User:Robin/T2 Assessment
My approach to the T2 Assessment, is to highlight some projects to do an auto-ethnography. An extended version of Marloes' Methods exercise. Mostly, as an exercise to myself. Since I love to think about things, I have struggled to not remain in abstract ideas, but to make things tangible and relatable.
So, I'll be...
Situating My Situatedness !
Because I feel like my most valuable take-away from XPUB so far, is to really focus on situating myself as a maker / researcher / person.
This work shows why ->
M I R A G E installation } Extraterrestrial Publishing Fair
I showed my BA graduation project's installation at the Extraterrestrial Publishing Fair. This was the second iteration of the installation.
The installation is made of de-constructed TV-screens. Exposing the film sheets inside the LCD screens that bend light in weird ways. They either let light pass through or reflect it, depending on your position in relation to it. So passing by the screen, the image is revealed, and hidden from view again.
This work was my first installation and the culmination of my interest in considering the social / political effects of media. Mostly inspired by Walter Benjamin's ideas about reproducible media / commodity fetishism.
I loved the work for what it was, but I was left with a bit of an unsatisfied feeling about it. Visually, it might communicate this idea of a double-reality that is in the nature of reproducible media. But couldn't really communicate how that impact shapes social relations. I felt like it missed the link to a concrete experience in order to do that. It stays very vague, it didn't really invite people to relate to it personally.
This was my main challenge throughout my whole bachelor. Because I couldn't help myself but to work with complex ideas, but it was always difficult for me to make them understandable and relatable.
Critical Theory course at the Erasmus School of Philosophy
The year after, I thought it would help me learn to structure / articulate my thoughts better. I was considering doing a masters in philosophy. So I bought a course at the Erasmus School of Philosophy to try it out, see if I liked it. ( at erasmus, they offer cursus onderwijs, which means you literally buy a single course from their curriculum and you can attend that course )
( So, technically, this was before XPUB, but I've been digesting the aftermath during XPUB, and I think it is very relevant to illustrate how I changed my perspective on things )
It was a course in Political Philosophy, focusing in the Frankfurt School and Critical Theory. That part is critical, because we did not learn much critical thinking... The theories we discussed in classes were ( mostly ) super interesting, but I was quite surprised by how I experienced university life.
| some of the theories we learned about | vs. | things I experienced in the course / on campus |
|---|---|---|
| Marx -> The Communist Manifesto | First class, I walk into the auditorium, I have not felt so watched in a long time... | |
| Hannah Arendt -> Totalitarianism | During lecture student says " If I had to choose between living in a tyranny or anarchy, I'd choose a tyranny, because at least it's some form of structure. " as if it's an uncontestable point. | |
| Foucault -> Post-Structuralism | Before lecture in class, a girl comes up to me and makes small talk. I say I don't know how things work here, it's the first time I'm in uni, she responds "Woooww, you're so mysterious!" | |
| Frankfurt School -> Critical Theory | In a group project, I suggest to choose a fictional scenario for an assignment, instead of an existing one, to emphasize a social issue we are supposed to discuss more. The group responds, saying 'woooww, that's super interesting, we should ask the professors for permission though'. I thought they were kidding.. But the 3 main professors of the course reply per e-mail that they came together 'to discuss the matter carefully, and agreed, on the condition that we thoroughly frame the context in which the scenario takes place and argue well for it's relevance for the purpose of this assignment'. I could not rhyme this with the objective of the course to learn 'critical thinking skills'. | |
| Angela Davis -> Intersectionality | In a group project, we role-play, impersonating the ideas discussed in class. Angela Davis' character is portrayed as an angry radical leftist activist who glues herself on a talk-show table, screaming her ideas into the crowd. Butler's character says "I agree with you, but you should calm down because no-one will listen to you when you're being so loud." ( I wonder why I got myself into this.. ) | |
| Somewhere in-between is two more theorists, but we get essays on them by an Israeli political theorist, teaching at the university of Haifa | The Professor makes a commend on these essays when he gives the readings for the coming week. He says he wants to acknowledge the fact the essays were written by an Israeli theorist, but he could not find anything online about her stance on the 'Palestinian / Israeli conflict' and he will leave it up to us to decide whether we will read the texts or not.
--> 1 of the 8 exam questions is about those texts, making 12,5% of the total grade. | |
| Frantz Fannon -> The Fact of Blackness | I use an empty glass bottle to pour machine coffee in, because there are no cups available. A classmate comes up to me and looks suprised. 'Eeehhh, is that coffee?" I say yes. She responds: "Okay... Weird..." | |
| Judith Butler -> Gender Performativity | I walk through the hallway. A group of frat-guys shows up to class, dressed in blue suit, a tie, hair gelled back, with one hand in pocket, they give each-other a firm hand-shake-as if they're about to have a business meeting-and walk into the classroom. I wonder, how come I'm supposedly the one who is "performing". | |
| Edward Said -> Orientalism | ||
| Jaques Ranciere -> Politics and Aesthetics | There's a rainbow crosswalk between buildings on the Erasmus campus. I read the sign, it says as much as "Everyone should feel included, accepted and valued at this university." I suddenly realize I don't have to feel out-of-place here anymore, because they have a rainbow crosswalk! | |
| Gayatri Spivak -> Critique of Post-Colonial Reason |