4.341 U / 4.342 G

Introduces history and contemporary practices in artistic photography through projects, lectures, artist visits, group discussions, readings, and field trips. Fosters visual literacy and aesthetic appreciation of photography/digital imaging, as well as critical awareness of how images in our culture are produced and constructed. Provides instruction in the fundamentals of different camera formats, film exposure and development, lighting, black and white darkroom printing, and digital imaging. Assignments allow for incorporation of a range of traditional and experimental techniques, development of technical skills, and personal exploration. Throughout the term, present and discuss projects in a critical forum. Additional work required of students taking the graduate version.

MIT Certificate Protected Syllabus Willis | Membreno-Canales

This course focuses on the production of artistic experiments catalyzed by research in art, with art and through art. Conceptually it deals with new modes of artistic production that shifts the discussion on artistic research towards critical engagement with the new climatic regime. Titled Climate Visions, the workshop positions artistic intelligence as a way to contribute with aesthetics and criticality to climate science, suggesting new visioning, that is in dialectics with scientific one. Oscillating between pragmatics and fiction this course will probe new perspectivism that enables future narratives of cohabitation with more-than-humans. The workshop will engage the MIT laboratories as a site where utopias for the future forms of environmental citizenship and new climate commons will be prototyped. In conversation with scientists the participants will develop hybrid projects of art and science suggesting an artistic instrumentarium for ecological repair, envisioning, speculation and probing of alternative perspectives, that catalyze a different climate for the future.

A multitude of concepts will be engaged with during this workshop: hybrid habitats and milieu, critical zones and new climatic regime, shadow biosphere and feminist fabulation, sympoiesis and composibility, cohabitation and commensality. Readings related to this subject include those by Bruno Latour, Donna Haraway, Anna Tsing, Gilbert Simondon, Catherine Malabou, James Lovelock, Michel Serres, Georges Canguilhem, Scott F Gilbert, Maria Puig de la Bellacasa, Andrew Pickering, Isabelle Stengers, Vinciane Despret, Eduardo Viveiro de Castro, Elizabeth Povinelli, Jakob Johann von Uexküll, TJ Demos, and others.

Visits to the class and the field trips may include Diane Borsato, Marjetica Potrč, Fernando García-Dory, Pelin Tan, Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, D-Lab, MIT Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences.

The class is structured with the help of the three conceptual lenses through which participants will look into the artistic project: The Manifesto, The Score and The Instrument. As such these conceptual lenses would (A) connect with pressing concerns on climate crisis — making bridge between community / injustice / climate change, and (B) help to un-earth the underlying (autochthonous) landscape in the city, affected by an extractivist economy and colonization.

In addition to lectures, discussions, crits and individual studio meetings there will be visits to the labs organized facilitated by guest interlocutors, and designed to catalyze explorations and probe what “landing on Earth” (Latour) means in practical terms.

The class will meet as a group on Mondays 9:30 am – 12:30 am for main input: lectures, visits from guest artists, designers and scholars, and discussions of readings, with a Lab work scheduled on Wednesdays 9:30 am – 12:30 am, when individual meetings and/or studio visits and desk crits with the instructor (and guest artists) would be organized. Wednesdays time slot would also be reserved for workshopping of students' ideas, and/or library/archival research.

Students will engage in (3) phases and modalities of work: MANIFESTO, SCORE, and INSTRUMENT.

MIT Certificate Protected Syllabus

Seminar connecting the arts and sciences by exploring methodological similarities and differences across the arts, architecture, engineering, and social sciences. Through targeted reading and exercises, each student develops a collaborative project that engages directly with another discipline. Projects are iterated over the course of the term. Readings, visitors, and lectures expose students to a wide range of practitioners across different fields. Students interrogate the underlying methodologies that unite and separate their disciplines. Presents best-practice models for cultivating collaboration through the use of case studies. Additional work required of students taking the graduate version.

MIT Certificate Protected Syllabus

Note 5/17/24: schedule change from TR 2-5 to TR 9:30-12:30

4.314 U / 4.315 G

The Advanced Workshop in Artistic Practice and Transdisciplinary Research course series examines artistic practice as a form of critical inquiry and knowledge production. It offers opportunities to develop art as a means for addressing the social, cultural, and ecological underpinnings and consequences of technology, building bridges between industry and culture, and challenging the boundaries between public and private and human and non-human. It provides instruction in evaluating models of experimentation, individual research, and collaboration with other disciplines in the arts, culture, science, and technology.

