Art in the City
Art in the City provides a blended (online content, in-person tutorials) introduction to art issues, systems, and research for non-visual art majors.
The course considers Toronto as a microcosm of the art world through careful study of local art exhibitions, public installations, historical sites, and art events. Themes include the role of artist-run centres, museums, public art projects, architecture, arts festivals, and guerrilla art practices in the complex and multicultural urban art scene. Students are introduced to contemporary art practices and research methods through weekly readings, podcast lectures, online films, downloadable walking tours, and gallery visits. After the original course designer, Dr. Richard Hill, left York in 2015, the course had no regular instructor. This resulted in a dilemma of either maintaining Dr. Hill’s format and online content, or investing much time and effort revising with no guarantee that the work would be utilized again the following year.
In 2017, Melanie Wilmink and Erin Yunes led a course revision in conjunction with Stacy Denton and Dan Adler. Over the course of several months, we worked to revise the syllabus and produce new online content that included podcast lectures, video tours, and audio walking tours of the AGO and the York University campus.
The re-visioning of Art in the City decoupled the content from a single instructor by inviting a variety of guest lectures on weekly topics. This meant that yearly changes in course directorship would not result in confusion or outdated content. With the new modular system, it is easier for subsequent course directors to update content as needed, while maintaining a coherent atmosphere for the course. This format also showcases a range of pedagogical approaches and perspectives within the department and the broader field of visual culture. It also allows for some experimentation with different forms of online content and experiential learning, since instructors only have to focus on one, or two, lectures at a time.
Melanie was also course director for the Fall 2018 session of this course, managing 12 Teaching Assistants who supported 18 tutorial sections. Within this role, Melanie developed TA teaching skills with detailed onboarding documents as well as a short grading workshop. She surveyed student and TA feedback to further understand how to enrich the course, and created succession documents to support future course directors. The revision was successful enough to attract interest from the York University English Language Institute (YUELI), and Melanie supported the early stages of their development of an ESL supplementary program linked to Art in the City.
Sample the course content:
AGO TOUR PODCAST
* Itinerary
PUBLIC ART: A Conversation with Brandon Vickerd