In this course students will develop and extend their art practice beyond a specific medium and grapple creatively with urgent ideas and themes shaping contemporary art. In dialogue with peers and staff, students will use their existing knowledge of technical processes and apply them to new enquiries, themes or research questions. Students will develop skills that support an increasingly independent studio practice, and produce new artworks that creatively respond to a rotating set of class topics. Students may complete this course up to four times provided they enrol in a different topic. Course content, assessment structure, and reading list will change depending on the topic and the expertise of the convenor. Please refer to the class summary for the specific term in which you wish to enrol for a detailed description.

Topics may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Art after Social Media: This topic explores how the internet and social media have reshaped art and cultural production. Through seminars and workshops, students investigate how artists respond to - or resist - the aesthetics, politics, and sociality of digital life. Students are invited to develop a series of new artworks - in any medium - grounded in critical research and experimentation, while considering how platforms enable art to circulate beyond the gallery.
• The Book as Art
• Politics of Memory: Video Installation, Sculpture, Documentary This course examines the politics of storytelling in contemporary art practice and the effects of historiographic methods, including video installation, documentary and public sculpture. The conceptual design and the realization of student projects will be informed by analysis of various contemporary art projects and their approach to formats like the visual essay, the voice-over, re-enactment, the edited interview, the archival display, and the monument. Although the media students work with is dependent on the conceptual development of their projects.
• Open to Influence: Studio Research
• Object Ontologies: This course explores the potential of three-dimensional art objects to make us feel, think, know and experience the world differently through how they are made, what they are made from and how they are used or displayed. Students will further existing skills by developing practice-led methodologies that interrogate the making of meaning and the meaning of making. 

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

1. create works that synthesise skills with new methods;
2. interpret and critique a range of methodologies in response to set projects;
3.  conduct independent research into practice and theory relevant to class topic; and
4. analyse and discuss precedents and local and global influences on artistic practice;

Research-Led Teaching

This course equips students to develop their own materials-based research methodologies and to position their object making within contemporary research practices and critique.

Field Trips

Field trip in Week 3 Thursday 12th March 14:00 - 17:00 to local institution, please note that this partly makes up for the Week 3 class missed for Canberra Day Monday 9th March. If you are unable to attend the field trip you are expected to complete an excursion independently following the Field Trip Activity sheet.

Field trip in Week 7 to Goodies Junction, Mitchell we will meet at

Additional Course Costs

Student contribution amounts under the Higher Education Support Act 2003 (HESA) and tuition fees support the course described in the Class Summary and include tuition, teaching materials, and student access to the workshops and university equipment for the stated course hours.

 The Course Material Fee is payable to the School of Art & Design to supply consumables and materials that become your physical property.

The Additional Materials Fee is payable for Materials you use in addition to those supplied as part of the course. You can purchase additional material from the Workshop and take advantage of the GST-free status. These materials are also WHS and workshop process compliant.

For further information and to Pay Materials and Access Fees go to: https://soad.cass.anu.edu.au/required-resources-and-incidental-fees  

Recommended Resources

Whether you are on campus or studying online, there are a variety of online platforms you will use to participate in your study program. These could include videos for lectures and other instruction, two-way video conferencing for interactive learning, email and other messaging tools for communication, interactive web apps for formative and collaborative activities, print and/or photo/scan for handwritten work and drawings, and home-based assessment.

ANU outlines recommended student system requirements to ensure you are able to participate fully in your learning. Other information is also available about the various Learning Platforms you may use.

Staff Feedback

Students will be given feedback in the following forms in this course:

• written comments
• verbal comments
• feedback to whole class, groups, individuals, focus group etc

Student Feedback

ANU is committed to the demonstration of educational excellence and regularly seeks feedback from students. Students are encouraged to offer feedback directly to their Course Convener or through their College and Course representatives (if applicable). Feedback can also be provided to Course Conveners and teachers via the Student Experience of Learning & Teaching (SELT) feedback program. SELT surveys are confidential and also provide the Colleges and ANU Executive with opportunities to recognise excellent teaching, and opportunities for improvement.

