THE
PUBLIC
SCHOOL

This is a simple and straight forward class on readings on architecture. 

The class was originally proposed in THE PUBLIC SCHOOL NYC and scheduled bi-weekly starting on February 28th.

Please refer to this link.

http://nyc.thepublicschool.org/class/1955

This could go various ways. We could read the same text and participate discussion over skype. Or we can run completely different readings and discussions. Perhaps, we should have some kind of exchange (between LA and NYC) once in a while.

Proposed readings so far are...

"Learning from Las Vegas" by Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown and Steven Izenour

"The Death & Life of Great American Cities" by Jane Jacobs

"Towards an Architecture" by Le Corbusier and Spaces Speak

"ARE YOU LISTENING?" by Barry Blesser & Linda-Ruth Salter

This class will research  radical networks, how established and developing radical communities for example squatted social centers, intentional communities, artist groups, etc. can interconnect.    One movement worth exploring are the squatted social centers, House Magic and culminating reseach presented by Alan Moore at Basekamp on January 19th 2010.  How does highlighting such activity and the formation of a database aid the continual development of social centers?

A class exploring uses of technology and it's relationship to readymade spectacles.  We could explore readymade demonstrations such as Reinigungsgesellschaft, (http://www.reinigungsgesellschaft.de), flashmobs such as http://improveverywhere.com, and various organzied public spectacles.

In an effort to facilitate extended pedagogical efforts, courses are proposed weekly on The Public School website, informed by Plausible Artworld discussions.  Plausible Artworlds is a project to collect and share knowledge about alternative models of creative practice.  The project currently operates as  a weekly public potluck hosted at Basekamp (http://basekamp.com) in Philadelphia.   More information can be seen at http://www.plausibleartworlds.org.

One, two, three, draw!

Participants would brainstorm and choose among the many forms of drawing, both that have been tested, and have yet to be tried...

for example:

Collective / Individual

Exercises / Games

Music/Dance

Life/Imagination

Marathon / Exhibition

We will facilite this class on a rotational basis, mostly using materials at hand...

All levels of experience are welcome, there will be no formal critiques, and the choice of showing your work or keeping it to yourself is up to you.

Suggestions for modifications/additions, such as looking at historical context/examples through readings, lectures, field trips, etc. are welcome!

“Let’s not throw away anything”

The participants of this workshop will make sculptures with seasonable vegetables, pulses and other edible things.

Afterwards we will dismantle the sculptures and cook them into a delicious dinner.

The course will focus on the dilemma of politics in the cinema. Since it's inception, film has been called a “bourgeois” art, partially due to the immense need of capital to make films. Still, the left has made many a statement, low and big budget, with the medium. The course will look specifically at narrative fiction left political films from cinema's early days to the modern.

The course will focus on these areas:

1. A history of politics in the cinema and it's “inherent bourgeois status.”

2. The realist or fantasy dichotomy in methodology of narrative political films.

3. An analysis of “DIY” low budget and “bourgeois” big budget films. Can political films inspire their audience or do they just preach to a choir? And if the later, how can we make them to inspire revolution or create change?

Proposed films:

A launch party to celebrate the website and the starting of the events! There we would also collect new class proposals with the printed flyers. Possibly next week combined to an event in Ptarmigan on Friday. To be discussed!