In this 4000-level iteration of the Future Histories, Speculative Sites Lab, students are invited to work together with Elæ Moss on envisioning and building the Speculative Solidarities : YEAR ONE Field Station / Community Care Hub as they develop their own original speculative proposals (for past, present, and future) and hone these into public-facing projects across a range of media. For those who weren’t participants in the 2000-level fall course, we will begin with a quick dive into precedents of speculative thinking and practice, contemporary and historical meaning-making, and a consideration of the (simultaneously exciting and terrifying) plasticity of archival practices, with returning students sharing the collective resource bank we built in the prior semester. Student work will culminate in a shared publication and digital exhibition, and individual students will be supported in the development and public release of their project (and/or project materials in practice). Potential mediums in which this work might be produced include: visual / archival / sculptural / conceptual installation / curatorial practices; film and video; audio and sound development / podcast / score or composition; performance (which might include any number of the prior); game design; narrative / written work; etc. Students may come in with a plan to develop work in keeping with the mediums central to their plan, and/or to stretch their skillsets within the container of the Future Histories Lab, working both with Moss and fellow student Field Agents to share intelligences as a concrete practice of Speculative Solidarity. In part, we will explore the ways in which speculative thinking is and can be translated into and across media for public use and consumption: a writer might consider the ways in which audio, video or site-specific installation could shift and deepen engagement with their narrative. A performer might think about the production of a publication alongside an otherwise ephemeral evening’s stagecraft, and so on.
Learning Outcomes:
- Collective practice around research and public resource development across disciplines as a solidarity strategy for changemaking within and beyond institutions.
- Participants will explore use of the speculative framework as a model for contemporary cultural participation for all humans in the anthropocene / during climate crisis, while engaging with and deepening familiarity with contemporary and precedent practices using this lens.
- “FIELD LAB” members will come away with practical applications of project development and management, translation into multiple modes of public dissemination and production, including but not limited to curation, publication, installation and product design, etc.
Delivery Method: Fully in-person
Prerequisites: Instructor permission (email elaemoss@bennington.edu), or APA 2008: Future Histories, Speculative Sites
Course Level: 4000-level
Credits: 4
Th 1:40PM - 5:20PM (Full-term)
Maximum Enrollment: 15
Course Frequency: One time only
Categories: 4000 , Advancement of Public Action , All courses , Four Credit , Fully In-Person
Tags: Archives , CAPA , creative writing , Curatorial Practice , Ecology , installation , media , production , public action , visual art