Joshua Rios

This class examines cultural and political power in relation to ideas about sound and noise. What we hear, mis-hear, do not hear, cannot hear, or choose not to hear plays an important role in social life. Those that have power have the power to decide what counts as an acceptable sound or disturbing noise. These facts make sound and noise central to issues of social justice, political activism, and public space. Sound and noise are also vital to the creation of communities of celebration and dissent – in the form of the noise strike, the protest chant, or the collective sing-along, for example. Social groups produce themselves through their listening practices and shared forms of sounding out. We will read and listen closely to scholars, artists, experimental musicians, and journalist like Jennifer Stoever (The Sonic Color Line), Kevin Beasley (A view of a landscape: A cotton gin motor), Gala Porras-Kim (Whistling and Language Transfiguration), Moor Mother (Irreversible Entanglements) and Gregory Tate (Flyboy in the Buttermilk). Additionally, we will learn from a variety of types of sources including Literature, Musicology, Art, Cultural Criticism, Music Journalism, and Poetry. Along with experimental writing assignments linking related topics, key terms, and ideas to personal and social experiences, students will produce 15-20 pages of organized writing broken into drafts and revisions.

“Past, Present, and Future Chicago” examines the complex and layered histories of Chicago through the cultural lenses of literature, art, music, public space, and architecture. It actively presents the city as a place where various social groups have migrated, lived in proximity, struggled for equality and resources, as well protested, celebrated, and produced art and culture. Some events this class engages include the establishment of the city through the Chicago Treaty of 1833, the Great Migration of the early 1900s, post-industrialization, the formation of historic neighborhoods (Pilsen, Lawndale, Chinatown), and the rise of House and electronic music. We will conduct periodic field trips throughout the city to enhance our readings, research, and experience-based understanding of Chicago’s ever-present histories. Relevant artists, writers, and activists include Gwendoline Brooks (poet), Gordon Parks (photographer), Amanda Williams (architect/artist), and Frankie Knuckles (DJ), among others. FYS II builds upon the foundational writing skills students began learning in FYS I, with the introduction of more self-directed rigorous argumentation and research. Students should expect to write 20 to 25 pages of formal, revisable writing (one experiential essay and one research project, both with multiple drafts), as well as homework exercises and in-class writing. Furthermore, peer review, class workshopping of student papers, and individual meetings to discuss each student's writing should be expected.

Making Words Things is a research- and practice-driven course that examines the relationship between language and contemporary art production. We will consider the physicality of text and the many ways that words and writing have informed and influenced a range of artists using a range of media and media combinations. Beyond the basic framework of writing and text as materials to be explored, this course prioritizes artists that have been historically marginalized as a result of their social identities, which may include gender, race, ethnicity, able-bodiedness, sexual orientation, and more. We will do research on and be inspired by such artists as, Cary Leibowitz (Candyass), Carrie Mae Weems, Glenn Ligon, Edgar Heap of Birds, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Lorna Simpson, Sky Hopinka, Renee Green, and Park McArthur. Poets and writers we will read include, Joy Harjo (the first Native American US Poet Laureate), Claudia Rankine (Citizen), and Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (Dictee), among others. We will engage theories of writing, like semiotics, narrativity, and the power of metaphor. Site visits may include the Poetry Foundation, Harold Washington Library, and exhibitions that have a strong link to the themes of the course. There are three major projects, which can include any media combination, as well as various exercises related to publishing as practice, public intervention, and translation.

This course plunges students into content and ideas that universities often leave until graduate school, as we consider the role played by the 'critical' in 'visual and critical studies.' For the past ten years, it has been referred to as 'a primer for the art world.' It will still, mostly, provide you with a working vocabulary and crash course as to bodies of knowledge integral to the study of visual culture. At the same time, to productively engage in a reflective critique of society and culture, it will consider 'texts' from as diverse and contemporaneous a group of scholars, theorists, critics, and cultural producers as possible, from both inside and outside the academic institution.

