In Praise of Shadows
This course is about perception and takes its inspiration from Jun’ichiro Tanizaki’s classic text, which profoundly illuminates the significance of shadows in our sensory experiences, via Japanese aesthetics. The course works through the premise that shadows and darkness do not just produce conditions that hide/conceal/obscure, but also that they can reveal and illuminate. Using photography, printmaking and hybrid sculptural forms, we will experiment with various artistic strategies that explore the nature of the contingent relationship between shadow and light. Our experiments will extend to questions and explorations that help us unpack social and cultural conventions and hierarchies that exist. Additionally, visits to studios and workshops around LA will enhance our hands-on activities. We will not only approach the theme of shadows through artistic practices, but also through philosophy, physics, literature and anthropology, so students from all disciplines are encouraged to enroll to maximize a diversity of ideas and fields of knowledge in our explorations.
Neutral and Authoritative Knowledge
this course is for anyone who is interested in world-building, in teaching others to teach themselves (alongside other co-teachers/learners). we will design and implement the course objectives together—laterally. we are all the students. we are all the instructors. no one is the expert but everyone knows some thing quite well. we will take what we know, make something from it, and likely call it "art" (or any other term that best suits your person). what will you bring to the table?
A Sustained Environment: Understanding and Caring for Bio-Cultural Diversity
This course coincides with the unprecedented environmental and pandemic challenges of our time, bringing a new urgency to understanding the complex and dynamic interrelations between human culture and the natural environment. Using embodied pedagogy to incorporate our bodies into the learning process, as well as indigenous, ecofeminist, and intersectional frameworks, we will analyze pressing ecological issues including climate change, nature rights, green capitalism, extractive economies, and environmental justice. We will reach to other environmentally focused resources on campus; host guest lectures and artist led workshops; conduct research and fieldwork in archives, libraries, and outdoor locations; and visit local initiatives that intersect art, science and environmental practices. Utilizing a range of contemporary aesthetic strategies, we will develop a research-based project to study and present environmental problematics around Occidental campus. Projects are expected to have a multidisciplinary approach, and can be developed individually or in collaboration. This course is open to all majors.
Previous Wanlass Artists-in-Residence include: Lucky Dragons, CamLab, Rafa Esparza, Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle, Candice Lin, Shizu Saldamando, and Carolina Caycedo.