Instructor: Sarah Lewison socialsculpture at yahoo dot com
course links
ASSIGNMENT 1 TECHNOPOETICS DUE OCT 31
Course Description
Links
Notes
more general links
Online readings
machines
ecologies notes
class blogs:
Gregory Gaye
Course Forum:Arthropods and Mammals
weekly syllabus
Week 1 Sept 28 Thursday only
How do we define the terms we will work
with-> art, technology and science. Where do we draw the lines between each of these? Where do
they overlap with other areas of life and study?
Week 2
Oct 3+5
The Production of Science
Natural philosophy, scientific method and separation of
disciplines. How science and technology are naturalized through cultural processes. Discuss
science studies, Kuhn, Lewinton, amateur science societies, quack science.
Thursday Special Event: Artist Jonathon Keats
Readings:
Week 3 Oct 10+12
Technologies of the Everyday
Thinking about technology in War and Peace, Health and Sickness.
Survey and taxonomies of the
interpenetration of culture, commerce and technology. What do different technologies do? What are
their 'native' geopolitical environments? How might we classify them? How do specific
technologies work upon individuals and social groups? How do they alter perceptions of time,
distance and material limits?
Reading:
TUESDAY OCT 10 WATCH: Maquilopolis by Vickie Funari and Sergio de la Torre
PBS station: POV program (check local time)
Week 4 Oct 17+19
Environmental Art and Eco-Action "The world is bound in secret knots" How can the
interdependencies of life forms be adequately represented? What kinds of tools are used to make
revealing or useful interventions? Survey of ecological system-based work since 70s and on
dominant concepts in the field.
Week 5 Oct 24+26
Techno-Visual: Viewing and Surveillance Systems
What do you need in order to see properly?
Whose property is the data gathered from the environment and how can it be used?
What are the social implications of legal and technical instruments that produce and commodify information
from the surveillance of the activities of daily life?
Thursday October 26: Maquilopolis screening on UC Davis Campus, 4 pm
University Club Lounge. Reception follows.
Week 6:Oct 31+Nov 2
Pre-emptive Media and Information
Art + visiting artist Brooke Singer
What are the instruments of the surveillance society?
Reworking information and data, re-engineering processes, and re-building devices to redirect the gaze.
Week 7: Nov 7+9
Labor and Gender in Techno-culture
Examining the economics of new technologies and
their distribution. Who works in these industries and how have they changed conditions of work?
What is the affect of new technologies on regions and populations?
Readings:
Week 8: Nov 14+16
Bio-Art: Genomes, Cloning and Eternal Life
Critical questions and interventions around the production of new life forms through technological means.
Readings:
Week 9: Nov 21 Tuesday class only
The Beach Below the Pavement
Borrowing a phrase from the Situationists, we will examine
infrastructures, real and conceptual; old and new.
Thursday, we study artist and professional
organizations that combine education and technology to increase citizen engagement in their
environments. From utopian fantasies, to failed communes to ongoing contemporary projects.
Readings:
Artists:
Nov 23 Thursday: Happy Thanksgiving
Week 9: Nov 26 + 28
Instrumental Reversals: Do it Yourself
science and technology into the hands of the people. Sharing
technologies and procedures
artist practices that
involve collaboration and exchange of technologies
Visiting artist: Joshua Short
Field Trip: POSSIBLY WILL NOT HAPPEN OR MOVE TO LAST WEEK:Water treatment plant or landfill
Readings:
Week 10: Dec 5 + 7 Student presentations (goes into finals week)
More Artists
Amy Balkin: Public Smog