Bioart is an interdisciplinary field that explores the intersection of art and biology, bridging the gap between science, technology, and artistic expression. This undergraduate and graduate-level course introduces students to the theoretical foundations, latest topics, and practical bio-art techniques, fostering creativity, critical thinking, and ethical considerations in creating bio-inspired artworks. Through theoretical discussions, hands-on art studio work, and guest lectures from experts in the field, students will gain a deep understanding of the historical context, ethical implications, and cutting-edge applications of bioart. The hands-on component includes developing artworks that utilize tissue printing, organs-on-chip microfluidic systems, bio robotics, DIY incubators, and liquid handling lab automation systems.

 Additional work required of students taking the graduate version.

MIT Certificate Protected Syllabus

5/16/24 - note schedule change from lecture W 2-5 to lecture T 2-5 and an added recitation, W 9:30-12:30.

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.

MIT Certificate protected syllabus

Undergraduate: 4.s37 | Graduate: 4.s33

This hands-on studio class will expose students to the technical skills needed for successful screen printing. Students will produce single and multicolor prints on paper and fabric using a variety of methods.

Explores three-dimensional art work, including sculptures and installations, from design to model to finished piece. Addresses challenges associated with design and fabrication, process, context, and relationships between objects, the body, and physical or cultural environments. Lectures, screenings, field trips, readings, and debates supplement studio practice.

The class will introduce students to the foundations of volume and sculpture centered around the human body and embodied experiences. Through research and design experiments, the class will explore structures, design and movement for the body inspired by nature (ie. flora, leaves, wings and insects).

Students are invited to propose subjects and themes to develop individually and collectively.

Activities are based on core elements in the creation of a performance and will be categorized into the following four program activity areas history and research; presentation design: costume/garment/wearable sculpture design and construction, and movement vocabulary; production design: theater and performance strategies with visual arts; and strategic planning: site specific logistics.

The project will focus on 4 areas (listed below) and will develop specific activities based on those areas.  Participants will develop innovation and creativity skills, develop and implement collaboration strategies, develop thematic design skills, and learn costume/garment construction skills.

4.322/4.323 Syllabus (MIT Certificate protected)

Annexation, greenwashing, and destructive notions of progress have all but wiped out the memory of an indigenous mythology once deeply rooted in an embodied, balanced stewardship of nature. How can the merging of artistic methodologies with agricultural practices address this loss of cultural capital?

Common Ground is a transdisciplinary experiment in learning from the land, seeking to develop a new field of inquiry at the intersection of art, science and agriculture. The history of art is also a history of agriculture, marking humanity’s complex relationship with the environment. This course will examine historic typologies of indigenous architectural and agrarian technologies, bringing them into conversation with contemporary techno-scientific and artistic discourses. Through this synthesis, our class will explore artistic methods to decolonize the social, political, economic and narrative structures that govern our relationship to nature. Following the semester, project documentation and research developed over the semester will contribute to a publication.

Applicants from across artistic and scientific disciplines are highly encouraged. Interested students should attend the first class.

Undergraduates are welcome to enroll.

4.s34 Syllabus (MIT Certificate protected)

UG: 4.s30 | G: 4.s32

Students will learn the basics of capturing documentary footage and sounds in real world scenarios. Learn to navigate the ethics and complexities of capturing “reality” and depicting real people and representing “truth”.

Students will learn how to edit for the desired final product, be it a film or alternative medium such as interactive, web, installation, location intervention and more.

From Robert Flaherty (Silent Era) to John Grierson (British Model) to Morin & Rouch (Cinema Verite) to George Stoney (Community Engagement) to Errol Morris (Epistomological Interview) to Adam Curtis (Journalistic Essay), learn the history and context of documentary and the various ways people have attempted to represent the real world, including newer hybrid forms that mix fiction and non-fiction and non-linear interactive works.

Students will produce a documentary short on the subject and in the medium of their choice.