SYLLABUS
Overview
FORMAT
The course is structured around weekly lecture/seminar-style discussions and more hands-on “lab” (weeks 1-5) and “studio” (weeks 6-8) sessions.
This structure aims to help develop critical, complex narratives through a combination of written argument and media-- e.g, student-created geospatial data, maps, diagrams, digital collage, visual timelines, etc. There will be a combination of collective and individual work, both of which are essential for the midterm and final phases of the class Atlas.
During the first half of the course, class will be divided into two weekly sessions: lecture + discussion (Thursday) and instructional labs (Tuesday). During the second half of the course, we will devote more in-class time to group project work, which will require a more fluid structure. Taking a cue from art and design pedagogy, most lab sessions will be replaced by “studio” sessions, where we will spend time constructively critiquing and developing work-in-progress (WIP).
For both parts of the course, the two weekly sessions will reinforce each other, but think about them like musical counterpoint: they’ll do different kinds of work as part of the whole, but you’ll need both to get the full, integrative experience.
All class readings, media, assignments, and other materials will be posted to the content-sharing platform Are.na.
The course is structured around weekly lecture/seminar-style discussions and more hands-on “lab” (weeks 1-5) and “studio” (weeks 6-8) sessions.
This structure aims to help develop critical, complex narratives through a combination of written argument and media-- e.g, student-created geospatial data, maps, diagrams, digital collage, visual timelines, etc. There will be a combination of collective and individual work, both of which are essential for the midterm and final phases of the class Atlas.
During the first half of the course, class will be divided into two weekly sessions: lecture + discussion (Thursday) and instructional labs (Tuesday). During the second half of the course, we will devote more in-class time to group project work, which will require a more fluid structure. Taking a cue from art and design pedagogy, most lab sessions will be replaced by “studio” sessions, where we will spend time constructively critiquing and developing work-in-progress (WIP).
For both parts of the course, the two weekly sessions will reinforce each other, but think about them like musical counterpoint: they’ll do different kinds of work as part of the whole, but you’ll need both to get the full, integrative experience.
All class readings, media, assignments, and other materials will be posted to the content-sharing platform Are.na.
Lecture + Discussion
During lecture + discussion, we’ll think through the core concepts, critical contextualizations, and media-based engagements with that week’s theme. During the first half of the course, weekly readings/references will always comprise some combination the following:
During the second half of the course, readings will support primary focus on media precedents that we will use to guide our studio work.
Lab
Labs will primarily focus on deconstructing and reconstructing a drawing, diagram, map, or other visualization presented in lecture. The assignment for each lab involves completing the tutorial, creating original work outlined in the deliverables, and posting your work-in-progress (WIP) on Are.na.
Studio
Studio focuses on critically experimenting with what spatial media (can) do as aesthetic, narrative, and rhetorical instruments. Studio work revolves around a creative, iterative, and self-reflexive process. This process is grounded in constructive, critical feedback to work-in-progress offered during in-class “crits”. We will also provide limited tutorials during select studio sessions, but they will be more exploratory and open-ended.
During lecture + discussion, we’ll think through the core concepts, critical contextualizations, and media-based engagements with that week’s theme. During the first half of the course, weekly readings/references will always comprise some combination the following:
- A geographical narrative or “geo-story” exploring some area, itinerary, history, and/or conceptual dimension of the 3/4 Coast, typically in plain language.
- Spatial media that creatively engages geographic narrative and critical theorization, typically in the form of an artwork, map, speculative design project, or other spatially-attuned medium or genre. This will often be the basis for our lab exercise for that week.
- Additional scholarship (+++) reframes the narrative in more technical language belonging to a field of academic research (e.g., biology, geochemistry, human geography, environmental studies, social theory, etc).
During the second half of the course, readings will support primary focus on media precedents that we will use to guide our studio work.
Lab
Labs will primarily focus on deconstructing and reconstructing a drawing, diagram, map, or other visualization presented in lecture. The assignment for each lab involves completing the tutorial, creating original work outlined in the deliverables, and posting your work-in-progress (WIP) on Are.na.
Studio
Studio focuses on critically experimenting with what spatial media (can) do as aesthetic, narrative, and rhetorical instruments. Studio work revolves around a creative, iterative, and self-reflexive process. This process is grounded in constructive, critical feedback to work-in-progress offered during in-class “crits”. We will also provide limited tutorials during select studio sessions, but they will be more exploratory and open-ended.