Constructing a beloved community: The methodological development of Tim Rollins and K.O.S.
Item
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Title
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Constructing a beloved community: The methodological development of Tim Rollins and K.O.S.
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Identifier
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AAI3283181
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identifier
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3283181
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Creator
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Romaine, James.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Harriet Senie
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Date
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2007
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Art History | Biography | Education, Art
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Abstract
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This dissertation examines and historically contextualizes the development of a methodology that has guided the collaboration of Tim Rollins and Kids of Survival (K.O.S.), a group of young artists, originally comprised of Rollins's special education students from Intermediate School #52 in the South Bronx. Since 1981, Rollins and K.O.S. have collaboratively produced works of art based on literary texts and musical scores. This dissertation is the first in-depth and systematic study of the influences and motivations that shaped one of the most celebrated and controversial art projects of the past quarter century.;The structure of this dissertation systematically moves through five specific dimensions of Rollins's motivations and methodology: his personal history in Pittsfield Maine, his artistic background in Conceptual art, his involvement with politically oriented artist collectives from the mid 1970s to early 1980s, his formal and informal studies in progressive pedagogies, and his spiritual solidarity with the civil rights movement.;This study explores Rollins's youth and examines his adaptation of specific principles of King's into a personal philosophy of survival and Rollins's use of these to transform the experiences of his dysfunctional family and alcoholic father into strategies that he continues to employ with K.O.S. Rollins translated King's strategy of nonviolent direct action into a philosophy of politically active art and employs this ethos as a prism through which to critically receive Joseph Kosuth's theories of Conceptual art. Rollins's formative relationship with the British artist Conrad Atkinson and participation in the artist collective Group Material were a "dress rehearsal" for his work with K.O.S. I examine the pedagogy and operating structure of Rollins's collaboration with K.O.S. as it was influenced by the Pragmatism of John Dewey's concepts of "Learning by Doing" and "Art as Experience." I conclude by suggesting some possible implications of this method as criteria for evaluating and historically situating Rollins's project with K.O.S. within the larger matrix of artists working to extend the experience of art to a public that is often ignored by the art world.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
