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Syllabus
Black Audio Society[workshop]
April 3/10/17/25
1pm - 3pm EST
Organizer: gum.mp3
e-Mail: webmaster@gum.studio
What’s This All About
The Black Audio Society[workshop] is a 4 week communal exchange dedicated to exploring art-as-research and social practice. We’ll situate ourselves with current events, and evaluate strategies for politically inclined art-making practice. Music and nightlife is what I know best, so this colors my approach and the way I think about arts economies and the politics therein. Despite this, any insight gained from this workshop is widely applicable and may be most relevant to artists early in their professional career, current students, and grassroots organizers.
We’ll meet virtually for four days, for around 2 hours each session.
The Proposition
Treating the artist as researcher allows one to be the steward of their own transdisciplinary learning, and situate their practice politically in a productive way.
With this in mind, we can create an educational model that is alternative to traditional schooling.
Similarly, we can create a methodology and economy for artmaking that is not reliant on institutionalized university or the commercialized fine art market.
Objectives & Questions
Determine the state of (arts) education right now. What’s going on? How do we feel about it?
Evaluate the relationship between art and fascism throughout time. What’s the role of art-as-research right now?
In the current socioeconomic context, is the (art) degree cooked? Is there a way to achieve peer-reviewed, accredited expertise outside of the university? Does it even matter?
Envision a methodology for bridging our creative practices with social justice issues.
Create a realistic plan towards realizing the intellectual community we need and desire.
Things We’ll Read Closely Together:
The Artist As Researcher, “New Roles for New Realities”, Graeme Sullivan (79-100)
“The Transformation of Silence Into Language and Action”, Audre Lorde
“Apartheid U.S.A.”, Audre Lorde
“Cudgel, Out of the Bag”, Marion von Osten
“Ethno, or Sociopoetics”, Sylvia Wynter
Things You Can Read On Your Own Time:
“billy woods: ‘My Music Is Radical, in Its Own Way’”, Armen Aramyan & billy woods
Relational Aesthetics, Nicolas Bourriaud
Intimate Direct Democracy, Modibo Kadalie
Pan-African Social Ecology, Modibo Kadalie
Expectations For Participation
All I really ask is that everyone shows up with the readings completed and ready to discuss. They’re crucial to framing our conversation over the 4 sessions, and it feels somewhat pointless to join the workshop without doing the reading. It would be really cool to have some written reflections after each session, so that we can see our ideas change over time and refer back to them long after the workshop. That being said, since this isn’t a traditional classroom experience, I don’t expect anyone to do homework.
Schedule
Week 1 - Framing
Read The Artist As Researcher, “New Roles for New Realities”, Graeme Sullivan (79-100) before we meet on April 3rd.
Let’s get to know each other, and begin to think about artmaking as a form of research. Do we buy it, or no?
Week 2 - Situating
Read “Ethno, or Sociopoetics”, Sylvia Wynter before we meet on April 10th.
I have a couple slides on Relational Aesthetics and the history of art as social practice. We’ll review those, and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of social practice in the context of fine art in the gallery space.
Week 3 - Moving Forward
Read “The Transformation of Silence Into Language and Action”, Audre Lorde and
“Apartheid U.S.A.”, Audre Lorde before we meet on April 17th.
We’ll dig into the political nature of our work. What specific obstacles do we face? What road(s) forward do we have? What have we tried so far, and why has it succeeded or failed? This is an opportunity to get a lay of the land, lick our wounds, and strategize.
Week 4 - Moving Forward, continued.
Read “Cudgel, Out of the Bag”, Marion von Osten” before we meet on April 25th.
Continue our discussion from the week before. Do we have any ideas for long-term projects moving forward? If there’s anything that people are already working on or thinking about, we’ll have time to share and brainstorm. I have a few project ideas to propose, too, for things that we can commit to outside of this short workshop.