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Contents 1 Rhizomatic Aesthetics:Critical Discourses and Practices in Design and Art 51-386 2 Course Description 3 Course Themes 4 Course Work

Rhizomatic Aesthetics:
Critical Discourses and Practices in Design and Art 51-386

Carl Disalvo & Melissa Ragona
W 6:30-9:20pm

This course will focus on the intersections between critical practices in art and design. Design is commonly considered a service industry to corporations, not as a discipline engaged in social critique or direct political action. In contrast, art has been viewed as a bastion of political freedom, presenting “in-your-face” challenges to a subdued public. The aim of this course is to explore what is, is not, and what might be ‘a critical design or art-making position:’ to examine the diverse practices, discourses, and histories in which critical design and art are embedded and consider what trajectories critical design and art might pursue. This class will require substantial readings as well as analysis of project documentation from a range of contemporary practitioners. The texts will be interdisciplinary, drawing from the humanities and social sciences as well as writings by artists, designers, and architects.

Course Description

The aim of this course is to explore what is, is not, and what might be "a critical Design or Art-making position": to examine the diverse practices, discourses, and histories in which critical Design and Art are embedded and consider what trajectories critical Design and Art might pursue. This course will ask questions such as What is the relationship of critical Design and Art to industry, the government, and academia? How does critical Design and Art engage the public and what publics does it engage? What is the relationship of critical Design and Art to critical theory? What is critical Design and Art being critical of?

An emphasis of this class will be to discover and articulate the intersections between critical practices in Art and Design. Design is commonly considered as a service industry to corporations, not as a discipline engaged in social critique or direct political action. In contrast, Art—since the post WW2 historical avant-garde delivered the critique of Art as an institution—has been viewed as a bastion of political freedom, presenting "in-your-face" challenges to a subdued public. However, during the height of the successes (especially for painters) in the 1980s, when Art took on it's new skin as a "luxury consumer product," artists and their audiences have been in despair over whether or not Art can have a critically and socially potent or subversive role in society. Nevertheless, over the past decade a set of critical practices and discourses seem to be coalescing in contemporary Design and Art that suggests more socially and politically engaged roles for both could exist in contemporary society.

This class will require substantial readings as well as analysis of project documentation from a range of contemporary practitioners. The texts will be interdisciplinary, drawing from the humanities and social sciences as well as writings by artists, designers, and architects.

Course Themes

1. Critical Discourses
   1. Critical discourses in Contemporary Design
   2. What is a Critical Discourse?
   3. Defining the Public Sphere in Art and Design
2. Object/Materiality
   1. What is an Object?
   2. Materiality and Performance of Objects
   3. Defining Theoretical Debates around Authorship
   4. Authorship in Art and Design
3. User/Viewer
   1. Toward the Notion of the User
   2. An Aesthetics of User-Based Materials
   3. Relational Aesthetics Across Art and Design
   4. Dialogic Practices in terms of Design "Use"
4. Sites of Criticality
   1. Local Sites of Resistance
   2. Global Sites of Resistance

Course Work

1. MidTerm Paper
2. Art2Life for people