INVENTING RAUSCHENBERG: THE ARTIST AS ENGINEER : February / March 2017

Across five monday evenings in the new year of 2017 I had the chance to lead a course at Tate Modern, after hours, in the Robert Rauschenberg exhibition itself. With a remarkable group of people, ten hours were passed amongst the extraordinary range of artworks that made up this retrospective. All told I spent almost exactly twenty four hours in that space, most often alone or in a small group. I was able to really engage, in a way that is almost impossible in normal circumstance, with the lessons Rauschenberg's lifetime of art practise and general decency had to offer me. And I did feel it was a personal connection, feeling an immense kinship with his prolific and curious mode. 

I've generated an unwieldy volume of notes on his work that I intend to turn into an article or sorts, or a reminder for myself in smoother print, but for now, just fresh from the course's conclusion, I can only reflect on the generous human experience it provided. I must helped with quite some grace by curators Luisa Ulyett and Joseph Kendra, and I will admit at times the unique format of the after-hours adult-ed type format did provide challenges, I believe myself to be too conscious of every individual detail at times, trying to do all things at once, making sure everyone involved is satisfied in all ways, when this not possible and counterintuitive.  However the experience was resonant because of those generous enough to participate, really warm, intelligent, discerning people I had the chance to spend an extended time with, a ten hour conversation.

Along with my copious notes we did produce, as a group, some mini Combines, some transfer image illustrations and in the final week, some performances, the videos of which are below.

http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/course/robert-rauschenberg/inventing-rauschenberg-artist-engineer Over five weeks, through talks, discussions and practical writing exercises, participants will follow Rauschenberg’s innovations fundamental to 20th century art, while surrounded by his work in Tate Modern. Discover Rauschenberg’s innovative use of material, his ground-breaking sculptural combines, his engagement with popular and global culture beyond the US, his exploration of collaboration and conceptualism at the Black Mountain College, as well as his work in the field of performance, and his telling use of technology. This course is a chance to trace this iconoclastic artist’s life and continued reinvention, whose practise genuinely scanned the fullest range of artistic possibility proximate to our time, and as part of the course, to explore in your own work the lessons we can draw from his extraordinary legacy. 

Course plan: Subject matter from week to week will naturally overlap. Each week participants will be asked to do some relevant research and to contribute to discussions on themes and have the opportunity to present new works responding to the concepts after in lesson exercises.

As part of the exhibition at Tate Modern celebrating the pioneering work of Robert Rauschenberg, this innovative course will allow participants to follow Rauschenberg’s explorations, so fundamental to 20th century art, through talks, discussions and hands on practical exercises. 
http://www.stevenjfowler.com/tatemoderncourse

Week 1 : February 20th - A Question of Art
An introduction to the course framed by Rauschenberg's lifelong sense of curiosity and invention. We will explore the effect his early life and his dyslexia had on his constant questioning of what art is, and his refusal to accept conventional categorisation. Working "in the gap between art and life" we will discuss works such as "Erased de Kooning Drawing" and "White Paintings."

Week 2 : February 27th - Material and Method
Groundbreaking in his use of material from very early in his practise, Rauschenberg always met material with method, purposeful and playful in his art making. This week we will explore Rauschenberg's famous Combines as just one small part of a remarkably multifaceted output which included painting, drawing, found sculpture, collage, photography, printmaking, silk-screen printing, papermaking and performance.

Week 3 : March 6th - Collaboration and Performance
From attending the Black Mountain College to his time designing theatre sets, collaboration was key to Rauschenberg's approach to art, ever collective and against the artist as singular. We will explore the effect this communal practise had on his work and its role in his journey to becoming a pioneer in the field of performance art. From conceptual drama to action painting, for Rauschenberg, process was always paramount.

Week 4 : March 13th - Technology
Ever mindful of his times, Rauschenberg was also a pioneer in exploring the intersections between post-war technology and art. From launching Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.) with Billy Klüver to collaborate with engineers, to utilising the latest digital iris prints and biodegradable vegetable dyes, to underscore his environmentalism, we will discover Rauschenberg’s role in advancing this field of inquiry.

Week 5 : March 20th - Internationalism, Pop Culture and Ethics
Tying together the great concerns of Rauschenberg's life, we will explore his ambitious ROCI project (Rauschenberg Overseas Culture Interchange), his constant engagement with American popular culture and pop art, and the underlying ethical concerns which drove these, and arguably all of his works - a profound and serious sense of persistent inventiveness, humour, candor and worldliness.

