The Politics of Making

—Art, Technology, Ideology

Part 4.

FUTURE MAKERS

As part of The Politics of Making* seminar series, in FUTURE MAKERS we will be speculating on the futures of children’s material culture, education, and production. The concept of the Anthropocene brought an increasing awareness of human’s impact on the Earth and beyond, and encourages us to approach the notion of “making” with new sensibilities. Considering that childhood is a social construct, and the meaning of it differs across time, places, and cultures, we will explore what new kinds of childhoods the concept of the Anthroposcene inspires. Since education is a form of intervention in the future, what alternative material and making skills should we teach the generations alpha, beta, and beyond? How can we re-think children’s material cultures—toys, tools, spaces, and educational materials—as a means to create desirable material futures or to tell cautionary tales?

Students will be guided towards finding their individual project ideas throughout the semester, and each student’s work will be treated individually to develop at its own pace. Weekly lectures will be supported with in-class activities, workshops, and one-to-one student advising. The semester will conclude with a presentation of the exploratory works-in-progress.

---

*The Politics of Making is a seminar series, which aims to support applied arts students in reaching beyond the conventional divisions between art/science, craft/technology, and applied arts/engineering. ‘Technology’, a seemingly neutral term, was invented in the 19th Century as an exclusive knowledge domain that implied particular hierarchies of values. Consequently, technology-engaged art fields—such as new media arts—had been exclusive fields of investigation with their insiders and outsiders set already from the beginning. Today’s interests in post-digital art-and-technology approaches are making space for new and unconventional material-based and experimental practices to enter the scene. This seminar series aims to reveal some of these access points to the students of applied arts and encourage the students to explore expanded definitions of technology and techno-aesthetics. Each semester is organized around a different thematic focus.

Students are expected to attend the classes, actively participate in the course activities, and develop an artistic project idea throughout the semester.

No prior knowledge or experience is expected for this course, but hands-on knowledge and experience in textiles or other handcrafts is favorable.