CRN: 5240
Credits: 3
How can resurrecting an image or object empower, debase, or contradict? This studio class critically examines these questions, exploring themes from the power dynamics and policing in cultural appropriation to the freedoms of ownership in image culture. We will investigate cloning and copying processes to understand how resurrected images or objects may change in value, be surveilled, and which qualities are retained or lost. In-class workshops and demonstrations will introduce students to techniques linked to the concepts of repetition and permutation, such as mold making, 3D printing, and laser printing. Readings and class discussions will provide a range of historical and contemporary perspectives on these issues. Classic texts by influential writers such as Jean Baudrillard on Simulacra and Simulation and Jacques Derrida on Hauntology will be examined alongside contemporary insights from writers like Simone Browne and Ken McLeod. Case studies, including Tupac’s post-mortem appearance at the 2012 Coachella festival and the evolution of deepfakes and AI in daily life, will be considered. The works of artists such as Sondra Perry, Cecile B. Evans, Liz Magic Laser, Samson Young, and Harun Farocki will be explored to illuminate the understanding of reproduction, representation, and reality in the digital age.
Faculty Bio:
Pooneh Maghazehe is a sculptor based in Brooklyn, NY. Notable solo exhibitions include “Half-Life” at KinoSaito Art Center in Verplanck, NY, “2for1” at Kathryn Brennan Gallery and “Double Zero 0%0%0%0%” at 17 Essex in New York, NY. Select group exhibitions include “Global Contemporary : Art Worlds After 1989” at ZKM Center for Art and Media, “Transnational Aesthetics” 798 Biennal at BTAP Gallery, Etiquette for Lucid Dreaming” Gateway II at Newark Penn Station and Iran Inside Out” at DePaul University Museum. Her work has been featured in Artforum, BmoreArt, Contemporary Practices, Flaunt Magazine, Art Asia Pacific Magazine and Magazine 1. She received an MFA from Columbia University in 2011.
Using materials often for their symbolic qualities, Maghazehe’s approach to form maps the entanglements of encryption and erasure. The starting point for her recent works involve casting parts of a single mold – a medium steeped in ideas about an origin story, its replicas, and the question of permanence. The Diet Coke logo, supermarket coupons, silhouettes of a seagull, and supersized doodles all permeate her work but never converge into full resolution. The resulting works expose an intuitive material record keeping that mutually empowers an original and the pulpy residues of its manipulation.
