Archaeologies of the Present

Archeologies of the Present. Open to BFA-4
students.
A seminar that studies the past fifty years-- how
culture meets politic; including our historical
crises and economic changes. The history of our
present crisis begins essentially in 1973, with
massive shifts in the role of the nation state, in
the changing structure of media and tech in the
seventies and eighties, even in the "medication"
industries (from seventies Prozac to today);
clearly in the restructuring of cities, especially
since the nineties; and most of all, in the
fragile aspects of digital capitalism (that
inspires piracies and artificial
dis-intelligence). All these have altered the
audience (how people read culture), altered
narrative forms; while gig labor conditions
destabilize further. Where do we position
ourselves within this feudal condition? What is
cultural progress in the face of evident American
decay, in its ability to master plan since the end
of Mid-Century Modernism-- toward the comic
tragedy of Trumpismo; and beyond. How do artists
assemble a solid plan? We study theories on
oligarchical tendencies, and labor indenture. We
examine its risks, even its potential. Does
neo-feudalism spark new forms of narrative and
cultural production? What other terms and methods
say much the same thing, and can be used. Are we
capable of a Renaissance, despite the cultural
ruins after the end of modernism and the Western
Hegemony (post 2000)? How can we build an honest
arts culture within the dismantling of the
American psyche? Clearly, there are powerful
strategies forward,-- across the arts-- so we take
into account past histories for comparison, even
going back millennia; toward a future that is
caught between worlds at the moment