MUS 15: Relations of Lower Manhattan

Course Info Instructor: Kevin Allen Schwenkler

Email: kaschwen@ucsd.edu
Schedule: Tuesdays and Thursdays 2:00 – 6:00 pm PST.
This course will not hold discussion sections.
Zoom Meeting ID:
Office Hours: Wednesdays 3pm PST, by appointment.

Course Description
In this course we will trace the history of NYC in the years 1973-1990 in terms of its abundance
of diverse artmaking. We will do so by “following around” a series of individual artists, literally
mapping their activities and relationships. We will learn how, when we take works of art as
meeting points on this map, even music, paintings, or fiction become primary historical
evidence. We will ask, how do pieces of evidence express the history of NYC?

By studying art in the historical locus of a single city we can see how diverse artist relationships
unfold in time and place, how people live social upheaval through art, and how changes to the
urban landscape call upon artistic work. We will take a strongly contextualized approach,
viewing NYC from the perspectives of individual figures caught up in all the dynamics of their
lived experience, their gendered, classed, and racialized markings, their relationships.

We will connect our listening experience (broadly construed, as we will view films as well) to the
place-based historical dynamics covered in the course by developing our own descriptive
practice of listening and, via this practice, connecting the sounds, images, and lives of historical
figures to unfolding history.

Course Objectives, you should:

1. See and hear the diverse relations that made up New York City 1973-1990, in terms
music, film, and visual art.
2. Describe your own listening and viewing experience.
3. Connect your experience of listening and viewing in the present to the dynamics of the
historical moment in which the art was made. Understand that this is a ‘valid way to do
history.’
4. Map art places and explore the geography of New York City.
5. Using the lives and places we study as guides, speculate on how conditions in a
place/time influence art, including in the present.

What I hope you remember in 6 months:

-that works of art, even fiction, are an effect way to ‘do history.’
-a few terms they found useful to describe music
-one venue and some artists associated with it
-one 'condition' of NYC in years covered that influenced artists

Academic Integrity
Students are expected to understand and abide by UCSD’s Policy on Integrity and Scholarship.
All suspected violations of academic integrity will be reported to UCSD’s Academic Integrity
Coordinator, and may result in administrative and academic sanctions. Violations include
stealing, cheating and plagiarism.
NB Plagiarism refers to using someone else’s work and ideas without proper academic citation.
Do not hesitate to bring me questions or concerns with respect to citation practices and
paraphrasing.

Accommodations
Students requiring accommodations should discuss their needs with the Office of Students with
Disabilities (OSD). Please see me in the first week of the quarter to discuss ways in which I can
be of assistance.

Reading
No textbook required. All readings will be posted to Canvas.
Best practices: Set aside time. Read the entire text! Alternate between fast and slow
reading. You need not read slowly through the whole text. “Choose your battles.” Highlight and
please annotate the text.
It’s OK if you do not understand everything the first time. Write down questions and
bring them to class.

Grade Breakdown:
(40%) Attendance & Participation [Perfect Attendance Bonus: +3%]
(40%) Assignments (x4)
(20%) Final

Attendance & Participation (40%)

Attendance and participation is required. I expect you to be present and on-time to every
lecture, barring illness or serious personal emergency, about which I hope you can inform me.
3 absences are grounds for failure. Please communicate with me regarding any issues or any
un/expected absences.
Meetings will be part-lecture, part-listening/screening, and part discussion. Your presence and
contributions will be a necessary part of the overall learning experience, which is a collective and
not individualized one.

Assignments (x4 = 40%)

Each week there will be a short paper or presentation assignment. [what is its purpose?]

Final project (20%)

Mapping and description, draws on the modalities of all the previous prompts.

The Structure of a Typical Class Session:

Greetings
40 min lecture
5 min break
20 min skill presentation
40-90 min listening or viewing
20 min break/breakout group discussion
30 min large group discussion
Questions and assignment explanation

Syllabus:

Week 1 – (Lee Quiñones/Fab 5 Freddy) NYC as Viewed from a South Bronx Subway:
Disinvestment, Graffiti and Cross-town scenes.

