Wordplay

Welcome! Let's Begin.

As you enter the exhibit, you should see this first piece. (If you can't see the text, look at the image through your phone's camera.)

Pause and pull out your Writer's Notebook.

Draft a response to the following prompt:

When someone asks who you are, how would you respond? The prompt in the artwork asks us, "I am..." List all of the ways that you might answer this question. "I am..."

Read the text introduction to the Wordplay Exhibit:

Text has been part of visual expression for centuries, and with the emergence of conceptual art in the 1960s, the interrogation of language as a concept and as visual expression became important to many contemporary artists. This exhibition riffs on the literary term "word play" and explores how artists today play with words to animate and expand their art practices. Artists in this exhibition use text to probe philosophical questions, express and subvert political messages, challenge notions of identity, tell stories, and connect their artwork with multiple references, writers, and cultural icons. Each work invites viewers to look and to read - offering these distinct methods of communicating and connecting with cultural objects. Exhibiting artists include pioneers in text-based art, such as Jenny Holzer, Glenn Ligon, and Lorna Simpson, as well as artists whose work has recently entered the ICA's permanent collection, such as Kenturah Davis, Rivane Neuenschwander, and Joe Wardwell.

Together, let's process with FIMS.

FIMS, or the Four I Multimodal Strategy, is a set of interpretive strategies that emerged from the research conducted to prepare our book, Reimagining Literacy in the Digital Age (2022).

The "four i's" represent an acronym for these interpretive strategies that all begin with the letter "i":

While Experiencing & Consuming Multimodal Texts: Identify > Impact > Influence > Imagine
While Creating & Producing Multimodal Texts: Imagine > Influence > Impact > Identify

Click here if you are interested in seeing more about FIMS for Kids.

We start with reading, consuming or

Experiencing a multimodal text...

IDENTIFY, IMPACT, INFLUENCE, IMAGINE

Let's consider the piece as a whole. Using these prompts from FIMS:

Identify.

What is this text? What do you literally experience as represented on the page / screen or in the sound?

Impact.

What stands out in this text? What do you first notice? What is striking about the image or sound?

Influence.

What is the piece trying to communicate? Who is the intended audience? How do you know?

Imagine.

Can you imagine yourself within the text?

Now, on your own or with a partner, select ONE of the pieces on this wall and repeat the FIMS prompts.

Record your responses in your Writer's Notebook.

Now What?

You are now armed with the tools of FIMS for consuming/experiencing a multimodal text.

Look around you; the room is full of interesting texts and artworks!

Select one of these texts and move through the FIMS steps.

Find this wall.

When you're done reviewing the gallery (give yourself 10 minutes), regather at this wall in the exhibit and use the materials provided to create a response or document your experience.

What's Next?

There is another gallery adjacent to the Wordplay Exhibit devoted to gun violence. If you are ready and interested, we would invite you to visit this space and think about not only the subject matter of the piece, but also the ways that FIMS might be helpful/useful in processing this piece of art.

If you choose this experience, we would invite you to pause near the couch and locate the notecards/postcards. Select a notecard and respond to the photo and the information given on the card.

When you reach this space pictured below, pause and wait for us to regroup.

Let's Discuss.

What did you choose?
How did you apply the FIMS strategy?
What surprised you?
Where do you still have questions?

We continue with producing or

Creating a multimodal text...

IMAGINE, INFLUENCE, IMPACT, IDENTIFY

Imagine.

How would you imagine what you are going to create? How would what you have imagined best be communicated?

Influence.

What do you want to say? What is the best format for communicating your meaning? Who are you trying to communicate with?

Impact.

How can you engage the audience or impact the meaning? How can you best convey the intent of your text?

Identify.

Can you identify your successes? Can you reflect on what you did? What did you learn?

Share Out

If you feel comfortable, we would love for you to share what you created.

Final Reflection

Remember the initial prompt at the "I am" artwork.

Consider the two hours you just spent here and revisit that prompt in your Writer's Notebook. What would you add? What would you change? How have you been impacted by these specific pieces of texts?

If you are interested in learning more, we are continuing this discussion at a Roundtable session for the Commission on Arts and Literacies (COAL) in Room 205C at 1:15p on Saturday.

Or, engage with us in other ways:

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