LEARNING OUTCOMES
1 On successful completion of this course, students will be able to describe the larger socio-economic frameworks that the art sector operates within. 2 On successful completion of this course, students will be able to identify models of artistic practice that emphasize economic registers. 3 On successful completion of this course, students will be able to outline how artistic competencies might be used towards addressing specific socio-economic problems. 4 On successful completion of this course, students will be able to experiment with non-standard approaches to art within a critical-entrepreunrial outlook as identified in the course. 5 On successful completion of this course, students will be able to develop proposals that bring their own practice and beliefs into relation with modes of artistic thinking and practice that address social concerns from the standpoint of a artist-led financial activism. 6 On successful completion of this course, students will be able to critically examine some aspects of financialization, financial tools, and cryptoinfrastructures in their in their convergence with art practices.
Credits: 3
Schedule: 25.10.2023 - 29.11.2023
Teacher in charge (valid for whole curriculum period):
Teacher in charge (applies in this implementation): Bassam El Baroni
Contact information for the course (applies in this implementation):
CEFR level (valid for whole curriculum period):
Language of instruction and studies (applies in this implementation):
Teaching language: English. Languages of study attainment: English
CONTENT, ASSESSMENT AND WORKLOAD
Content
valid for whole curriculum period:
This course describes the larger socio-economic frameworks that the art sector operates within. It Identifies models of artistic practice that emphasize economic registers and outline how artistic and curatorial competencies might be used towards addressing specific socio-economic problems. It enables students to experiment with non-standard approaches to art within a critical-entrepreunrial outlook and develop proposals that bring their own practice and beliefs into relation with modes of artistic thinking and practice that address social concerns from the shared standpoints of both art and the wider economy.
applies in this implementation
Course Schedule and Session Details
Wednesday 25 October: 9:15 – 12:00
Introduction: Financialization and Economic Activism at the Edge of Art
9:15 – 11:00 (with 10 min. break halfway through)
The first two sessions of this course are connected and are meant to provide a general yet partial overview of the different strands of practice and thinking that have emerged within the expanded field of art in response to the intensification of financialization on the one hand, and the ascendancy of an “algorithmic realism” related to the digital transformation of the planet on the other. Financialization most generally refers to the increase in size and impact of the financial sector and its financial instruments relative to the overall economy. Creative practices that are impelled to engage with these realities are reframing the terms and characteristics of activism as previously understood within an arts framework. Within a landscape of conditions that has narrowed the possibilities for, and the impact of, transgression, refusal, and strike - all traditional agencies associated with art – terms such as leveraging, and counter-speculation have emerged as the new signifiers for a continued challenge to the closure of alternative narratives. The first session maps out some key terms and ideas through a lecture featuring some examples, while the second will be an in-depth focus on alternative economic narratives in the work of a number of artists and will feature some short screenings.
11.15 – 11.20
On the google document linked below, without necessarily mentioning your name, please take 5 minutes to do the following:
A- In a sentence or two at the most, try to explain – in your own words - the main point you are taking away from today’s presentation.
B- Write down one question you have or issue you wish to be further explained.
Please use separators (for example dotted lines) or different colours to make each individual note distinct.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1x_FDDxSnsHG0QTejmZA6ig9k-ENypsh-CxWIuaugIHQ/edit
11:20 – 12.00
Responding to your notes + describing the main course assignment
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Wednesday 1 November
Alternative Economic Narratives: Unsettling the Common Imaginary of Art and Economics
Featuring guest speaker and interlocutor: Assem Hendawi (on Zoom)
9:15 – 11:00 (with 10 min. break halfway through)
Lecture around alternative economic narratives as practiced in the expanded field of art, including short screenings/snippets of some referenced works.
11:05 – 12:00
Instead of assigned reading, there is an assigned viewing of artist Assem Hendawi’s recent work Simia: Stratagem for Undestining (2022). Following the lecture, and after a short break, we will be joined by Assem Hendawi via Zoom, Hendawi will be discussing the ideas and research behind his work and we will be asking him questions.
ZOOM LINK for Assem Hendawi’s discussion:
https://aalto.zoom.us/j/7409986395
Please watch the Simia: Stratagem for Undestining and jot down any questions you my have for Assem.
About the Assigned Viewing
Simia: Stratagem for Undestining (2022), 26 minutes
The work addresses speculation as a method for worldmaking. Simia was created in conversation with the fictitious artificial intelligence program Project Simiyaa, which aims to create a planned economy and manage infrastructural commons across Africa and the Middle East.
