters), The Persuaders (PBS)
Assignment
Examine and critically discuss the American Apparel ad campaigns - one and two.
Recommended reading: Christopher Palmeri, "Living on the Edge at American Apparel", Business Week, 2005.
WEEK #9
3/12 Porn Studies (1 of 2)
Readings:
“Above the Pulp Line. The Cultural Meaning of Erotic Art" by Linda Nead, from More Dirty Looks. Gender, Pornography and Power edited by Pamela Church Gibson, London: BFI Books, 1993, pp. 216-223;
Alyce Mahon, "Eroticism and the Culture Wars of the 1980s and 1990s", Eroticism & Art, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005: 227-229.
"The Prehistory: The Frenzy of the Visible", by Linda Williams, from Hard Core, Power, Pleasure and The Frenzy of the Visible, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989, 34-58.
“Big Red Son” by David Foster Wallace, from Consider The Lobster and Other Essays, New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2005.
Screenings
Excerpts from: Pornography. The Secret History of Civilization (BBC), Slavoj Zizek’s The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema (Part 2)
Assignment:
Write a critique of Justine Lai's Sex With Presidents series
WEEK #10
3/19 Porn Studies (2 of 2)
Readings:
Alyce Mahon, "Erotic Fragmentation and Abjection" in Eroticism and Art, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005: 261-272.
Jennifer Boyle, "White Sex: Vaginal Davis Does Vanessa Beecroft" in Sex Object, Minneapolis: The University of Minnesota Press, 2006, 121-140.
Linda Williams, "Fetish and Hard Core: Marx, Freud, and the' Money Shot'", in Hard Core, Power, Pleasure and The Frenzy of the Visible, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989, 93-120.
Ara Osterweil, "Andy Warhol's Blow Jon: Toward Recognition of a Pornographic Avant-garde" in Linda Williams, Porn Studies, Durham:m Duke Unievrsity Press, 2006.
Optional:
Josh Sides, "The Unspoken Sexuality of Golden Gate Park" in Erotic City. Sexual Revolutions and the Making of Modern San Francisco, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009, 123-141.
Screening:
Excerpts from Thinking XXX (Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, 2004), Pornography. The Secret History of Civilization (BBC).
Assignment:
Explore, discuss, and investigate Vanessa's Beecroft's installations, in particular: VB39, VB42, VB43, VB55, VB61; and her pictorial work for Vogue magazine. Link.
Recommended literature on Beecroft: articles from The New Yorker, The New York Times.
WEEK #11
3/26 Art Worlds (1 of 3)
Readings:
Howard Becker, "Aesthetics, Aestheticians and Critics", Art Worlds, Berkeley: University of California Press 1982, 131-164
Sarah Thornton, "The Crit", in Seven Days in the Art World, London: Granta, 2008, 41-75.
Screenings:
Excerpts from Who Gets to Call it Art? (Peter Rosen, 2006), The Cool School (Morgan Neville, 2007); Beautiful Losers (Aaron Rose, Joshua Leonard, 2008).
Assignment:
TBD
WEEK #12
4/2 Art Worlds (2 of 3)
Readings:
Jean Baudrillard, "Art Contemporary of... Itself", in The Conspiracy of Art, Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2006, 89-98.
Dave Hickey, "The Birth of the Big, Beautiful Art Market", in Air Guitar, Essays on Art & Democracy, Art Issues. Press, 1997, 61-72
Screening:
Excerpts from [Untitled] (Jonathan Parker, 2009), Art Safari (Ben Lewis, 2007).
Assignment:
Write a review of Ben Lewis' Art Safari episode(s) shown in class. Focus on his style of discussing art: is it effective, penetrating, revealing? Please concentrate on the interviewer rather than on the interviewed artist.
WEEK #13
4/9 Art Worlds (3 of 3)
Screening: The Contemporary Art Bubble (Ben Lewis, 2008)
No assignment
WEEK #14
4/16 In-class workshop Writing and Presentations
Students are required to attend the in-class-workshop
Missed class=10% penalty to final project grade.
WEEK #14
4/23 Final presentations (1 of 2)
Students are required to attend all final presentations.
Missed class=10% penalty to final project grade.
WEEK #15
4/30 Final presentations (2 of 2)
Students are required to attend all final presentations.
Missed class=10% penalty to final project grade.