Class Schedule

Week/Session	Summary of Activities	Assessment
1	Course Introduction Installation experiments with found objects	Sculpture Workshop Induction, drill and ladder inductionsIntroduction to Project One: Placement/Displacement/Replacement
2	Wooden block experiments	Wood Workspace Induction, sharps inductionProject One: Placement/Displacement/Replacement continues with at least 4 hours independent making time
3	Public Holiday on Monday 9th March Class replacement field trip on Thursday 12th March.14.00-17.00. Meet at the National Museum.	Project One: Placement/Displacement/Replacement continues with at least 3 hours independent making time
4	Placement/Displacement/Replacement exhibition and crit. Note that class runs from 13.00-18.00 to make up for Week 3 Public Holiday and allow enough time to install before the crit	Project One: Placement/Displacement/Replacement assessed in class
5	Experiments in enlivening found objects using ropes, pulleys, wheels and fans	Introduction to Project Two: Liveliness and Valueat least 5 hours independent making time in preparation for Week 6
6	Deinstall exhibition. Making legged sculptures	Project Two: Liveliness and Value continues
7	Field trip to Goodies Junction, Mitchell followed by in class experiments	Project Two: Liveliness and Value continuesat least 4 hours independent making time and 2 hours writing in preparation for Week 8
8	The Museum of Living Objects	Project Two: Liveliness and Value assessed in class
9	Library based research, guided reflection, self-led initial experiments	Introduction to Project Three: Transformative Methods
10	student-led project	Project Three: Transformative Methods continues with at least 5 hours independent research and making
11	student-led project	Project Three: Transformative Methods continues with at least 5 hours independent research and making
12	Transformative Methods final crit	Project Three: Transformative Methods assessed in class

Tutorial Registration

ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.

Assessment Summary

Assessment task	Value	Due Date	Return of assessment	Learning Outcomes
Project One: Placement/Displacement/Replacement	25 %	19/03/2026	27/03/2026	1-4
Project Two: Liveliness and Value	30 %	27/04/2026	11/05/2026	1-4
Project Three: Transformative Methods	45 %	25/05/2026	02/07/2026	1-4

* If the Due Date and Return of Assessment date are blank, see the Assessment Tab for specific Assessment Task details

Policies

ANU has educational policies, procedures and guidelines , which are designed to ensure that staff and students are aware of the University’s academic standards, and implement them. Students are expected to have read the Academic Integrity Rule before the commencement of their course. Other key policies and guidelines include:

• Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
• Student Assessment (Coursework) Policy and Procedure
• Extenuating Circumstances Application
• Student Surveys and Evaluations
• Deferred Examinations
• Student Complaint Resolution Policy and Procedure
• Code of practice for teaching and learning

Assessment Requirements

The ANU is using Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the Academic Skills website. In rare cases where online submission using Turnitin software is not technically possible; or where not using Turnitin software has been justified by the Course Convener and approved by the Associate Dean (Education) on the basis of the teaching model being employed; students shall submit assessment online via ‘Canvas’ outside of Turnitin, or failing that in hard copy, or through a combination of submission methods as approved by the Associate Dean (Education). The submission method is detailed below.

Moderation of Assessment

Marks that are allocated during Semester are to be considered provisional until formalised by the College examiners meeting at the end of each Semester. If appropriate, some moderation of marks might be applied prior to final results being released.

Participation

Participation in class activities is vital to meeting the learning outcomes of this course. Guidelines will be provided on how to engage in peer critique. The aim is that robust discussion becomes one of the skills developed through this course.

Assessment Task 1

Project One: Placement/Displacement/Replacement

Value: 25%

Due: 19th March Week 4 in class assessment

Format: In class crit presentation & project installation (including process drawings, video, photography, found objects and standardised form sculptures) Monday 16th March 

From Week 1 to Week 4 we will undertake a series of experiments using found objects and standardised sculptural forms to explore how the placement of objects affects how they are encountered and understood. A field trip to the National Museum in Week 3 will hone relevant analytical skills by interrogating the display and communicated value of objects.  

