All science would be superfluous if the outward appearance and the essence of things directly coincided.
– Karl Marx, Capital vol. III, part 7, chapter 48.
All media work us over completely.
– Marshall McLuhan
“I think we should have the modesty to say to ourselves that, on the one hand, the time we live in is not the unique or fundamental or irruptive point in history where everything is completed and begun again. We must also have the modesty to say, on the other hand, that — even without this solemnity — the time we live in is very interesting; it needs to be analysed and broken down, and that we would do well to ask ourselves, “What is the nature of our present?” I wonder if one of the great roles of philosophical thought might not be characterized by saying that the task of philosophy is to describe the nature of the present, and of “ourselves in the present.” With the proviso that we do not allow ourselves the facile, rather theatrical declaration that this moment in which we exist is one of total perdition, in the abyss of darkness, or a triumphant daybreak, etc. It is a time like any other, or rather, a time which is never quite like any other.”
- Michel Foucault
By seepage, we mean the action of many currents of fluid material leaching on to a stable structure, entering and spreading through it by way of pores. Until, it becomes a part of the structure, both in terms of its surface, and at the same time continues to act on its core, to gradually disaggregate its solidity. To crumble it over time with moisture.
- RAQS Media Collective
This graduate seminar is intended as an intensive investigation of current (and historical) critical theory perspectives as they might productively intersect with creative practice, at large. The overriding impulse is essentially speculative, geared towards uncovering blindspots within which new forms of praxis can be envisioned. Given the appropriation of the avant-garde by the military-industrial-corporate complex—who has long understood and readily exploited the potential for sensory redistribution which to a large extent determines what is thinkable, perceptible—it is urgent for artists not only to gain a firm grasp on the specific modalities by which power operates, but also to develop speculative practices as “positive feedback”, essential to ejecting from increasingly tight communication and control.
Areas of investigation include affect theory, anthropocene theory, critical race/black studies, decolonial theory, cybernetics, economic and political theory, feminist & trans/gender theory, neuroscience, new materialist and object-oriented philosophies and science & technology studies (among others).
WEEKLY CLASS
Students are expected to attend class on campus every week for 3 hours.
Each class will consist mainly of presentations and discussions on readings. The final week will be devoted to presentations of the speculative proposals with relevant audio-visual materials.
The first class will consist in an introduction to the themes of the course on a week-by-week basis, as a means of orienting you to themes that you will want to present on.
WEEKLY READINGS
Each week, students will be responsible for leading discussion around assigned readings (given the relatively small size of the class, each student will most probably be responsible for two readings). Given that these readings form the core of the course, I expect that each of you will devote sufficient time to unraveling their various complexities with an eye on developing productive questions to animate group encounters.
There will be 60-80 pages to read each week.
Each reading will be subjected by respective respondents to the following questions:
1. What are the central ideas proposed in the text(s)? Develop a manner of articulating these concepts with a combination of graphical and textual modalities, analog and digital methodologies.
2. Diligently note slips / gaps / aporias emerging from a close reading: what does this text fail to address, given its orientation? How could this theoretical perspective be consequently amended?
3. What opportunities for PRAXIS does this reading make immediately available?
4. What existing moving image/sound works productively feed off of the ideas contained in the reading, or disturb them? It may be that attempts have already been made in these directions – in addition, identify those aspects of the works in question that deviate from or fail to address some of the theoretical ideas.
5. Distill five questions from the text to address to the rest of the class, to stimulate discussion.
Presenters will be determined on a first-come-first-serve basis – a sign-up sheet will be available on the first day of class to this effect.
SPECULATIVE PROPOSAL
The final project will consist in a presentation, functioning at once as a speculative proposal for a future art project while being grounded in at least two of the assigned readings (and attendant associations which these will inevitably entail). The presentation of the speculative proposal (last class, online) should be inventive in terms of media and mode of delivery/address, in ways that reflect the material at hand.
This presentation will assume a second form in a written document (MA/MFA: 3000 words, PhD: 5000 words).
Importantly, the speculative project should be connected to an aspect of your work that the readings help articulate and open up. You can think of it as a line cast into the future using the readings as jumping off points. The proposal should feel uncomfortable, like trying to inhabit a world that you cannot yet know fully. The goal is to not try and be comprehensive about this new pathway, but to imagine its long-term potential implications for your work (and indeed the effect of the act of speculation on the present as well!).
The form of both the presentation and the written document should be engaged with experimentally. I’m looking for ways of doing theory that depart from normative contexts, and will be actively encouraging the searching out of forms and writing modes that most poignantly convey the trajectories of interest.
MARKING BREAKDOWN
In-class presentations: 50%
Speculative Proposal Presentation: 25%
Final Written Document: 25%