This course plunges students into content and ideas that universities often leave until graduate school, as we consider the role played by the 'critical' in 'visual and critical studies.' For the past ten years, it has been referred to as 'a primer for the art world.' It will still, mostly, provide you with a working vocabulary and crash course as to bodies of knowledge integral to the study of visual culture. At the same time, to productively engage in a reflective critique of society and culture, it will consider 'texts' from as diverse and contemporaneous a group of scholars, theorists, critics, and cultural producers as possible, from both inside and outside the academic institution.

Hybrid Practices seeks to bring artistic experimentation and research-based scholarship together. In general, Visual and Critical Studies promotes academic and artistic hybridity as a way to examine the social forces that shape our lives. Many fields will be engaged, including queer and feminist theory, literature, social identity, postcolonial studies, art history, and philosophy. The goal is to support student practices by exposing them to various critical conversations related to politics (social life) and art (general creativity). This course prioritizes artists historically marginalized because of their social identities, including gender, race, ethnicity, able-bodiedness, sexual orientation, and more. Some artist, writers, and thinkers to be considered include, Black Audio Film Collective, Glenn Ligon, #decolonizethisplace, Sky Hopinka, Park McArthur, Sunaura Taylor, Michel Foucault, Super Futures Haunt Qollective, and Judith Butler. Screenings will include a variety of videos related to contemporary art and critical theory, including “Martha Rosler Reads Vogue: Wishing, Dreaming, Winning, Spending,” Forensic Architecture’s 'Rebel Architecture: The Architecture of Violence,' Coco Fusco’s “TED Ethology: Primate Visions of the Human Mind,” Paper Tiger TV’s “Donna Haraway Reads the National Geographic on Primates,” and Democracy Now’s “Freed but Not Free: Artists at the Venice Biennale Respond to the #BlackLivesMatter Movement.” Coursework includes a reading schedule, research-supported discussions, moments of creative presentation/critique, and writing assignments that engage hybrid approaches to culture, history, and theory.

What egalitarian ideals have shaped our conception of public education? How has the promise of democratic schools been undermined by white privilege, racism, class-based discrimination, inequitable funding, colonialism, patriarchy, and disregard for the human impact on the natural world? This course builds a foundation for understanding the politics of schooling by exploring the struggle for democratic education in Chicago, contextualized by contemporary global decolonial practices in education. Students will consider how shifting conceptions of schooling are responses to the contemporary cultural moment—recognizing how curriculum supports the beliefs and needs of the status quo as well as how curriculum might critique and propose new ways of being as individuals and as societies. The course explores a broad range of histories, philosophies, and approaches to schooling, including Freedom Schools, Native American boarding schools, transformative justice in education, play and free child movements, teacher-led movements, environmental studies, and the fight to defend ethnic studies programs as well as attempts to re-segregate and privatize public schools. Artists, designers and scholars to be studied include Tonika Lewis, Eve Ewing, Elizabeth Todd-Breland, Jose Resendiz, Borderless Studios, Interference Archive and Alexis Rockman. Readings from the field of art education by Doug Blandy, Laurie Hicks, and Mark Graham will trace the emergence of eco-art and place-based art education curriculum. Field trips include visits to school sites, Chicago Board of Education meetings and exploration of CBOE archives. Course assignments include short response papers and course readings. Students conduct and report on six hours of observations in schools, sites of school decision-making, and in places where people attempt to build democratic processes related to schools. Students will conduct independent research on topics related to contemporary issues and schooling. Each student will prepare and present a culminating project proposal for a school whose curriculum and structures address their political and social concerns and pedagogical vision.

