Here is a summary of the important aspects of Elisabeth Sussman’s catalog essay for Invented Worlds catalog essay.

• Introduction — artist names, title, how the artists work, the main theme (kind of like the “thesis statement” or “elevator pitch” for the exhibition).
• Context — these works were not made in a vacuum, what else was going on? historical context, both within the art world and outside of it.
• Expanding the thesis — talk specifics about the works and how they relate- this is a good place to compare and contrast specific works. Use the works as evidence to support you curatorial mission! Talk about why the works you’ve included are so great and why viewers should appreciate them.
• Aesthetic & Conceptual — Be sure to touch on both of these areas! What is the artistic intent or concept behind the works? How do the works actually look to the audience- what is the aesthetic experience of the viewer?

When you are ready to post your video to Vimeo:

1. With your project open in Final Cut, go to File -> Export -> Using QuickTime Conversion (2nd option)
2. In the “save” dialogue box, select “MPEG-4″ on the format drop down menu.
3. Click the “options…” button and select MP4 (not MP4 (ISMA), which is the default)
4. For “video format” select H.264, then configure the rest of the export settings according to Vimeo’s compression guidelines, listed here.
5. Look carefully at all the guidelines- if you forget to change the data rate, or pick the wrong image size, you won’t get good results. Exporting can take a little while, so give yourself some time!

Appropriate: to take (something) for one’s own use, typically without the owner’s permission : his images have been appropriated by advertisers. (New Oxford American Dictionary)

Appropriation (art): The act of adopting, borrowing, recycling or sampling aspects (or the entire form) of man-made visual culture in a new work. (The Tate Collection Glossary, wikipedia)

Mashup (digital): a digital media file containing text, graphics, audio, video, and/or animation, which recombines and modifies existing digital works to create a derivative work. (wikipedia)

Early 20th Century Precedents: Collage & Readymades

• Cubist Collages: Georges Braque, 1913
• Readymades: Duchamp’s 1917 Urinal
• Dadaist photomontage of the 1920s: Hannah Hoch

1936: The first version of Benjamin’s The Work of Art is published in Paris, 3 years after Benjamin flees Nazi persecution in Germany.

1968: Years after Benjamin’s death, The Work of Art is translated into English for the first time and embraced by scholars and artists grappling with the culturally and economically difficult period surrounding the Vietnam War.

The 1980s: A postmodern approach in photography & film

• Martin Arnold’s reworked Hollywood films
• Richard Prince: The Cowboys, Untitled (Cowboy) at Christie’s, Blake Gopnik on Prince.
• Sherrie Levine’s work in general, and its re-appropriation by Michael Mandiberg in After Sherrie Levine:

2010: Digital Mashup Culture is widespread in fine arts and popular culture

• Rashaad Newsome’s The Conductor
• Greg.org’s 300×404
• Girl Talk’s most recent release All Day, NY Mag Article, Greg Gillis on WNYC’s Soundcheck
• Christian Marclay’s The Clock (on the BBC, NY Times Review)

Artists and theorists of the 80s cited Walter Benjamin’s The Work of Art as influential to their of working and thinking. Let’s look more closely at Benjamin’s attitude towards art forms that engage the masses (i.e. film, in his day). Did Benjamin support or disparage this way of engaging with visual material? Do Benjamin’s ideas about reproduction, distracted viewing, and mass engagement relate to mashup culture on the internet?
A nice breakdown and explanation of Benjamin’s attitude towards what he considered to be more traditional, bourgeois art forms can be found here.