Introduces foundational texts in contemporary theory and criticism at the intersection of art, culture, and technology. Through presentations and discussions, students explore the necessary methodological perspectives required of an interdisciplinary approach to artistic practices. 

4.387 Syllabus (MIT Certificate Protected)

4.373 U / 4.374 G

Investigates conceptual and formal issues in a variety of media. Explores representation, interpretation and meaning, and how these relate to historical, social and cultural contexts. Helps students develop an initial concept for a publicly situated project. Includes guest lectures and visiting artist presentations. Additional work required of students taking graduate version.

4.373/4.374 Syllabus (MIT Certificate Protected)

Note: 8/16/23 - schedule change from M 2-5 to W 2-5

4.344 U / 4.345 G

PHOTO FUTURES is a hybrid seminar-studio course looking at potential futures of photography. Divided into three “post”s--post-photography, post-truth, and post-human--we will work with both “traditional” ideas of image making and “emerging” methods of reproduction such as photogrammetry, 3D printing, and projection mapping. Emphasis will be placed on the politics of representation and art making.

Course is centered around developing individual projects of students’ choosing. No prior experience in photography is necessary, and students from all disciplines are encouraged to apply.

Additional work required of graduate students.

4.344/4.345 Syllabus (MIT Certificate Protected)

4.341 U / 4.342 G

PPPPP is a studio course and ongoing research seminar about understanding the ways photography is and has been defined by its socio-technical contexts. In this course we will think about photography as an unstable site of contradiction that is best understood through serial negotiations between photography and other concepts, forces, and disciplines.

Course content includes lectures, readings, screenings, workshops, and creative projects, and will culminate in a self-directed project of students’ choosing.

Additional work required of students taking the graduate version.

4.341 Syllabus (Membreno-Canales; MIT Certificate Protected)
4.341 Syllabus (Aasen: MIT Certificate Protected)

Introduces artistic practice and critical visual thinking through three studio-based projects using different scales and media, for instance, "Body Extension," "Shaping Time," "Public Making," and/or "Networked Cultures." Each project concludes with a final presentation and critique. Students explore sculptural, architectural, performative artistic methods; video and sound art; site interventions and strategies for artistic engagement in the public realm. Lectures, screenings, guest presentations, field trips, readings, and debates supplement studio practice. Also introduces students to the historic, cultural, and environmental forces affecting both the development of an artistic vision and the reception of a work of art.

Program of research and writing of thesis; to be arranged by the student with supervising committee. 

(pre-approved for MArch HTC elective Fall 2023)

This seminar looks at the emerging culture and crisis of ‘bigness’ that emerged in the field of architectural history in the 1980s – early 2000’s. There are now things like Long History, Deep History, Global History and so forth. Whereas much has been made of microhistories, little has been made of macrohistories. We will, therefore, try to make sense of this shift and embodied critiques of Eurocentrism as well as their on-going transformations, potentials, and problematics. Since secondary literature and analysis of this phenomenon is practically non-existent, we will study the phenomenon by trying to assemble different takes and perspectives to get a more critical understanding of the field. Students will be asked to develop a lecture/syllabus as a way to experiment with these scalar perspectives. Though a reading intensive course, MArchs are welcome to develop a better and more critical understanding of new directions in contemporary architecture.

4.s68 Syllabus (MIT Certificate Protected)

(pre-approved for MArch HTC restricted elective Fall 2023)

Seminar or lecture on a topic in Islamic or non-western architecture that is not covered in the regular curriculum. Requires original research and presentation of oral and written reports, varying at the discretion of the instructor.

4.s65 Syllabus (MIT Certificate Protected)

(pre-approved for MArch HTC elective Fall 2023)

Art and Science are pursuits divided by modernity. As Aristophanes once theorized the sexes, the two domains act like divided halves of a once unified soul—in this case, we might call that prior soul philosophy. This course investigates the long history of “the Art/Science thing,” examining its chosen love objects and subject positions.  We look at the production of “fine” arts and investigations of natural phenomena as twinned Liberal Arts in the Renaissance, the artist as “natural philosopher” during the Enlightenment, the production of subjectivity/objectivity with the Scientific Method and the “science” of aesthetics, the division of science from “the liberal arts” in the industrial age, the creation of the two culture debate in the 20th century, the attempt to make a science of art (perception) in mid-century. With examples from contemporary art in each week’s discussions, we examine the compelling history of image-making in both regimes, and the raiding of each others’ epistemic toolkits beginning in the late 20th century. We place particular emphasis on the emergence of new hybrid domains (such as “bio-art”) in the 21st century.

“Scientists” was a name chosen in emulation of “artists” — a generalized professional category that could include multiple modes of empirical, proof-based activity just as “artist” included media as diverse as sculpture, painting, drawing, and print-making. Increasingly, art becomes a field in which scientific concepts can be brought into public discourse with more than “illustration” in mind. Biofiction, critical fabulation, loyal opposition, and skeptical love are contemporary characteristics of the art-science thing.

4.s62 Syllabus (MIT Certificate Protected)