In a world where technology shapes the way we think, it is hard to free ourselves from it. How are we changing to accommodate the open faucet of information? How has our ability to pay attention transformed? Marianne Weems, director of NYC-based Builders Association ensemble will work with students to investigate the area of ‘presentism’. Working in a cross-disciplinary mode, students are invited to examine their experience of the ‘here and now’ through readings, discussion, games, and blogging.
Sample reading list:
Malcolm McCullaugh, Attention in the Age of Embodied Information
Douglas Rushkoff, The Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now
Alex Pang, The Distraction Addiction
See instructor for complete list
Reading/Writing assignments:
The course aim is to transform research by the end of the semester into an online exhibition and work-in-progress performance. As part of this process, each student will create a ‘selfie portrait’ by drawing from their own information and activity currently in the datasphere (including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.). Guest speakers will frame the concept of the present in a variety of contexts: from behavioral studies to art practice.
Other information:
Marianne Weems is the artistic director of the NYC-based performance and media ensemble The Builders Association. Builders’ productions blend stage performance, text, video, sound, and architecture to tell stories about human experience in the 21st century. From BAM to Bogata, Singapore to Melbourne, Minneapolis and Los Angeles to Budapest, The Builders Association’s OBIE award-winning shows have toured to major venues the world over.
