Locality & Global Discourse
New Global Geopolitical Order and Its Influence on the Local
Wars + Climate + Famine + Economic Inequality + Displacement = Mass Immigration.
The participants in this interdisciplinary course will develop a project, in the medium of their choice, that addresses the issues of a new geopolitical global order and its influence on our local communities, particularly underrepresented in our respective cities, San Francisco and Istanbul.
The students will assume the role of artist/designer as an ethnographer in researching a specific Ethnic Community from its history to the present. Particular attention will be given on how history over time can repeat itself. The students through their skills will collect and make a visual narrative or an ideal design in telling specific stories of individuals or groups from diverse ethnic backgrounds that are affected by the issues of a new geopolitical global order. Specific readings and presentations will help frame a discussion and understanding of the effects of a new global geopolitical order. We will establish a global discourse (online) for part of the semester with students from Marmara University, Faculty of Fine Arts (MUGSF), Istanbul that are developing projects of similar current critical issues. Final projects will represent an individual interest / perspective and demonstrate an understanding of some of the critical cultural, geopolitics, economic and social issues surrounding underrepresented communities with regard to the new global geopolitical order and its influence on our local communities. The students’ work will culminate in a book/catalog.
- Instructor: Mariella Poli
- Instructor: Steve Jones
Description:
SECTION DESCRIPTIONThis course explores murals as public living spaces, visual geographical multi-layered zones for political activism, social/cultural awareness and aesthetic advancement. Starting with the early 1930’s to the present, we will look at murals as sources of meaning and forms of social justice activism. We ask, what is the role of mural art as it is displayed strategically in public spaces? Where does public space become available and to whom? Who claims public spaces and how? How do we define public space and who has the authority to have a voice and be heard in the public realm? Students will be asked to work collaboratively, choose a space to create a virtual mural design, make claims and defend them through writing exercises, research, and design. There may be opportunities for select and final mural designs to appear in virtual and/or public spaces.
- Instructor: Jack Leamy
Telling
Stories takes an experimental approach to
storytelling, exploring ways of narrating personal and collective stories in
visual media, while focusing on the development of collaborative projects and
artistic initiatives that involve the community on various levels from process
to presentation. Emphasis will be
on interdisciplinary processes from assemblage and installation, to sound and
performance, from animation to video, creating projects that use research into histories of place and
people as their inspiration and conceptual grounding. Presentations, guest lecturers and field research will examine
ways in which art has contributed to the articulation of ethnic identity, exploring the power of storytelling
in bringing communities together, expanding understanding and creating social
change. (image by Arleene Correa Velencia)
- Instructor: Taraneh Hemami
- Instructor: Amana Harris
- Instructor: Breena Nunez