NARRATOR: This episode
of the Art Assignment
is supported by Prudential.
 Hello, friends.
Happy new year.
And sorry about the
clickbaity title.
We're still going to
be making new videos,
but we're going to be
switching gears a bit.
I will explain.
Next week, we will release
our 58th Art Assignment.
And when we released our first
assignment in February of 2014,
I had no idea we'd still
be at it three years later.
I have had the amazing privilege
of visiting artists from all
over the country and world.
And it's been a true pleasure to
spend time with them coming up
with assignments for you guys.
And it's been an
even greater pleasure
to see you all respond to these
artists and their assignments.
Every time I see one
of you tag something
you've made with hashtag
the Art Assignment,
it feels like a miracle to me
that this digital experience
can yield a physical thing
that is now out in the world.
And that these prompts have
led you to have experiences.
you never would have otherwise.
But there are now
so many assignments.
It was never the
goal of the series
for you to do every
single one of them.
And that's why we've
never had any due
dates or any expectations around
how or when they're completed.
But they are all there
for you, and for students,
and for teachers, and will be
for the foreseeable future.
You can still meet
in the middle.
You can still articulate
something you've never seen,
and probably never will.
You can still walk on it.
You can sort books.
Conjure a studio.
And measure histories.
You can still
become someone else.
Or host a Scrabble
scramble dinner.
You can still have
empathy for an object.
Construct a landscape.
Or copy, a copy, a copy.
They're all still
there for you to return
to whenever you'd like.
We have three more
assignments that we're going
to release over the next month.
And they're really great ones.
But after that, we're
going on assignment hiatus.
We're still going to be
releasing new videos,
but they're going to be
more case for videos,
a few art trips, and
a variety of others
that address ideas and questions
about art and art history.
I know, I know-- how can we
still call this series the Art
Assignment when we aren't
going to be giving out any art
assignments?
But the thing is-- the mission
of this series has always
been to talk about
art and art history
through the lens of
what's happening today.
We've been doing this
by introducing you
to working artists, having
them give you assignments,
and linking those
activities to things that
have been done in the past.
But we've also been doing
this through exploring
common questions about art
and offering explanations
for why you should take a
particular artist, or movement,
or type of art seriously.
The field of art is
incredibly broad and diverse.
And I feel like it takes a wide
range of videos and formats
to even begin to cover it.
We'll also be releasing
videos just twice a month
after February because
those case for videos
are a lot of work.
And we want to focus
on doing less, better.
Which I think is a worthy
goal for anyone inhabiting
this strange internet verse.
And when we're not making
new case for videos,
we're going to be developing
an Art Assignment book that
gathers together into one sweet,
fat compendium, all 60 existing
assignments, with lots of
great additional reading
material and images of
works made in response.
It's going to be amazing.
And if I talk about it in
public, it has to happen,
right.
If you love doing
assignments, don't fret.
You can still do them.
We will still be looking
out for what you make
and featuring responses on
social media, on our website,
in videos, and possibly
even our forthcoming book.
And remember that you can always
make an artwork in response
to a video, even if we're
not explicitly asking you to.
I'm also kick starting a kind
of work group for those of you
who, like me, haven't
done as many assignments
as they'd like, and need a
good excuse, and deadlines,
and accountability
to get anything done.
If you'd like to
participate and help
me figure out what
this group is going
to look like, click the
link in the description
and fill out a
quick survey for me.
Then we can figure out how
often we want to do assignments
together, which
assignments we want to do,
how we want to talk
about them, and how we'd
like to structure the group.
I would love it if you join me.
I'd like to conclude with some
helpful hints for students
and teachers from John
Cage, an artist we've talked
about often on this show.
Always be around.
Come or go to everything.
Always go to classes.
Read everything you
can get your hands on.
Look at movies
carefully and often.
Save everything, it may
come in handy later.
Now, mind you, I'm
not the teacher
and you're not the
students in this scenario.
I like to think that we're
all both at the same time.
And that's what makes the Art
Assignment continue to happen.
So thanks for watching and for
being part of this magnificent
experiment in how we
can learn and talk
about art on the internet.
See you next week.
Thanks to prudential for
sponsoring this episode.
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