{"id":5566,"date":"2017-09-29T18:47:00","date_gmt":"2017-09-29T23:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/?p=5566"},"modified":"2017-11-18T09:56:28","modified_gmt":"2017-11-18T15:56:28","slug":"syllabus-sharing-affect-art-and-politics-a-dialogical-class-at-uwm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/2017\/09\/29\/syllabus-sharing-affect-art-and-politics-a-dialogical-class-at-uwm\/","title":{"rendered":"Syllabus sharing! Affect, Art, and Politics – a dialogical class at UWM"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome back to another episode of syllabus sharing here at Implicit Art!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

City Walks logo by Doung Anwar Jahangeer<\/p><\/div>\n

This course provides an overview of affect theory and its articulation, activation, mediation, and utilities of manipulation in the realms of art and politics on an international scale. Beginning with a basic understanding of sensation and potential, and how they might be used to shape, for example, national sentiment and thus policy, the course will continue by exploring how our unintentional, affective responses to the outside can and do influence our identity, habits, thoughts, everyday activities, memories, and more. Artists, theorists and historical figures discussed include but are not limited to Brian Massumi, Jill Bennett, Dennis Del Favero, Doris Salcedo, Mary Sibande, Sean Slemon, William Kentridge, Gregory Bateson, Michel De Certeau, Doung Anwar Jahangeer, Richard Grusin, Ai Weiwei, Jane Bennett, Claire Bishop, and Santiago Sierra.<\/p>\n

I define affect as, most simply,\u00c2\u00a0unqualified emotion. My palms are sweaty; my heart is racing; I have butterflies in my stomach. Is this fear? Anger? Lust? All and none? The body knows, is, and does things, without \u00e2\u20ac\u0153my\u00e2\u20ac\u009d knowledge, desire, or comprehension. Affect is an embodied sensation and response that does not have a name (\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 yet). And here affection<\/em> is a moving-thinking-feeling both before, during, and after conscious reflection<\/em>, each influencing the other.<\/p>\n

Non-human affect is, similarly, matter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s embodied sensation and response – its knowing, being, and doing. Like a human body \u00e2\u20ac\u201c its liquids, solids, and gases, its chemicals, cells, and other forms \u00e2\u20ac\u201c matter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s various bodies also sense and make sense in and with the world.<\/p>\n

And this class fosters dialog and debate around what affect opens, where it guides us, how it works, transforms, acts, and does, and what the stakes are in that for us, and the world around us.<\/p>\n

I have offered versions of this class for MFA Graduate Students, where they produced art in response to the discussions, and as a Senior Seminar with dialogical processes in International Studies, where those enrolled wrote responses to the readings and screenings, as well as gave a final presentation and paper – the latter the version I am including.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Affect, Art, and Politics<\/p><\/div>\n

Every semester I teach this, I switch up the screenings, the artists I invite to talk about their work, a local exhibition we visit. I also always have a reading or two in line with a local conference, and offer extra credit for students who attend any<\/em> local talk or conference, and write a response to it – so they both experience affect – a lived abstraction – in person, and reflect on it. You’ll also see some of my own writing in this version of the syllabus, which I might update from year to year. But the general readings and overall arc seem to work very well – so I hope you get some use out of them!<\/p>\n

Most importantly, every student writes a response to every reading, and then we “conceptually speed date” around it. The former means that there is never any question around whether or not anyone “did” the reading; instead, they help each other understand its import, in relation to their own work and research. And the latter is a practice I learned from the SenseLab<\/a> in Montreal. It goes something like this<\/a>:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Choose a generative text.<\/li>\n
  2. Choose a minor concept weaving through the generative text.<\/li>\n
  3. Ask each person in the group to count off as a 1 or a 2.<\/li>\n
  4. Instruct the 1s that they are “posts.”<\/li>\n
  5. Instruct the 2s that they are “flows.”<\/li>\n
  6. Ask the posts to find a post: a spot in the room where they would like to have a conservation.<\/li>\n
  7. Ask the flows to pair up with a post.<\/li>\n
  8. Direct everyone to a page in the text where the minor concept occurs.<\/li>\n
  9. Ask the participants to discuss the function of the minor concept, staying as close as possible to the text, with detailed attention to how it is constructed.<\/li>\n
  10. Notify participants that when exactly five minutes are up they will hear a signal, and that when they hear the signal they must end their conversation immediately, even if they are in the middle of a word.<\/li>\n
  11. When the five-minute signal sounds, ask all flows to move to the next post in a clockwise direction.<\/li>\n
  12. Repeat 8-10 times.<\/li>\n
  13. Bring the group back together and discuss in plenary session what was discovered about the minor concept and the text.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In other words, speed date important ideas from the text, for only 2-3 minutes at a time (I find that time more efficient than 5 minutes), then switch partners. It’s honestly amazing<\/strong><\/em>. Not only do the students always show me, and themselves and each other, just how much they know and understand – despite a given text’s difficulty on first reading – but they always teach me something new as well. Andrew Murphie has more on this, and gives a few more pointers on speed dating, too<\/a> – the latter of which I now use even in my second year classes!<\/p>\n