View at this link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JIUqFattmJ0a_B-_sLgn-VRQvZlU9zP_/view?fbclid=IwAR1Hm6GrPpmHlOccNo_eh6b2BK5jHA3cV-K0cC-C90fITxy5CPVuY0cu5-Q
About Assem Hendawi
Assem Hendawi (b. 1989) is an artist and researcher who works with videos, computer-based media, and text whose works act as spaces for worldmaking. His work questions historical and sociopolitical events around planetary computation, critical posthumanities, and the way in which technology constructs subjectivity. Through heuristics that extend from the abstract and philosophical to the imaginary and the absurd, Hendawi explores the manipulations that accompany late capitalism’s technologies as the site of rewriting narratives, identities, and traditions.
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Wednesday 8 November 2023
9:15 – 10:45 – Break - 11:10 – 12:00
DAOs, NFTs and the blockchain, an Introduction to their developments within and through the arts economy
This session is a general enquiry into the blockchain’s emergence within the art sphere, looking at DAOs and NFTs. This is a meant as a general introduction, I have uploaded a folder of relevant reading material some of which I will reference but in general this a collection of readings that are relevant to the topic if you wish to further pursue it. You can find the folder at this link: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/js4yg39oxkyi5d0zvd42w/h?rlkey=jyolqjvagtnz6937ijacx9rjp&dl=0
Some key texts to consider reading are:
Penny Rafferty (2022), A Speculative White Paper on the Aesthetics of a Black Swan World. In ‘REALTY, Beyond the Traditional Blueprints of Art & Gentrification.’
Laura Lotti & Calum Bowden (2022), Manifesting a Black Swan DAO. In ‘Radical Friends: Decentralised Autonomous Organisations and the Arts.’
Martin Zeilinger (2022), ‘Can the blockchain finally create a commons?’, Spike Art Magazine no.70
However, the Radical Friends book in the folder is an excellent resource for in-depth reading on art and the blockchain.
Wednesday 15 November
9:15 – 10.45: NFTs an introduction: frenzy, diverse viewpoints, and future directions
An introduction on the world of NFTs, examining critical perspectives and different viewpoints on non-fungible tokens and their relation to established and future artistic practices. I have uploaded a folder of related readings on this topic. A good starting place for anyone interested, is an essay that continues and bridges our discussion about DAOs from last week to NFTs, this ‘Structures of Belonging” by Martin Zeilinger, which I will be referencing and which you can download at this link:
https://aksioma.org/pdf/aksioma_PostScriptUM_44_ENG_zeilinger.pdf . The complete folder of texts can be accessed at this link: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/g2qm1g0609c0hb2mfreri/h?rlkey=rjm1e8lxns6x59w3qjcjgxb29&dl=0
BREAK
11:05 – 12:00: Short overview on Degrowth
This is a short overview on the history and emergence of the concept of Degrowth, examining its impact on current discourses of the political economy, also considering criticisms of it.
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Information about the rest of the course’s sessions will be put up shortly
Assessment Methods and Criteria
valid for whole curriculum period:
Participation in teaching, completed assignments.
Minimum 80% attendance.
See MyCourses for more detailed information on evaluations methods and criteria.
Workload
valid for whole curriculum period:
3 ECTS ≈ 81h
Contact teaching:
Period IV: 3h/week
Lectures, seminars, reading, writing, discussion.
DETAILS
Substitutes for Courses
valid for whole curriculum period:
Prerequisites
valid for whole curriculum period:
SDG: Sustainable Development Goals
1 No Poverty
4 Quality Education
5 Gender Equality
9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
10 Reduced Inequality
11 Sustainable Cities and Communities
13 Climate Action
FURTHER INFORMATION
Further Information
valid for whole curriculum period:
Teaching Language : English
Teaching Period : 2022-2023 Autumn II
2023-2024 Autumn IIEnrollment :
ViCCA major and students in Contemporary Art Practices/Theories minor and Critical pedagogies and Mediations of Art minor have priority. Then ARTS priority order.
Minimum amount of participants: 8
Maximum amount of participants varies according to the implementation of the course.Registration for Courses: Sisu.
Priority order to courses is according to the order of priority decided by the Academic committee for School of Arts, Design and Architecture:
https://www.aalto.fi/en/services/registering-to-courses-and-the-order-of-priority-at-aalto-arts
- Teacher: El Baroni Bassam