Long Term Interior Installation Assignment Guidelines

Assignment:

• Create an environment that immerses the viewer in a sensory/intellectual/emotional experience.
• Strive to create an environment that offers opportunity for the viewer to investigate. Therefore, concepts for the viewer will unfold over time. 
• Keep in mind an installation is a temporary art form that allows space, time, materials and concepts to exist in one environment. 
• Read the text below to acquaint yourself with installation art. In class I will show installation artists and discuss the art form and process further. 

Guidelines:

• The content of your installation will fall under one of the following categories - Social Commentary, History, Math, Science.
• Select one of two spaces in the art building. You are required to use the walls, floor and ceiling in a meaningful and thoughtful way. 
• Avoid predictable solutions/imagery/symbols/cliches. Strive for metaphors, irony and mystery. 

Preparation:

• Very Important - Understand the space you are working with. Does natural light fall on the space? If so, when/where/how long? How many surfaces do you have to work with and what are the characteristics of these surfaces (walls, floor, ceiling)? How can artificial light be manipulated? Do any sounds exist in the space? What are the dimensions of the space? How will you overcome/incorporate unwanted qualities of a space (air vents, light switches, pipes, baseboards, etc...)?
• You and the space have to work together. Spend time with the space. Listen to the space. 
• After you have spent time with the space, complete a Research Packet (I will post on CANVAS). 
• As a class, we will discuss the ideas you discovered while completing the Research Packet. 
• Select one idea from the Research Packet and prepare a small scale model out of foam board. Bring to class for presentation and discussion. 
• Materials and processes are your choice. Some of you may want to use sound, scent, projections, kinetics and/or performance to communicate your ideas. 

What to put on your blog:

• Professional Images
• Title
• Artist Statement

Difference Between Sculpture and Installation
At first glance, some installations may resemble traditional craft based sculpture or the more modernist assemblage art. But this is an illusion. Installation art effectively inverts the principles of sculpture. Whereas the latter is designed to be viewed from the outside as a self-contained arrangement of forms, installations often envelop the spectator in the space of the work. The viewer enters a controlled environment featuring objects as well as light, sound and projected imagery. The formalism of the composition remains of secondary importance - it is the effect on the spectator's spacial and cultural expectations that remains paramount.

Definition & Characteristics
Installation art is a relatively new genre of contemporary art - practised by an increasing number of postmodernist artists - which involves the configuration or "installation" of objects in a space, such as a room or warehouse. The resulting arrangement of material and space comprises the "artwork".

Because an installation usually allows the viewer to enter and move around the configured space and/or interact with some of its elements, it offers the viewer a very different experience from (say) a traditional painting or sculpture which is normally seen from a single reference point. Furthermore, an installation may engage several of the viewer's senses including touch, sound and smell, as well as vision.

Above all, installation is a form of conceptual art - a genre in which "ideas" and "impact" are regarded as being more important than the quality of a finished "product" or "work of art". (Remember, an installation is a purely temporary work of art. Unless it is photographed or documented in some way, there will be no evidence of its existence.) If a traditional work of art allows us to appreciate the craftsmanship of the artist, an installation allows us to experience the "artwork" and perhaps even rethink our attitudes and values.

Text source link here.