Skill presentation: course overview and mapping/NYC geography

• FOCAL POINT: Wild Style film

Reading:
https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/10/oral-history-wild-style

Reading: Hermes, Will. Love Goes to Buildings on Fire. Ch. 2 “1974 - Invent Yourself.”
p. 65 - 85.

Assignment, select two pieces and give 2-3 sentence points for each addressing question “As
seen through art, where is Downtown?” Answer in terms of/focused on two pieces of different
mediums, not from the required list [i.e. a deep-dive into further people]]
 o Using the google maps collaborative map tool (show this), respond to the film
in terms of places and comments (with image links). Give at least four places,
and three images to accompany them. Some possible ways to respond:
 The film itself is a map. Using it, we travel through several
places. They can do a map OF the film, given names of places
in it and other starting info?
• http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/10/wild-style-
now-and-then-photos/ (has some of the places, but is missing
photos. They could take them from the film?)
• https://web.archive.org/web/20150127045035if_/http://www
.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/10/wild-style-now-and-then-
photos/ (here are the photos, but have to scroll and wait for
them to load, and may be screwy)
 The art on the trains goes everywhere, this notion of space

Additional:

Week 2 – (Larry Levan/Grace Jones) The Sound of Paradise: New York Disco and Black Queer
Culture

Skill presentation: Close listening, musical terms

FOCAL POINT:
Grace Jones “Slave to the Rhythm” music video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wl-Xgv7X4ME

“Pull Up To The Bumper”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc1IphRx1pk&ab_channel=GraceJonesVEVO

“I’ve Seen That Face Before (Libertango)”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIN3IE3DHqc&ab_channel=GraceJonesVEVO

Grace Jones, Larry Levan mix: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JX-

LDALyApc&ab_channel=DJDU

Listening Larry levan live at PG 1979 mix:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39JerMg2IQE

Reading: Tim Lawrence Love saves the Day ch. 4 and life and death ch. 4 excerpts

Hermes, Will. Love Goes to Buildings on Fire. Ch. 2 “1974 - Invent Yourself.” p. 85 –
115.

Additional: [Grace Jones strip scene in Vamp, Grace Jones videos]

Assignment, short paper: [connect to present, What are some features of the scene/music that
resemble or otherwise relate to music and events (e.g., festivals) you enjoy in the present day?
Can also be Grace Jones images or music videos]

Week 3 – (Smith/Mapplethorpe) [Music, Fine Art and the City of New York:] NYC as
seen from the Chelsea Hotel

Skill presentation: quick research tips

Listening: Patti Smith, Horses
Listening: Patti Smith, Hey Joe/Piss Factory Single

Reading: Sherill Tippins, Inside the Dream Palace [Intro? And ch. 9 (selections)]
https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2013/10/chelsea-hotel-oral-history
Assignment, short research paper: a deep dive on one of the artists mentioned in the Tippins, or
vanity fair article, that we have not covered.

Week 4 – (Holman/Basquiat) Shades of Gray: Success and its Side-effects

Skill presentation: close viewing

Figures: Michael Holman/Jean-Michel Basquiat

• FOCAL POINT: Downtown ‘81 and Gray ‘shades of’

‘Graffiti rock’ pilot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHeAkY-

X_nU&ab_channel=toninhomar%C3%A7al

Reading: Jean-michel basquiat, a biography. introduction and ch. 5

Additional:
Writing the future : Basquiat and the hip-hop generation / edited by Liz Munsell and
Greg Tate selections

Assignment: interpret & speculate, how might [circumstances of life such as

homelessness/precarity/NYC infrastructure and austerity] have influenced Holman and
Basquiat?

