Course Syllabus
METABOLIC MATERIALITIES
BETWEEN THE ANIMATE AND THE INANIMATE
ARCHA6911
Columbia University GSAPP
Wednesdays 11am-1pm, 408 Avery
Instructor: Michael Wang
Course Overview
A distinction between animate and inanimate matter pervades so-called Western thought since at least Aristostle’s De Anima. In this course, we will question this persistent dividing line and uncover new linkages between the quick and the dead, using metabolic processes as both metaphor and mechanism for the transformation of matter. Our methods will borrow from and work through scientific discourses, industry-specific expertise, animal studies, indigenous knowledges, queer theory and critical race theory. Artistic practice, understood broadly, will offer case studies for making new material perspectives visible or sensible.
Crucially, we will understand material transformations as organized across ecological, economic, and political matrices. Students will explore the meaning of materials and their transformations: their origins, sourcing and extraction, networks of exchange, and the impacts of these networks on human and non-human lifeworlds. Together, we will examine how artistic or architectural uses of materials can mask or reveal these processes.
Working singly or in pairs, students will pick a single material to explore over the course of the semester. Through a series of analyses, students will question the apparent singularity of their chosen material and explore its possible links to both animate and inanimate matter. They will look to the conditions of its formation and processing, and, importantly, its potential role in energy systems and flows. These analyses will span the global (even extra-planetary) and the microscopic, geologic time (the relationship between iron ore deposits and Precambrian photosynthesis, for example) and fleeting, daily rhythms (the role of blood iron in cellular respiration, to continue this material example).
This background research will lay the groundwork for determining possible avenues for modifying or intervening in the industrially-normative production and use of their chosen material. Each project will culminate in a critical object or gesture that calls attention to unseen processes of transformation, linkages between apparently inanimate and animate matter. Students will be encouraged to work at a one-to-one scale, and to find methods for foregrounding the material itself (or those human or nonhuman actors it impacts) as a key element in their final work. The works will seek to reveal materials as ambiguous actors, intermediaries that move between the organic and the inorganic.
Learning objectives
- To develop research skills and analytic tools for examining materials and the metabolic, ecological, economic, social and political networks in which they are enmeshed
- To develop representational and aesthetic strategies to reveal these often unseen networks, and in particular to foreground linkages between animate and inanimate matter.
- To experiment with singular gestures that upend the smooth or normative functioning of material economies, and call into question the divide between natural and technological systems
Lectures and Site Visits
Each week will be structured around a thematic lecture and/or visit to see artworks relevant to the theme. These lectures are intended to be participatory: we will develop material ideas collectively.
Individual or Pair Projects
The work will begin with research-driven analyses at the beginning of the semester and progress into material and formal experimentation later in the semester. As individuals and pairs advance their projects, we will spend more time discussing these as a group and through 1-on-1 crits. The research and work conducted individually will also begin to form a shared resource for the whole class, driving everyone’s work and thinking forward.
Evaluation criteria
|
Activity |
Assessment |
% of total grade |
|
Weekly research/analysis |
Weekly research will be judged on the originality of the findings, the depth of interrogation, and the discovery and use of new tools |
30 |
|
Discussion and participation |
Because the ideas in the class will be developed collectively, active participation in the weekly discussions is required. Contributions can include, but are not limited to: putting forward novel ideas and frameworks, sharing online or offline tools for analysis, and constructive criticism of other work |
30 |
|
Final project |
Final work will be judged on its relationship to earlier weekly research, effectiveness of communication, clarity of form or content, and usefulness as a model for further experimentation |
40 |
Course readings
Selections from these texts will be provided a week before they are individually discussed, but I certainly encourage you to purchase these books or find them in the library if you would like to explore these texts more deeply.
Martín Arboleda, Planetary Mine: Territories of Extraction Under Late Capitalism, Verso, 2020.
Jane Bennett, Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things, Duke University Press, 2010.
Mel Y. Chen, Animacies: Biopolitics, Racial Mattering, and Queer Affect, Duke University Press, 2012.
T.J. Demos, Against the Anthropocene, Sternberg Press, 2017
Formafantasma, Cambio, Serpentine Galleries, 2020.
Naomi Klein, “Beyond Extractivism: Confronting the Climate Denier Within,” This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate, Simon & Schuster, 2014.
