Studio Seminar in Art and Public Sphere: Swamp School (Spring 2018)

Instructor

Gediminas Urbonas

TA

Laura Genes

Credit

hass-e, hass-a

Schedule

MW 9:30-12:30

Location

e15-001

This course focuses on the production of art for public space and conceptually deals with new modes of public art production, programming and publication to shift the discussion on public space toward discourse on the environment by exploring the imaginary of a swamp—a living organism in which borders defined by social, political, and cultural factors are porous and permeable.

The course will be organized around research, design and implementation of the International Swamp Summer School that is part of the Swamp Pavilion – Lithuania’s participation in the 2018 Venice Biennale of Architecture. Assignments and research questions will focus on researching, proposing and producing forms of pedagogy and public engagement that the support adaptation and learning to meet the demands of a changing environment. Student will be invited to envision their personal research as it pertains to the Swamp Summer School and its three chapters, Swamp Radio: on transmitting, Futurity Island: on symbio-poetics, and Commonism: on cohabiting. Both individual endeavors and group-work will be permitted with emphasis on the development of comprehensive materials and the manifestation of ambitious and innovative public programming to be realized in workshops and published in manuals.

There is an optional travel component to Italy that will take place according to the participant schedules during the summer of 2018. The itinerary will include participation in the official programming of The Swamp Summer School through the implementation of student projects in addition to meeting with local scholars and artists, and exploring Venice and the Biennale.

Students will propose projects and develop them from an initial concept to an actual rustic engagement in the public realm. To support students’ work there will be group discussions, presentations, and individual meetings, as well as visits by guest lecturers, practitioners, and scholars in the field. Readings will include seminal works by Gaston Bachelard and Henri Lefebvre among more contemporary readings by Saskia Sassen, Timothy Morton, Eyal Weizman, Beatriz Colomina, TJ Demos, Anna Tsing and others.

Students from all backgrounds are encouraged to enroll.

Class limited to 12 students.