Who owns the future? This course will examine the politics, power, methods and aesthetics related to conceptualizing the future, and giving those ideas form in the present. Visions of the future most notably reflect hopes and expectations, along with biases and conflicts inherent in the current time, so being able to project oneself and one's community into the future is a political act. The course will explore how different models of the future, created by artists, speculative designers, science fiction writers and governments can be analyzed and hacked. Students will consider how the idea of speculation relates to their own creative practice, engage in a process of worldbuilding to frame a prospective future, and create work that provides a portal to that imagining. Through engaging with work by writers & theorists such as Ruha Benjamin, Octavia Butler, Ted Chiang, Donna Harraway, Saidiya Hartman and José Esteban Muñoz; and artists & filmmakers such as Jefferson Pinder, Cannupa Hanska, Ari Melenciano and Hito Steyerl - we will explore ideas such as somatic storytelling, backcasting, mental time travel and Queer Futurity. The course includes weekly readings & viewings, in-class workshops, group research, and an individual final project that will begin with worldbuilding and culminate in aesthetic form.

Drawing, as a medium between process and realization, can be applied to recounting, mapping, processing, and problem-solving abstract concepts. In this course, we will ask what types of conversations are instigated when time is introduced to drawing. By incorporating tactile materials, the course will explore various innovative 2D animation techniques including lightning-sketch, pixilation, stop-action animation, cutout animation, assemblage animation, cell animation, collage animation, erasure animation, and still animation. The course combines analog and digital practices with an emphasis on process and experimentation. Pioneering and contemporary works of 2D animation will be viewed and discussed, including, Edward Muybridge, Walter Ruttmann, Alisi Telengut, Meriem Bennani, Tabaimo, Mohamadou Ndoye, Fatimah Tuggar, Tala Madani, Tommy Hartung, Robin Rhode, Amy Lockhart, Peter Burr, Brenna Murphy, William Kentridge, Kathleen Daniel, and Jacolby Satterwhite. Through thematic prompts leading up to a final project, this class welcomes work relevant to each student’s subject of interest. It will encourage spontaneity, risk-taking exploration, playfulness, and skill building, providing students with tools that can be applied to a range of platforms beyond classroom practices.