- Draw an imaginary map about what they found interesting relative to their
everyday, make this visual-tactile

Week 5 – (Eastman/Russell) Classically Queer: NYC’s wide-ranging collaborations

Skill presentation: [final prep]

FOCAL POINT: Dinosaur L ‘24-24 Music’

Reading: gay guerrilla ch. 7, Tim lawrence ‘hold on to your dreams’ intro and ch. 4
excerpts

Assignment, start final.

Final project: [map-based, descriptive and selective, draws on all the modalities of the
prompts for assignments]
- They will have to explore the 80s.nyc map, select street images and imagine a scene of
artmaking involving two of the figures covered, referencing [some] of the pieces
covered, and one additional piece [off a list or by their own research?]
- Three ten-minute presentations per class session?
o Could start week 2, two groups per week assigned to make a discussion question
about a specifc object they have found. They jumpstart discussion.
 Show-and-tell?
- Finals can be creative, write a letter from a place we learned about. Make it fun and
open-ended. They can center themselves, can do research if they want, make this clear.
 o Questions you would ask somebody who was there? Questions you might have if
you were there?
 Different kinds of questions. ‘who would you ask a question to? What
would it be? [if you could interview…]’ ‘how would you have made art?’
[choose an expressive modality in wild stylem, what role you want to
have?]

UCSD’s Principles of Community

The University of California, San Diego is dedicated to learning, teaching, and serving society
through education, research, and public service. Our international reputation for excellence is
due in large part to the cooperative and entrepreneurial nature of the UC San Diego community.
UC San Diego faculty, staff, and students are encouraged to be creative and are rewarded for
individual as well as collaborative achievements.

To foster the best possible working and learning environment, UC San Diego strives to maintain
a climate of fairness, cooperation, and professionalism. These principles of community are vital
to the success of the University and the well being of its constituents. UC San Diego faculty,
staff, and students are expected to practice these basic principles as individuals and in groups.

• We value each member of the UC San Diego community for his or her individual and
unique talents, and applaud all efforts to enhance the quality of campus life. We
recognize that each individual's effort is vital to achieving the goals of the University.
• We affirm each individual's right to dignity and strive to maintain a climate of justice
marked by mutual respect for each other.
• We value the cultural diversity of UC San Diego because it enriches our lives and the
University. We celebrate this diversity and support respect for all cultures, by both
individuals and the University as a whole.
• We are a university that adapts responsibly to cultural differences among the faculty,
staff, students, and community.
• We acknowledge that our society carries historical and divisive biases based on race,
ethnicity, sex, gender identity, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion, and political
beliefs. Therefore, we seek to foster understanding and tolerance among individuals and
groups, and we promote awareness through education and constructive strategies for
resolving conflict.
• We reject acts of discrimination based on race, ethnicity, sex, gender identity, age,
disability, sexual orientation, religion, and political beliefs, and, we will confront and
appropriately respond to such acts.
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expression of our individuality and our diversity within the bounds of courtesy,
sensitivity, confidentiality, and respect.
• We are committed to the highest standards of civility and decency toward all. We are
committed to promoting and supporting a community where all people can work and
learn together in an atmosphere free of abusive or demeaning treatment.
• We are committed to the enforcement of policies that promote the fulfillment of these
principles.
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the good of the University and those communities we serve. By working together as
members of the UC San Diego community, we can enhance the excellence of our
institution.

Remote learning Adjustments:

In accordance with UCSD’s health guidelines, this course will be held remotely. This means that
the lectures will be offered through the Zoom platform (http://zoom.ucsd.edu) – If you’re new
at UCSD please create an account using your UCSD email address.

Another important detail concerns the access to some of the media content. As part of the class
we will be listening to some examples (youtube and other sources), as well watching
documentaries and videos related to the topic, which are available through the UCSD library. In
order to access these materials remotely (not on UCSD campus) you will need to access them
using a remote VPN connection.

If you haven’t setup your remote VPN access, you can follow the instructions in the following
page:

http://vpn-2.ucsd.edu
https://blink.ucsd.edu/technology/network/connections/off-campus/VPN/

It’s important that you are able to successfully do this in order to view some of the content of
class!