What does it mean to say “I”? As viewers, listeners, and readers, how do we understand the mode of address of a creative or critical work? As artists and authors, how do we communicate perspective and subjectivity? What kinds of solidarities and violences are generated through the first person plural and singular? What kinds of ethical dilemmas are imposed and relieved by recourse to the presumed autobiographical? Focused on critical making, this hybrid studio/seminar will address these fundamental questions through close examination of the work of artists, filmmakers, critics, and writers, including our own. The first-person point of view has been seen to color reporting or recording with personal bias, while it offers the stamp of authenticity. Whether based upon actual or manufactured experiences or a combination thereof, the first-person perspective is key to many genres, including autobiography, memoir, personal or first-person documentary, portraiture, autotheory, slave narrative, life writing, illness narrative, diary writing and film, first-person shooter games, autofiction, and testimonial accounts. We will pay special attention to work that troubles the expectations of genre. Our study of the expansive terrain of this unique yet shifting positionality will encompass practices of writing, filmmaking, photography, multi- and mixed media creation, sound art, gaming, and virtual reality. We will lean upon the insights of Adrian Piper, Cauleen Smith, Gertrude Stein, Roland Barthes, Gila Ashtor, Alexander Chee, Jenn Shapland, and Jamaica Kincaid, among others. Students will be expected to share their work–which can take shape in the medium and modality of their choice–and give constructive feedback on a weekly basis.