Can design bring about political change? Can designers embrace some of the strategies and tactics of activism and contribute to social movements and political debates? This course explores the role of design in political action, historically, and through the development of a studio project. Design activism is broadly conceived to include a wide variety of artefacts from graphics and ephemeral architecture to community-engaged work. Ranging roughly from May 1968 to the present, we will look at key social movements, their stories, practices, objects and outcomes. We will read theories on social movements and political dissent paying attention to how affect and emotions inspire political affiliation and action (Ahmed, Bennett, DiSalvo, Tilly, Thorpe, Fry, Winner). We will study contemporary social movements, collective practices, and their use of design: BlackLivesMatter, Occupy, The Guerrilla Girls, craftivism, and many others. Learning from these, students will identify political issues that are important for them, and will design and prototype courses of actions to advance their cause in creative ways.

In this Making + Meaning course students will explore their conceptual and creative possibilities through an in-depth study of performance. This course is designed at the intersection of the field of performance with art and design. We will study foundational texts and projects to discuss the history of performance and its relationship to design, photography, video, painting, and sculpture. The course will start by focusing on the early 20th Century with the work by dancer Milča Mayerová and the Czech publication ABECEDA; as well as the Works Project Administration (WPA) and its funding of the Dance Center at the Brooklyn Museum. We will study our contemporary moment by learning from the practices of artists such as Yve Laris Cohen, Martine Gutierrez, NIC Kay, Will Rawls, Mariana Valencia, and Justin J Wee, among many others. This course includes visits to performances, artist studios, galleries and museums. Students will be required to read critical theory and art history, engage in weekly discussions, practice close visual analysis, engage in writing and creative exercises, and make a final project. Students will learn how to apply performance strategies into their own practice. Students will make work that uses the human body and performance as tools to negotiate aesthetic and conceptual inquiries.