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Instructions To begin this assignment, look over the many works you’ve posted on your blog and try to find some overarching theme

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Instructions

To begin this assignment, look over the many works you’ve posted on your blog and try to find some overarching theme. Keep in mind that you have considerable leeway and creativity in how you approach this, but it should be something that you can support by citing and discussing the blog entries you’ve posted over the course of the semester. You may not find a theme to connect all of the posts (though it is possible), but you can surely find some theme to connect several of them.

For example, let’s assume that I - a student in online 2020 - am looking over my blog posts, seeking within them patterns or unifying values. I notice that I chose to analyze an abstract painting that’s busy with jagged lines and sharp angles; my playlist features songs like Wham’s “Wake Me up before You Go-Go,” and Eminem’s “Stay Wide Awake”; my photo series features shots of my favorite coffee cups from my considerable home collection. I realize a unifying theme of stimulants/stimulation, thus I write “The Stimulist Manifesto” (note that I make up this term, but one that makes sense in its context, just like Andre Breton did in his “Surrealist Manifesto”--keep in mind, in this assignment you can be creative, have fun, and still be analytical). In classic manifesto-style I might begin such a document, “WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE!!!” Or, in another make-believe example, I realize that my scene from the Godfather is one of the many in which the Corleones are discussing the importance of family ties; my public sculpture happens to be of a boy and his dog; I have analyzed the scene in which Hamlet chastises his mother for betraying his late father. Thus, I might see a pattern here and pen, “Manifesto of the Loyalists,” my imaginary movement celebrating art that celebrates commitment between people.

Take time to look over your posts, consider what these say about you and your tastes and interests and try to find the connective tissue that can synthesize them. This may take some time and thought. You don’t need to connect all of the blog posts over the course of the semester, but the more the merrier, and you should reference at least three as examples in your manifesto. It is likely that your first post featuring your own representative work will help guide you toward some unifying theme.

Bear in mind that a manifesto--no matter how idiosyncratic or wildly written--is a philosophical statement. Read through the examples (varied in tone and content though they are) and get a grasp of the form. The end result should be a compelling statement of how you view art, stated in a way that's engaging and thought-provoking even to someone who may disagree with your views. If your final product sounds like a vague statement of your personal tastes, or merely a weak summary of the posts you've already written, if it reads like a personal profile from an online dating site or an introduction you'd post on your social media page, you don't have a manifesto. Your manifesto should not require the reader to know you personally, share in your aesthetic interests, or share your personal beliefs or political commitments in order to be meaningful and powerful.Remember that your manifesto is a statement of your considered thoughts and beliefs about art and aesthetics, and being able to communicate these ideas forcefully and convincingly is a potent act of self-expression. This may take time and practice, but it is worth every effort.

When it is done, your manifesto will have a name that reflects its theme, an introduction that contains a statement of its intent (the chief cultural/artistic value or values that you want to promote). Somewhere within it, there will also be some statement of the things it opposes. It will then go on to show several examples from your blog posts that support your point in some way (this is your evidence). Don’t merely repeat the posts, but instead weave the artifacts and your thoughts about them into the larger structure of your manifesto’s point, showing how they fit into this bigger analytic picture. Again, have fun with this, and be as creative as you’d like; but be sure that you forge a meaningful connection between your posts by recognizing the things you value in your aesthetic experience. You may look over some of the manifesto examples below to see how this has been done in the past.

Although this is the course’s final assignment, a document of this kind is an explanation of you and your thinking, and thus should be able to function as an introduction to your blog, and, if you wish, even serve as the blog’s title. This posting should be at least 750 words.