This class is about how and why representation machines, such as cameras, paintbrushes, recorders Photoshop, Final Cut -- concepts, such as freedom, knowledge, education -- and sentiments such as love, superstition, and belief -- become concretized or "blackboxed" into "tools", "skills", "nations", or "religions". To do this, we study parts of the uneasy and frequently incendiary relationship between humans and symbols, using the provisional definition of a symbol as anything that stands in for something else. We'll trace the development of symbol formation from the prelinguistic (human and animal) on through sociocultural language production with particular attention to the development of powerful technologies which are themselves symbols (the cross, AIDS) and others which mediate the exchange of powerful symbols (bodies, television, the Internet) and on to the ways in which market, social, and pedagogical pressures force representation machines into the form of physical or conceptual tools (blackboxing), and what is gained and lost when the black box is closed. We'll look at what's being blackboxed now, what will be blackboxed in the future, and open a few blackboxed things and examine their guts. From a theoretical perspective we'll use semiotics and psychology (and a touch of linguistics for flavor), but no prior knowledge of these is required.

Class is in studio and discussion format. This means that your active participation is a requirement of the course. During the semester we expect you to contribute your own ideas and arguments to the discussions, and to be willing to take the responsibilities and risks such contributions imply.

There are no written exams. Instead you will use the theories and tools you acquire during the semester to MAKE STUFF! about some aspect of postmodern gothic. What you make can be in any form: sound, installation, video, computer animation, collage, sculpture, assemblage, performance -- you name it. You will do this in stages, starting with simple projects and moving to more complex ones, using humor, irony, uncommon approaches, and bizarre techniques.

A sample syllabus of this course is available for viewing.