Due: All Final Papers on Tuesday April 30th 2010 by 8 AM
January 15 - February 06, 2010
“HERE IN MY CAR - Beyond Autopia and Autogeddon
Opening reception: (for both the Artcite & AGW "Here in My Car" exhibits)
Friday, January 15, 7:30 pm, at the Art Gallery of Windsor.
The AGW "Here in My Car" exhibit continues through March 28, 2010.
Closing reception at Artcite for "Here in My Car - Beyond Autopia and Autogeddon" exhibit:
Friday, February 5, 7:30 pm.
Nature of Activity: group exhibition, in conjunction with thematically related exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Windsor
image: Stephen Schudlich, Auto Shop 1
HERE IN MY CAR - Beyond Autopia and Autogeddon.
"the point is not to write a sociology of the car, the point is to drive"... Jean Baudrillard
Featuring works by:
Matteo Bittanti (San Francisco, California) "Car Crash Gamics"
Doug Bedard (Windsor, Ontario) "mixed media sculpture"
Peter Gibson / ROADSWORTH (Montreal Quebec) "traffic line interventions"
Ed Janzen (Kingsville Ontario) "mixed media signage"
Tim Laskey (Windsor Ontario) "mixed media bicycle sculpture"
Stephen Schudlich (Detroit Michigan) "chop-shop graphics series"
Eric Smith (Royal Oak, Michigan) "End of the Road photo series"
Sandi Wheaton (Windsor Ontario) "Route 66 time lapse video"
Works will explore issues surrounding the role of the car and car related infrastructure that have profoundly altered the patterns of human discourse / life. Themes will play out in the context of private vs public space, urban and exurban infrastructure, cultural assumption, choice, altered social relations and construction of the self and the other, etc.
"I believe in my own obsessions, in the beauty of the car crash, in the peace of the submerged forest, in the excitements of the deserted holiday beach, in the elegance of automobile graveyards, in the mystery of multi-storey car parks, in the poetry of abandoned hotels".... from 'What I believe', J.G. Ballard.
Click on the thumbnail to read the story (in Italian):
"In the near future, where America has become a police state, one hundred boys are selected to enter an annual contest where the winner will be awarded whatever he wants for the rest of his life. The game is simple - maintain a steady walking pace of four miles per hour without stopping. Three warnings, and you're out - permanently." (StephenKing.com)
Click on the thumbnail to read the article (in Italian).
My thoughts on the Coen's brothers masterpiece, A Serious Man, have been published on the January issue of Duellanti - whose cover boldly features the worst movie of 2010 - Jennifer's Body. Like the film itself, my reading starts and ends with Jefferson Airplane's 1967 song "Somebody to Love", a song that played a key role in at least three other films: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Cabe Guy, and Four Brothers. A Serious Man is a riddle, a puzzle, a challenge. Derby Slick's song is both the solution and an additional enigma. I argue that the real meaning of the movie can be found in the song's lyrics. Consider this passage:
"The lyrics, unusually, are in the second person, with each two-line verse setting a scene of alienation and despair, and the chorus repeating the title of the song, with slight variations such as: "... / Don't you need somebody to love/Wouldn't you love somebody to love? ..." (Wikipedia)
Related: My Favorite Movies of 2009
Click on the thumbnails below to read the full article (in Italian)
"Pacific Standard Time (PST) aka Pacific Time Zone runs down the Pacific Coast of Canada and the United States of America. It is sometimes referred to as Pacific Coast Time or West Coast Time. It includes the cities of Seattle WA, San Francisco CA, Los Angeles CA, San Diego CA & Las Vegas NV" (source)
The January 2010 issue of film and media magazine Duellanti features my monthly series Pacific Standard Time. This article - the first part of two - is devoted to the aesthetics of the Silicon Valley and it basically a my paean to parking lots, inspired by Rabbi Scott's invitation to contemplate the beauty of the everyday (the movie, obviously, is A Serious Man). The article features images from Mauro Ceolin's brilliant Promotional Landscapes (2002), which Valentina Tanni poignantly discussed here.
Another must see is Gabriele Basilico's stunning photographs of Silicon Valley.
Click the thumbnails below to read the full article
Previous episodes:
As I wrote elsewhere, Sony London's interactive karaoke is getting better and better: with the latest update, for instance, SingStore has been dramatically improved. What's in store for 2010? I am still waiting for SingStar Oasis...
Click the thumbnail below to read the article:
