Why do professors give assignments? Why do students welcome or resist being told what to do? In what ways does creativity emerge from compliance and rebellion?

Inspired by the Jorgen Leth and Lars Von Trier film “The Five Obstructions”, this studio course seeks to explore the pedagogical framework of “the assignment”, the ways in which students negotiate challenges, how experiencing failure is a necessity to artists, and how rule sets – and the breaking of rule sets – can be a useful tool to help sustain and push one’s own art practice outside of academic institutions.

Each week students will be challenged to create artworks in response to a set of obstructions. The five obstructions are meant to challenge comfort zones and may range from unconventional mediums, emotional tone (from the serious to the humorous), time restrictions/endurance, confronting fears, random/chance, site-specific, and answering difficult questions, among others.