Eliza Fernand

In this course we will focus on the development of artistic research skills for students already engaged in a practice. Students take this required course in order to experience and develop a variety of research methodologies, both conventional and alternative, which include utilizing collections and archives in the School and the extended community.

Students will undertake various types of research activities: a) collecting and classification, b) mapping and diagramming, c) systems of measurement, d) social interaction, e) information search systems, f) recording and representation, and g) drawing and other notational systems.

Faculty directed, open-media, interdisciplinary, idea based assignments are designed to help students recognize work habits, biases, strengths, and weaknesses. Through this course work students will be able to identify the most productive research methods and making strategies to bolster their emerging studio practice. Critique as an evaluative process used in art and design schools, is a focus in this course. Various methods and models of critique are used in order to give students the tools to discuss their own work and the work of others.

In this course students will research ghostly traditions from their own lineages and delve into the histories of their immediate surroundings by finding local ghosts and public monuments in Chicago. We will consider ghosts as possibilities beyond the paranormal by exploring eco grief and nostalgia, and questioning monuments in a search for transparency around public art. Through studying various hauntologies, students will generate their own research topics that will be the basis for study projects and a proposed monument. We will develop a routine of field trips and individual research and study works by Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Michael Rakowitz, Heidi Lau, Tania Bruguera, Killjoy's Kastle, Félix González-Torres, and Monument Lab.