In Week 4, Project One culminates with an exhibition in the SoAD Project Space that will include processual drawings, documentation of temporary interventions, found objects and sculptures made from standardised wooden blocks. Students will each give a succinct and well-prepared 4–5-minute presentation about their wooden block work that identifies and briefly discusses: 

• Two readings or audio-visual resource that have informed the making and display of the block work. 
• An artist that has guided your approach.  
• Something from your analysis of museum artifacts and display that has stuck with you and that you either want to emulate or push against.  
• Something that you have learnt or been challenged by in the process of resolving the artwork.  
• Your hope or intention in how others might read and respond to the artwork.  

Deinstalling of the exhibition will take place during class in Week 6. Returning an exhibition space to good order is an important professional skill. Students who do not participate in the deinstall or do not take due responsibility may have marks deducted post assessment.

Assessment Task 2

Project Two: Liveliness and Value

Value: 30%

Due: 28th April Week 8 in class assessment

Format: Artwork installed in the Museum of Living Objects including a 200-word interpretive label and a separate illustrated 200-words statement on what brings objects to life.

Project Two explores ways of animating objects and imbuing them with value. We will increasingly interconnect the process of making or working with an object to what the final artwork might communicate.  In Weeks 5 and 6 we will explore ideas of liveliness, agency, control through suspension, mobility and gesture. These experiments then inform approaches to selecting and reappropriating a found object to be displayed in the Museum of Living Objects in Week 8.  Methods may include ritual, activating memory, and performance along with material-based processes. Each artwork is to be accompanied by a 200-word interpretative panel. The Museum will also include a signs of life wall where each student is to post a 200-300-word statement answering the following question: what makes inanimate objects come to life? This statement is to include a photo or drawing that evidence the statement’s core argument and draws from a relevant theory and precedent to support its claim.  

 

Assessment Task 3

Project Three: Transformative Methods

Value: 45%

Due: 25th May Week 12 in class assessment

Format: Installation of final work supported by a well-considered and succinct 3-minute crit presentation and submission of an 800-word written reflection. 

In preparation for the final project, students will make or collect small component parts that will be assembled into an ambitious and intricate final artwork. The aim is to understand the tipping point in a materials-based process at which the components become more than the sum of their parts and when something transformational occurs through what has been amassed, how it has been assembled and how the artwork is displayed. Students will be guided through a series of reflections upon the skills and methods they have developed, explicitly interconnecting these methods with contemporary discourse around objects and their transformative potential.  

The Reflective Journal must include:

• Analysis of three artists whose work has transformative qualities relevant to your project. What makes their artwork transformational? What strategies do they deploy? 
• Two texts that have guided your project in the way they conceptualise the connection between matter and meaning. How did they inform your methodology? By completion of the project explain how your interpretation or understanding of texts has deepened or changed.  
• What do you feel have been the main transformational tipping points in the making of the artwork and how important are they related to how others might experience or interpret the final form? 
• Include sketches and notes that demonstrate how you evaluated and resolved the display of the final artwork.  

The final artworks will be installed in Week 12. For the final crit students will prepare a 3-minute presentation that shares an insight into how the relationship between process, materials and form shifted or grew for you in making and displaying this artwork.  

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is a core part of the ANU culture as a community of scholars. The University’s students are an integral part of that community. The academic integrity principle commits all students to engage in academic work in ways that are consistent with, and actively support, academic integrity, and to uphold this commitment by behaving honestly, responsibly and ethically, and with respect and fairness, in scholarly practice.

The University expects all staff and students to be familiar with the academic integrity principle, the Academic Integrity Rule 2021, the Policy: Student Academic Integrity and Procedure: Student Academic Integrity, and to uphold high standards of academic integrity to ensure the quality and value of our qualifications.

The Academic Integrity Rule 2021 is a legal document that the University uses to promote academic integrity, and manage breaches of the academic integrity principle. The Policy and Procedure support the Rule by outlining overarching principles, responsibilities and processes. The Academic Integrity Rule 2021 commences on 1 December 2021 and applies to courses commencing on or after that date, as well as to research conduct occurring on or after that date. Prior to this, the Academic Misconduct Rule 2015 applies.

