Formlessness

This class is a place to explore the rethinking of boundaries, unforming set notions of the way a body, film, or artistic idea can exist, and pushing one’s practice into new territories. The course is an interdisciplinary place for experimental animators to explore specific themed prompts in their animation practice, through drawn animation as well as in any other mediums of their choosing. The central touchstone of the course is the book Formless: A User’s Guide, written by Rosalind Kraus and Yve-Alain Bois. We will have readings, screenings, and project prompts on subjects from this book such as Liquid Words, Abjection, Gestalt, Very Slow, Pulse, and Base Materialism. Students create works incorporating and responding to a category concept, which we then critique and further discuss as a group, generating our own catalog of Formlessness.