This course is designed to provide students an opportunity to gain experience as interns in professional arts and design environments and prepare for professional life after SAIC. During the semester, faculty provide in-depth mentorship and act as liaison with the internship site supporting students meet their learning goals as outlined for the semester. Through group meetings and online discussions, students engage with a peer cohort of students participating in a variety of internships. Students work on-site at internships for a total of 140 hours (approx 14 hours per week) for the term. In addition to successfully completing the internship, students will conduct an informational interview with their employer, attend 4 class meetings and an onsite meeting with the faculty and supervisor, complete an internship supervisor evaluation, revise their resume, and update their online portfolio, website, or professional profile. Students are required to secure an internship prior to the start of the semester. Internships must be approved by the Career and Professional Experience (CAPX) office. Students are encouraged to meet with a CAPX advisor for assistance with researching and applying for internships. In order to begin the internship approval process students should go to https://bit.ly/35vmTTM. Upon approval, course registration is managed by CAPX. Note that international students must receive CPT authorization prior to participating in an off-campus internship. Internships may be in-person, hybrid, or virtual; however all four class meetings are virtual. Class meeting day and time are determined by the faculty.

This course is designed to provide students an opportunity to gain experience as interns in professional arts and design environments and prepare for professional life after SAIC. During the semester, faculty provide in-depth mentorship and act as liaison with the internship site supporting students meet their learning goals as outlined for the semester. Through group meetings and online discussions, students engage with a peer cohort of students participating in a variety of internships. Students work on-site at internships for a total of 140 hours (approx 14 hours per week) for the term. In addition to successfully completing the internship, students will conduct an informational interview with their employer, attend 4 class meetings and an onsite meeting with the faculty and supervisor, complete an internship supervisor evaluation, revise their resume, and update their online portfolio, website, or professional profile. Students are required to secure an internship prior to the start of the semester. Internships must be approved by the Career and Professional Experience (CAPX) office. Students are encouraged to meet with a CAPX advisor for assistance with researching and applying for internships. In order to begin the internship approval process students should go to https://bit.ly/35vmTTM. Upon approval, course registration is managed by CAPX. Note that international students must receive CPT authorization prior to participating in an off-campus internship. Internships may be in-person, hybrid, or virtual; however all four class meetings are virtual. Class meeting day and time are determined by the faculty.

This course is designed to provide students an opportunity to gain experience as interns in professional arts and design environments and prepare for professional life after SAIC. During the semester, faculty provide in-depth mentorship and act as liaison with the internship site supporting students meet their learning goals as outlined for the semester. Through group meetings and online discussions, students engage with a peer cohort of students participating in a variety of internships. Students work on-site at internships for a total of 140 hours (approx 14 hours per week) for the term. In addition to successfully completing the internship, students will conduct an informational interview with their employer, attend 4 class meetings and an onsite meeting with the faculty and supervisor, complete an internship supervisor evaluation, revise their resume, and update their online portfolio, website, or professional profile. Students are required to secure an internship prior to the start of the semester. Internships must be approved by the Career and Professional Experience (CAPX) office. Students are encouraged to meet with a CAPX advisor for assistance with researching and applying for internships. In order to begin the internship approval process students should go to https://bit.ly/35vmTTM. Upon approval, course registration is managed by CAPX. Note that international students must receive CPT authorization prior to participating in an off-campus internship. Internships may be in-person, hybrid, or virtual; however all four class meetings are virtual. Class meeting day and time are determined by the faculty.

This course explores artistic, tactical, theoretical, cultural and pedagogical approaches to resisting Empire through the work of John Akomfrah, Black Audio Collective, #decolonizethisplace, Sky Hopinka, Tirza Even, Forensic Architecture, Rafa Esparza, Damon Locks, SuperFutures Haunt Collective and Santiago X. We will consider how artists, activists and scholars destabilize linear time, imagine queer futures and utopias by remixing hegemonic forms of social memory including archives, explore community-based knowledges and develop reparative counter-narratives. Structure: Readings, discussions, presentations, visits to Chicago archives, guest lectures, and development of pedagogical materials and/or scholarly/creative projects. Group research trips include visits to libraries and collections to meet with archivists and researchers, including the following sites: the Gerber Hardt Library for GLBTQ studies, American Indian Center, Leather Archive and Museum, Edward E. Ayers Collection of native studies at the Newberry, Vivian G. Harsch, Harold Washington Special Collections and visits to informal, uncurated collections, including flea markets. Readings may include Eve Tuck, Audra Simpson, Stuart Hall, Russell West-Pavlov, Tina Campt, Gerald Vizenor, Jose Esteban Mu?oz, Arjun Appadurai, Tananarive Due, and Saidiya Hartman. Students will engage in weekly discussions to readings, 3 written responses, conduct an independent visit to a collection and present findings. Final projects may include hybrid production: written, artistic and/or pedagogical projects, final presentation and critique.