 

The University commits to assisting all students to understand how to engage in academic work in ways that are consistent with, and actively support academic integrity. All coursework students must complete the online Academic Integrity Module (Epigeum), and Higher Degree Research (HDR) students are required to complete research integrity training. The Academic Integrity website provides information about services available to assist students with their assignments, examinations and other learning activities, as well as understanding and upholding academic integrity.

Online Submission

You will be required to electronically sign a declaration as part of the submission of your assignment. Please keep a copy of the assignment for your records. Unless an exemption has been approved by the Associate Dean (Education) submission must be through Turnitin.

Hardcopy Submission

For some forms of assessment (hand written assignments, art works, laboratory notes, etc.) hard copy submission is appropriate when approved by the Associate Dean (Education). Hard copy submissions must utilise the Assignment Cover Sheet. Please keep a copy of tasks completed for your records.

Late Submission

Individual assessment tasks may or may not allow for late submission. Policy regarding late submission is detailed below:

• Late submission not permitted. If submission of assessment tasks without an extension after the due date is not permitted, a mark of 0 will be awarded.
• Late submission permitted. Late submission of assessment tasks without an extension are penalised at the rate of 5% of the possible marks available per working day or part thereof. Late submission of assessment tasks is not accepted after 10 working days after the due date, or on or after the date specified in the course outline for the return of the assessment item. Late submission is not accepted for take-home examinations.

Referencing Requirements

The Academic Skills website has information to assist you with your writing and assessments. The website includes information about Academic Integrity including referencing requirements for different disciplines. There is also information on Plagiarism and different ways to use source material. Any use of artificial intelligence must be properly referenced. Failure to properly cite use of Generative AI will be considered a breach of academic integrity.

Returning Assignments

Students will be expected to deinstall assessable items in a timely and responsible manner

Extensions and Penalties

Extensions and late submission of assessment pieces are covered by the Student Assessment (Coursework) Policy and Procedure. Extensions may be granted for assessment pieces that are not examinations or take-home examinations. If you need an extension, you must request an extension in writing on or before the due date. If you have documented and appropriate medical evidence that demonstrates you were not able to request an extension on or before the due date, you may be able to request it after the due date.

Privacy Notice

The ANU has made a number of third party, online, databases available for students to use. Use of each online database is conditional on student end users first agreeing to the database licensor’s terms of service and/or privacy policy. Students should read these carefully. In some cases student end users will be required to register an account with the database licensor and submit personal information, including their: first name; last name; ANU email address; and other information.
In cases where student end users are asked to submit ‘content’ to a database, such as an assignment or short answers, the database licensor may only use the student’s ‘content’ in accordance with the terms of service – including any (copyright) licence the student grants to the database licensor. Any personal information or content a student submits may be stored by the licensor, potentially offshore, and will be used to process the database service in accordance with the licensors terms of service and/or privacy policy.
If any student chooses not to agree to the database licensor’s terms of service or privacy policy, the student will not be able to access and use the database. In these circumstances students should contact their lecturer to enquire about alternative arrangements that are available.

Distribution of grades policy

Academic Quality Assurance Committee monitors the performance of students, including attrition, further study and employment rates and grade distribution, and College reports on quality assurance processes for assessment activities, including alignment with national and international disciplinary and interdisciplinary standards, as well as qualification type learning outcomes.

Since first semester 1994, ANU uses a grading scale for all courses. This grading scale is used by all academic areas of the University.

Support for students

The University offers students support through several different services. You may contact the services listed below directly or seek advice from your Course Convener, Student Administrators, or your College and Course representatives (if applicable).

• ANU Health, safety & wellbeing for medical services, counselling, mental health and spiritual support
• ANU Accessibility for students with a disability or ongoing or chronic illness
• ANU Dean of Students for confidential, impartial advice and help to resolve problems between students and the academic or administrative areas of the University
• ANU Academic Skills supports you make your own decisions about how you learn and manage your workload.
• ANU Counselling promotes, supports and enhances mental health and wellbeing within the University student community.
• ANUSA supports and represents all ANU students