A Language Art: Course for Tate Modern  (Oct 26th to Nov 30th 2015)

An amazing experience, to continue my work with Tate Modern after a Talking Performance, to teach a six week course, each lesson in a different gallery, surrounded by the works being referred to. I had the privilege to share ideas, concepts, history and methodologies that cross both avant-garde writing and modern art, from Concrete poetry to Asemic writing, from Sound poetry to Collectives, from the Painted word to Poster art, to show how interlinked they are, how fundamental to both arts (even if one has embraced the theoretical, emotional, social and political developments of the latter 20th and early 21st century, and the other hasn't). The course was global and allowed me to explore further than ever before the profound reasons behind most of the innovation so definitional to the work I am most excited by. We even had a session in the Tate stores and I was able to bring out original artworks / poems by Henri Michaux, Christian Dotremont, Karel Appel, Cy Twombly, RB Kitaj, Jenny Holzer, Tom Phillips, Ian Hamilton Finlay and others who have influenced me so much. The course was attended by particularly generous and sophisticated artists, poets, book makers and people in advanced study, so it was a engaged, full of new works and ideas and really generously supported by an brilliant curatorial staff at Tate Modern, led by Joseph Kendra. Really a pleasure to do, I gained much from the weeks and a privilege to share those hours in Tate Modern with fellow artists. All the course details are below:

Tate Modern, In the galleriesL Mondays, 26 October – 30 November 2015, 18.45–20.45, session on Monday 9 November at Tate Britain. 
http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/courses-and-workshops/language-art-avant-garde-poetry-and-modern-art

Over six weeks, SJ Fowler explores the intersections between the post-war traditions of modern art and avant-garde poetry. Discovering poets and artists from the Tate collection who make use of language, sound, space, printing and writing, this course reveals how these practises are fundamental to both arts.

Sessions are based within the galleries of Tate Modern in the presence of works by Gerhard Richter, Li Yuan-Chia and RB Kitaj, which bring to light some of the great moments in modern art and poetry that have enriched the traditions of both writing and art-making. Each week participants are also introduced to contemporary examples of work inspired by those held in the Tate Collection, as well as encouraged to create and share their own avant-garde poetry and text art in the extraordinary environment of the museum. One session is held at Tate Britain and includes the chance to explore Tate’s Prints and Drawings Rooms.

This course is for people interested in developing their own skills and understanding of experimental poetry and modern and contemporary art practises.

The onus is on how these great moments in modern art and poetry can enrich writing and art-making practise, rather than dense historical analysis. It’s a rare chance to excavate avant- garde poetry in such a setting, and each week participants will have the chance to create new works in the extraordinary environment of the Tate Modern’s galleries. The below course breakdown is subject to change:

Week 1 : October 26th: The Sound Poem
Language as Sound / The condition of being resonant / Multi & non-lingual /  The score
Drawing from the work of John Cage, Bob Cobbing, Jean Debuffet, Marina Abramovic, Bp Nichol & more.

Week 2 : November 2nd : The Abstract letter
Asemic poetry / Making new languages / Abstract writing / Avant-garde calligraphy
Drawing from the work of Christian Dotremont, Henri Michaux, Li Yuan-chia, Yves Klein & more.

Week 3 : November 9th : The Printed Word
Printing / The letter as symbol / The Poster / Minimalism & Repetition
Drawing from the work of Ed Ruscha, Jenny Holzer, Carl Andre, Louise Bourgeois, Victor Pasmore, Jonathan Borofsky & more.

Week 4 : November 16th : The Painted Word
Handwriting & Writing Art / Colour as Language / Writing as frame, focus, context / Illustration
Drawing from the work of Fiona Banner, Cy Twombly, RB Kitaj, Chris Ofili, Joseph Beuys & more.

Week 5 : November 23rd : The Collective 
Collaboration / Collective methodologies / Painter to Poet, Poet to Painter
Drawing from the work of Pierre Alechinsky, Karel Appel, Constant, Asger Jorn, Stephen Gilbert & more.

Week 6 : November 30th : The Concrete poem
Visuality as meaning / The page as canvas / Font as meaning
Drawing from the work of Ian Hamilton Finlay, Mary Ellen Solt, Emmett Williams, John Sharkey, Eugen Gomringer & more.

All poets & artists featured in the course are drawn from the Tate’s collection, though contemporary examples will be a fundamental fixture of the course.