    Download the full syllabus and schedule in Word form<\/a>. Feedback welcome!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Welcome back to another episode of syllabus sharing here at Implicit Art! This course provides an overview of affect theory and its articulation, activation, mediation, and utilities of manipulation in the realms of art and politics on an international scale. Beginning with a basic understanding of sensation and potential, and how they might be used […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Syllabus sharing! Affect, Art, and Politics - a dialogical class at UWM","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6,77,66,7,67,29,177,12],"tags":[63,52,78,56,62,140,58,86,178,95,90,93],"class_list":["post-5566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","category-books","category-culture","category-me","category-philosophy","category-research","category-syllabus-sharing","category-theory","tag-aesthetics","tag-art","tag-books","tag-culture","tag-ecology","tag-milwaukee","tag-philosophy","tag-reading","tag-syllabus-sharing","tag-teaching","tag-technology","tag-writing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9blZT-1rM","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5749,"url":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/2017\/11\/18\/syllabus-sharing-interactive-and-generative-art-a-max-msp-and-jitter-class-at-uwm\/","url_meta":{"origin":5566,"position":0},"title":"Syllabus sharing! Interactive and Generative Art – a Max, MSP, and Jitter class at UWM","author":"nathaniel","date":"18 November 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Welcome back to another episode of syllabus sharing here at Implicit Art! This class focuses on interactive technologies and aesthetics in contemporary art. Students will learn basic software development and real-time computational methods. They simultaneously learn and make projects with MIDI sounds or drawings, digital audio, human interface devices (USB\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "art"","block_context":{"text":"art","link":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/IMG_5620-1-e1511024880832-300x280.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5293,"url":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/2017\/09\/11\/electronics-sculpture-arduino-mechatronics-art-syllabus\/","url_meta":{"origin":5566,"position":1},"title":"Syllabus sharing: Electronics and Sculpture, a class with arduino, mechatronics, and art at UWM","author":"nathaniel","date":"11 September 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"This term sees my first time teaching a full semester of\u00c2\u00a0Arduino in the Department of Art and Design at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Most geeks will know that the Arduino is an open source microcontroller for physical computing projects. Easy break down: whereas multimedia and code art classes (in Processing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "art"","block_context":{"text":"art","link":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/515b4656ce395f8a38000000.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/515b4656ce395f8a38000000.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/515b4656ce395f8a38000000.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5972,"url":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/2018\/05\/30\/ecological-aesthetics-advance-copy-just-arrived\/","url_meta":{"origin":5566,"position":2},"title":"Ecological Aesthetics advance copy just arrived!","author":"nathaniel","date":"30 May 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"So excited that my advance copy of Ecological Aesthetics: artful tactics for humans, nature, and politics has arrived! Out July 3! Julian says it's a good read.","rel":"","context":"In "art"","block_context":{"text":"art","link":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/eco-aesthetics-side.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/eco-aesthetics-side.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/eco-aesthetics-side.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/eco-aesthetics-side.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/eco-aesthetics-side.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5287,"url":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/2017\/09\/05\/implicit-art-restart-mo-gawdat-solve-for-happy\/","url_meta":{"origin":5566,"position":3},"title":"implicit art… restart (on Mo Gawdat’s\u00c2\u00a0Solve for Happy)","author":"nathaniel","date":"05 September 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/DqBpG7QcVwM With the pending release of my new book (Ecological Aesthetics: artful tactics for humans, nature, and politics) in June or July of next year, and all the goings-on of the last couple of years in my life \/ the world, I've decided it might be time to reboot the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "art"","block_context":{"text":"art","link":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/DqBpG7QcVwM\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":700,"url":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/2005\/08\/06\/the-work-of-art-in-the-age-of-digital-reproduction-14\/","url_meta":{"origin":5566,"position":4},"title":"the work of art in the age of digital reproduction #14","author":"kaganof","date":"06 August 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "art"","block_context":{"text":"art","link":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":702,"url":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/2005\/08\/08\/the-work-of-art-in-the-age-of-digital-reproduction-12\/","url_meta":{"origin":5566,"position":5},"title":"the work of art in the age of digital reproduction #12","author":"kaganof","date":"08 August 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "art"","block_context":{"text":"art","link":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5566"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5566\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5573,"href":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5566\/revisions\/5573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}