This course explores artistic, tactical, theoretical, cultural and pedagogical approaches to resisting Empire through the work of John Akomfrah, Black Audio Collective, #decolonizethisplace, Sky Hopinka, Tirza Even, Forensic Architecture, Rafa Esparza, Damon Locks, SuperFutures Haunt Collective and Santiago X. We will consider how artists, activists and scholars destabilize linear time, imagine queer futures and utopias by remixing hegemonic forms of social memory including archives, explore community-based knowledges and develop reparative counter-narratives. Structure: Readings, discussions, presentations, visits to Chicago archives, guest lectures, and development of pedagogical materials and/or scholarly/creative projects. Group research trips include visits to libraries and collections to meet with archivists and researchers, including the following sites: the Gerber Hardt Library for GLBTQ studies, American Indian Center, Leather Archive and Museum, Edward E. Ayers Collection of native studies at the Newberry, Vivian G. Harsch, Harold Washington Special Collections and visits to informal, uncurated collections, including flea markets. Readings may include Eve Tuck, Audra Simpson, Stuart Hall, Russell West-Pavlov, Tina Campt, Gerald Vizenor, Jose Esteban Mu?oz, Arjun Appadurai, Tananarive Due, and Saidiya Hartman. Students will engage with artistic, pedagogical, cultural practices and histories that work through and against formal and informal archives - recombining, remixing, and reimaging collections in order to critique hegemonic forms of social memory, offer reparative counter-narratives, and create community-based knowledge. Topics include: identity, activism, critical pedagogy, creativity as a force for social transformation, decolonial methodologies. Class structure: discussions of essays, visits to collections, guest lectures, and the development of pedagogical materials and/or scholarly-creative projects.

This course is designed to provide students an opportunity to gain experience as interns in professional arts and design environments and prepare for professional life after SAIC. During the semester, faculty provide in-depth mentorship and act as liaison with the internship site supporting students meet their learning goals as outlined for the semester. Through group meetings and online discussions, students engage with a peer cohort of students participating in a variety of internships. Students work on-site at internships for a total of 140 hours (approx 14 hours per week) for the term. In addition to successfully completing the internship, students will conduct an informational interview with their employer, attend 4 class meetings and an onsite meeting with the faculty and supervisor, complete an internship supervisor evaluation, revise their resume, and update their online portfolio, website, or professional profile. Students are required to secure an internship prior to the start of the semester. Internships must be approved by the Career and Professional Experience (CAPX) office. Students are encouraged to meet with a CAPX advisor for assistance with researching and applying for internships. In order to begin the internship approval process students should go to https://bit.ly/35vmTTM. Upon approval, course registration is managed by CAPX. Note that international students must receive CPT authorization prior to participating in an off-campus internship. Internships may be in-person, hybrid, or virtual; however all four class meetings are virtual. Class meeting day and time are determined by the faculty.

