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Aesthetics and politics cross paths and sometimes merge in the field of new media. Weaving together theory from Debord, Bloch, Baudrillard, and Brecht with examples of new media including The Yes Men, the Bureau of Inverse Technology, and the Barbie Liberation Organization, we will take a broad view of what constitutes new media, its syndication, Continue Reading »
From Patricia Piccinini’s sculptures to SymbioticA’s fish brain robot, many visionary artists are focused on the power of science and technology in culture. This course will offer an overview of artworks that use and critique science and technology, with an eye to how we can study these works and think about the tasks these pieces Continue Reading »
What is science? What is art? Are they two separate worlds? Or two cultures in the same world? Do they divide up this world? Is there anything outside of these two comprehensive realms? To get a grasp on these big issues, we will read and write about four themes: Representing Nature in Art and Science, Continue Reading »
From cabinets of curiosity to the charts and graphs that are central to scientific publications, science goes about the work of representation. Beginning with objects and models, two familiar forms of representation in science, this course will unpack science’s multifaceted relationship with representation. In “Modes of Representation: Visualization and Quantification,” we will consider the images Continue Reading »
Using Blade Runner, Steampunk short stories, Alan Lightman’s Einstein’s Dreams, Romantic poetry, and a Victorian fairy tale, this course will analyze poetry, new media, novels, short stories, and films inspired by nature, biology, robotics, physics, space, and more. Themes will include the politics of science and technology, technological determinism, the relationship between popular and technical Continue Reading »
Cosplay is the art/culture/act of dressing up in costumes, usually for a specific subcultural scene or event. Cosplay is a complex physical craft, involving lots of technical knowledge, as well as lots of creativity and vision. We will build cosplay costumes and wear in them in multiple contexts. We will also investigate cosplay as a Continue Reading »
This senior seminar touches on many intersections of science and literature while focusing on the stories we tell about human biology. What can fictional and nonfictional narratives tell us about the impact of biotechnology? How is genomic science changing conceptions of personhood and the relative influence of inheritance and environment? Conversely, how are new forms Continue Reading »
Study of contemporary American fiction, poetry, non-fiction, drama, and film, emphasizing recent formal and thematic trends. This course considers emerging directions in early twenty-first-century US literature and film and pressing questions about the future of “nature.” We will look especially at the problems of climate change and the ways in which various publics have responded Continue Reading »
Although species, sex, and race have been key categories for classifying living beings, they are highly problematic terms. Their boundaries and meanings have been continually contested and reinvented both across and within historical periods. This course investigates constructions of biological difference—and the political uses they are made to serve—through case studies of literature contextualized with Continue Reading »