Achille Mbembe, Necropolitics, Duke University Press, 2019.
Tavia Nyong’o, “Deep Time, Dark Time,” Afro-Fabulations: The Queer Drama of Black Life, NYU Press, 2018.
Paul Preciado, Testo Junkie, The Feminist Press, 2013.
Susan Schuppli, Material Witness: Media, Forensics, Evidence, MIT Press, 2020.
Online resource:
Andrés Jaque: https://metropolismag.com/viewpoints/andres-jaque-being-silica/
Academic Integrity & Plagiarism
Plagiarism is defined as the use of work or concepts developed by other individuals without proper attribution or citation. Unique ideas or materials taken from another source for either written or oral use must be fully acknowledged in academic work to be graded. Examples of sources expected to be referenced include but are not limited to:
- Text, either written or spoken, quoted directly or paraphrased.
- Graphic elements (figures, charts, graphs, images).
- Mathematical proofs and/or scientific data.
- Concepts or material derived from the work, published or unpublished, of another person.
Students should take advantage of plagiarism checkers available on the library website, and for editing and writing assistance they should contact the Columbia University Writing Center.
Accommodations for Students with Disabilities
Accommodations may need to be added or adjusted should this course shift from an on- campus to a remote format. If you have a disability and are registered with the Columbia Disability Services, please use their online system to notify me of your accommodations and discuss your needs with me as early in the semester as possible. I will work with you to ensure that accommodations are provided as appropriate. If you suspect that you may have a disability and would benefit from accommodations but are not yet registered with Disability Services, I encourage you to contact them at disability@columbia.edu
Statement of Support for Students’ Health and Well-Being
I encourage you to take care of your health and wellbeing. Do your best to maintain a healthy lifestyle this semester by eating well, exercising, applying the recommended COVID-19 precautions, avoiding drugs and alcohol, getting enough sleep and taking some time to relax. This will help you achieve your goals and cope with stress.
If you or anyone you know experiences any academic stress, difficult life events, or feelings like anxiety or depression, we strongly encourage you to seek support. Counselling and Psychological Services (CPS) is here to help 24/7: call 212-854-2878 and
visit https://health.columbia.edu/content/counseling-and-psychological-services
SCHEDULE
Week 1: Material Meanings (Lecture and discussion)
Case study: Formafantasma: Cambio
Assigned for next week: student material selection
Week 2: Extraction (Lecture and share-outs)
Case study: Lucy Raven, Chinatown
Reading: Martín Arboleda, Naomi Klein
Assigned for next week: extraction analysis
Week 3: Art encounter field trip and artist talk: Sagarika Sundaram, Walter de Maria Earth Room, Delcy Morelos
Week 4: Supply Chains (Lecture and share-outs)
Case study: Andrés Jaque, Being Silica and Liu Chuang, Lithium Lake and Island of Polyphony
Reading: Anna Tsing
Assigned for next week: supply chain analysis
Week 5: Metabolic transformation (Lecture and share-outs)
Case study: Sam Lewitt, More Heat Than Light and P. Staff, On Venus
Readings: Jane Bennett, Paul Preciado
Assigned for next week: Metabolic analysis
Week 6: Carbon Economies (Lecture and share-outs)
Case study: John Akomfrah, Purple and Susan Schuppli, COLD RIGHTS
Readings: Susan Schuppli, T.J. Demos, Anna Albright
Assigned for next week: Carbon or energy analysis
Week 7: Material Politics (Lecture and share-outs)
Case study: Kara Walker, A Subtlety and Kevin Beasley, A View of a Landscape
Reading: Tavia Nyong’o, Achille Mbembe
Assigned for next week: Social and political analysis
Week 8: Animate/Inanimate Material (Lecture and share-outs)
Case study: Anicka Yi, In Love With the World and Beverly Buchanan: Marsh Ruins
Reading: Mel Y. Chen
Assigned for next week: Biological/Geological analysis
Week 9: Material Afterlives (Lecture and share-outs)
Case study: Theaster Gates, Rebuild Foundation
Week 10: Making material speak (Lecture, discussion, crits)
1-on-1 crits
Week 11: Material futurities (Lecture, discussion, crits)
1-on-1 crits
Week 12: Final project presentations and share-outs
Course Summary:
| Date | Details | Due |
|---|---|---|