Clandestine Publics
KuWi BA, M8/9
Blockseminar on the 27./28.5 and 3./4.6. as well as several Thursdays at 10:oo-14:00
Language: English
This course is a 4 SWS course and gives you access to 9CP.
This course explores secret publics, using ideas from ethnography and art! It is practical, meaning: you will develop your own projects. NEW: Some of you will present the course's ideas on the FUSION Festival.
What are clandestine publics? Here is an example: In 2015, the American TV series 'Homeland' featured a secret art project, unknown to the makers of the series and most of the viewers. Some of the scenes were set in a Syrian refugee camp, covered for decorative purposes in Arabic graffiti. Inaccessible by non-arabic-speaking viewers, this background graffiti said things like "HOMELAND IS RACIST" and "#BLACKLIVESMATTER". This was the work of artist Heba Y. Amin and The Arabian Street Artists, who had been asked to help out as set designers, and used this possibility for a clandestine public.
In this course, we will look at many more examples of such clandestine and often subversive publics, and conduct experiments into how to set them up. Clandestine Publics can be an important means to spread messages in places where they are not supposed to be; they can be a way of allowing and protecting secret communication; they can be an important part of activism; thesy can be part of everyday life; they can also add to a new forms of Public Anthropology that leaves the university and addresses new audiences ... and they can be fun!
Artists have explored such clandestine public with cunning creativity. In the course you will discuss artworks, explore theories, conduct inquiries and experiments, and, most importantly, develop your own clandestine public with your fellow students. The course is taught by London-based artist Simon Farid, who has developed many clandestine publics, as well as Götz Bachmann from Bremen. Together, we will embark on an adventure of experiment, ethnography, theory and art!
Example: https://www.hebaamin.com/arabian-street-artists-bomb-homeland-why-we-hacked-an-award-winning-series/
Fusion Festival: https://www.fusion-festival.de/de/2022/start