This course is designed to provide students an opportunity to gain experience as interns in professional arts and design environments and prepare for professional life after SAIC. During the semester, faculty provide in-depth mentorship and act as liaison with the internship site supporting students meet their learning goals as outlined for the semester. Through group meetings and online discussions, students engage with a peer cohort of students participating in a variety of internships. Students work on-site at internships for a total of 140 hours (approx 14 hours per week) for the term. In addition to successfully completing the internship, students will conduct an informational interview with their employer, attend 4 class meetings and an onsite meeting with the faculty and supervisor, complete an internship supervisor evaluation, revise their resume, and update their online portfolio, website, or professional profile. Students are required to secure an internship prior to the start of the semester. Internships must be approved by the Career and Professional Experience (CAPX) office. Students are encouraged to meet with a CAPX advisor for assistance with researching and applying for internships. In order to begin the internship approval process students should go to https://bit.ly/35vmTTM. Upon approval, course registration is managed by CAPX. Note that international students must receive CPT authorization prior to participating in an off-campus internship. Internships may be in-person, hybrid, or virtual; however all four class meetings are virtual. Class meeting day and time are determined by the faculty.

This course is designed to provide students an opportunity to gain experience as interns in professional arts and design environments and prepare for professional life after SAIC. During the semester, faculty provide in-depth mentorship and act as liaison with the internship site supporting students meet their learning goals as outlined for the semester. Through group meetings and online discussions, students engage with a peer cohort of students participating in a variety of internships. Students work on-site at internships for a total of 140 hours (approx 14 hours per week) for the term. In addition to successfully completing the internship, students will conduct an informational interview with their employer, attend 4 class meetings and an onsite meeting with the faculty and supervisor, complete an internship supervisor evaluation, revise their resume, and update their online portfolio, website, or professional profile. Students are required to secure an internship prior to the start of the semester. Internships must be approved by the Career and Professional Experience (CAPX) office. Students are encouraged to meet with a CAPX advisor for assistance with researching and applying for internships. In order to begin the internship approval process students should go to https://bit.ly/35vmTTM. Upon approval, course registration is managed by CAPX. Note that international students must receive CPT authorization prior to participating in an off-campus internship. Internships may be in-person, hybrid, or virtual; however all four class meetings are virtual. Class meeting day and time are determined by the faculty.

This seminar involves readings and discussions of works by twentieth-century social theorists who have had or might have consequences for artists' approaches to their own practices, as well as the interpretation of artistic production in general. It is not intended to be a survey of aesthetic theories, but rather will consider various questions concerning social relations and institutions, as well as basic premises that inform different conceptual approaches to these issues. Students will also read work that deals with the production and consumption of art using particular social-theoretical frameworks. Open to all students senior level and above.

What egalitarian ideals have shaped our conception of public education? How has the promise of democratic schools been undermined by white privilege, racism, class-based discrimination, inequitable funding, colonialism, patriarchy, and disregard for the human impact on the natural world? This course builds a foundation for understanding the politics of schooling by exploring the struggle for democratic education in Chicago, contextualized by contemporary global decolonial practices in education. Students will consider how shifting conceptions of schooling are responses to the contemporary cultural moment—recognizing how curriculum supports the beliefs and needs of the status quo as well as how curriculum might critique and propose new ways of being as individuals and as societies. The course explores a broad range of histories, philosophies, and approaches to schooling, including Freedom Schools, Native American boarding schools, transformative justice in education, play and free child movements, teacher-led movements, environmental studies, and the fight to defend ethnic studies programs as well as attempts to re-segregate and privatize public schools. Artists, designers and scholars to be studied include Tonika Lewis, Eve Ewing, Elizabeth Todd-Breland, Jose Resendiz, Borderless Studios, Interference Archive and Alexis Rockman. Readings from the field of art education by Doug Blandy, Laurie Hicks, and Mark Graham will trace the emergence of eco-art and place-based art education curriculum. Field trips include visits to school sites, Chicago Board of Education meetings and exploration of CBOE archives. Course assignments include short response papers and course readings. Students conduct and report on six hours of observations in schools, sites of school decision-making, and in places where people attempt to build democratic processes related to schools. Students will conduct independent research on topics related to contemporary issues and schooling. Each student will prepare and present a culminating project proposal for a school whose curriculum and structures address their political and social concerns and pedagogical vision.