This seminar is centered around the 6 quotes above that have informed my own thinking about this controversial subject matter as an anthropologist, artist, writer and human being living in the world we do today. Whether the search for pleasure, desire, or eudemonia through the written and visual arts, the questions remain ~ what do we desire and what gives us pleasure, and what do we want, or even need to feel “happy,” satisfied, relevant and complete. This course explores the history of this search for happiness and meaning through the process of making, interacting and reflecting on artistic practices. We will look at various mediums of the visual and verbal arts through time and across cultures, and consider terms and concepts such as eudemonia, hedonism, the erotic and power/knowledge. How has our own work and way of being intersected with any of these pursuits of knowledge, power and desire and been conveyed through the triadic relationship of our own self, to one’s body of work, and its audience? We will unpack the idea and articulation of "feeling" and consider the place in which that happens, as well as the complexities of what that feeling says about who we are as individuals and as a collective culture.
The structure of this course, alongside the readings, videos, and 2 projects, is designed to help build your skills in both thinking historically, cross-culturally and critically about intersecting themes as well as exploring ethnographic design research, learning from people and their user contexts to inspire what we create. Also embedded within the assignments is the field research method of participant observation which was popularized by Bronislaw Malinowski in Britain and Franz Boas and Margaret Mead in the US.
We will be building the curriculum together each week, as this is a wholly new course and I want to get input from all of you as well. It will be a combination of the theoretical/philosophical, aesthetic/creative and the practical aspect of what it means to create based on our relationship to Culture.
- Instructor: Cari Borja