2/8/23 note: Room changed to E15-283A

Investigates the political economy of attention from a contemporary media studies perspective. Offers instructions in theories of mass media and commodification, the history of capitalism, and key theoretical debates pertaining to the mediation of attention as a cultural form. Emphasis on critical practices of reading, viewing, and listening that resist dominant configurations of attention in the capitalist sensorium. Seminar format with time for student presentation, guest lecture, visiting artist presentation, and class field trips. Readings will be drawn from a range of fields including political philosophy, film and media theory, art history, technology studies, and communication theory. The course is open to both graduate and undergraduate students. Students may elect to fulfill final assignment as either creative project or research-based seminar paper. Additional work required of students taking graduate version.

4.s33 Syllabus (MIT Certificate protected)

2/8/23 note: Room changed to E15-207

Textile manufacturing is among the most lucrative and largest polluting industries today: more than 80 billion square meters of leftover garments end up in landfills or get destroyed by burning. When the expected demand is not met, supply chains channel stock to the parallel economy of stock destruction ensuring price control. Critiquing this widespread phenomenon of fast fashion, this course takes the notion of “toxic textiles” both as a medium and as a framework to explore the cultural, social, political, economic, and environmental footprint of clothing through the textile medium as a artistic and critical response to the world’s pressing concerns. The course introduces hands-on experimentation with textile art and fashion design informed by case studies in contemporary art, decolonizing fashion, performative and wearable technologies, experimental preservation, and fabric upcycling. 

Research assignments and material experimentation in the first part of the semester build on Donna Haraway’s method of “Implosion” geared toward concept development and skill building. The course will introduce working with a variety of materials and techniques, with an emphasis on reverse applique technique and fabric manipulation. Lectures, readings, screenings, and crits supplement studio practice. At the end of the semester, students will be expected to exhibit one studio-based final project informed by thematic readings and class discussions. 

Students from all disciplines are encouraged and welcome to enroll. The enrollment is limited to 20 students. Sewing skills are beneficial but not pre-required for the class; sewing tutorials, machines, and basic sewing equipment and textiles will be provided.

4.s32 Syllabus (MIT Certificate protected)

Undergraduates are welcome to enroll.

This class is a pre-approved ACT elective for Spring 2023.

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.

Explores the theory and criticism of intersections between art, culture, and technology in relation to contemporary artistic practice, critical design, and media. Students consider methods of investigation, documentation, and display and explore modes of communication across disciplines. Students develop projects in which they organize research methods and goals, engage in production, cultivate a context for their practice, and explore how to compellingly communicate, display, and document their work. Regular presentation and peer-critique sessions, as well as reviews involving ACT faculty and fellows, and external guest reviewers provide students with ample feedback as their projects develop.

Aids students in the selection of a thesis topic, development of an approach method, preparation of a proposal that includes an outline for their thesis. Explores artistic practice as a method of critical inquiry and knowledge production/dissemination. Students examine artist writings and consider academic formats and standards. Regular group meetings, including peer reviews, are supplemented by independent study and individual conferences with faculty. 

UG: 4.368; G: 4.369

Focuses on the production of artistic interventions in public space. Explores ideas, situations, objects, and materials that shape public space and inform the notion of public and publicness, with an emphasis on co-production and cooperative ethics. Examines forms of environmental art in comparison to temporal and critical forms of art and action in the public sphere. Historical models include the Russian Constructivists, the Situationists International, system aesthetics, participatory and conceptual art, contemporary interventionist tactics and artistic strategies, and methods of public engagement. Students develop an initial concept for a publicly-situated project. Includes guest lectures, visiting artist presentations, and optional field trips.

Additional work required of students taking graduate version. 

4.368/4.369 Syllabus (MIT Certificate protected)