MFA 2 Seminar: Art X World

What are the intersections of art and politics?
This question is difficult for many reasons, least
of all that both terms are used interchangeably to
talk about multiple facets of human organization-
socially and spatially. These are some of the
aspects to which this seminar will be addressed.
In addition, this course, taught by this semester
by Kandis Williams, will focus on the popular use
and conflation of common internet metaphors and
their register and significance to aesthetic and
political representation. Students will look at
their personal ways of being, and their ways of
being in relation to important issues in society
today as they as expressed and formatted for
digital exchange and as currency in and out of
social-web based interactions. For our purposes
art can be thought of broadly, a field that
includes performing arts, time based media and
literature in addition to visual and spatial art.
Politics being more and less complexly defined
through the terms application to many forms of
authority and governance.

The course will be split into three- four part
sections of topics that serve as intersections
between the aesthetic and political. In the first
section WEBS: SITES, NETWORKS, SUPERHIGHWAYS and
CLOUDS students will look at metaphors for
collectivity and collective movement. Followed by
TRANSMISSIONS: SURFING, SIGNALS, ECHOS, AND
REVERBERATIONS where students will look at
metaphors around access, speed, distribution of
wealth and visibility. And the final section;
DATA: FOLLOWERS, SUBSCRIBERS, DOWNLOADS, PROFILES
in which students will examine metaphors around
identity, agency, and pathology and
representation.