TRASH (4/09 - 4/23)
Refuse is the sediment of human existence. It serves as the material foundation of our contemporary life — as it did in the ancient world. But the very processes of production that make our present world possible also imperil its future. Consider sites like Monte Testaccio from 2 CE, where a spoil heap appears as a mountain beside the Tiber River in the Roman landscape — evidence that humans have always been trash-producing machines. Ask any anthropologist: if you want to understand a culture, look at their trash.
But what exactly is trash? How do we decide? What does trash mean — the stuff itself, the ways in which it is made, the ways we treat it — and what kinds of attention does it require? Given the accelerating rate of human-made disasters on Earth, how can we reform our material attention to create a closed cycle and a cyclical feedback loop of use and reuse?
Led by acclaimed conceptual artist Mary Ellen Carroll, this seminar will draw on design, visual art, architecture, public policy, and even music to see trash anew. With readings from Edouard Glissant, Hannah Arendt, Valeria Luiselli , and others, we'll seek to come into closer relationship with the invisible material processes that drive our world.
Classes on Wednesdays, 6:45 - 9:15pm
April 9th - 23rd
55 Washington St, Ste. 736, Dumbo
Our courses cost $250, with an Advanced rate for students with an income above 100k. We also offer a Discounted rate for students with constraining circumstances.
Additionally, we offer three tuition-waiver scholarships per course. To apply for a scholarship, click HERE.
Seminar participants are eligible for a refund as late as 24 hours before the start of the first seminar gathering. (Participants can also ask that their enrollment credit be transferred to another seminar or SoRA program of equal or lower cost.) Beyond this deadline, we do not offer refunds.
Image: Mary Ellen Carroll, November 11, 2017
prototype 180—Phase II: Daringly Unbuilt
The choreographed destruction of the 6513 Sharpview Drive, Houston, Texas
Photograph by: Kenny Trice
Refuse is the sediment of human existence. It serves as the material foundation of our contemporary life — as it did in the ancient world. But the very processes of production that make our present world possible also imperil its future. Consider sites like Monte Testaccio from 2 CE, where a spoil heap appears as a mountain beside the Tiber River in the Roman landscape — evidence that humans have always been trash-producing machines. Ask any anthropologist: if you want to understand a culture, look at their trash.
But what exactly is trash? How do we decide? What does trash mean — the stuff itself, the ways in which it is made, the ways we treat it — and what kinds of attention does it require? Given the accelerating rate of human-made disasters on Earth, how can we reform our material attention to create a closed cycle and a cyclical feedback loop of use and reuse?
Led by acclaimed conceptual artist Mary Ellen Carroll, this seminar will draw on design, visual art, architecture, public policy, and even music to see trash anew. With readings from Edouard Glissant, Hannah Arendt, Valeria Luiselli , and others, we'll seek to come into closer relationship with the invisible material processes that drive our world.
Classes on Wednesdays, 6:45 - 9:15pm
April 9th - 23rd
55 Washington St, Ste. 736, Dumbo
Our courses cost $250, with an Advanced rate for students with an income above 100k. We also offer a Discounted rate for students with constraining circumstances.
Additionally, we offer three tuition-waiver scholarships per course. To apply for a scholarship, click HERE.
Seminar participants are eligible for a refund as late as 24 hours before the start of the first seminar gathering. (Participants can also ask that their enrollment credit be transferred to another seminar or SoRA program of equal or lower cost.) Beyond this deadline, we do not offer refunds.
Image: Mary Ellen Carroll, November 11, 2017
prototype 180—Phase II: Daringly Unbuilt
The choreographed destruction of the 6513 Sharpview Drive, Houston, Texas
Photograph by: Kenny Trice
Refuse is the sediment of human existence. It serves as the material foundation of our contemporary life — as it did in the ancient world. But the very processes of production that make our present world possible also imperil its future. Consider sites like Monte Testaccio from 2 CE, where a spoil heap appears as a mountain beside the Tiber River in the Roman landscape — evidence that humans have always been trash-producing machines. Ask any anthropologist: if you want to understand a culture, look at their trash.
But what exactly is trash? How do we decide? What does trash mean — the stuff itself, the ways in which it is made, the ways we treat it — and what kinds of attention does it require? Given the accelerating rate of human-made disasters on Earth, how can we reform our material attention to create a closed cycle and a cyclical feedback loop of use and reuse?
Led by acclaimed conceptual artist Mary Ellen Carroll, this seminar will draw on design, visual art, architecture, public policy, and even music to see trash anew. With readings from Edouard Glissant, Hannah Arendt, Valeria Luiselli , and others, we'll seek to come into closer relationship with the invisible material processes that drive our world.
Classes on Wednesdays, 6:45 - 9:15pm
April 9th - 23rd
55 Washington St, Ste. 736, Dumbo
Our courses cost $250, with an Advanced rate for students with an income above 100k. We also offer a Discounted rate for students with constraining circumstances.
Additionally, we offer three tuition-waiver scholarships per course. To apply for a scholarship, click HERE.
Seminar participants are eligible for a refund as late as 24 hours before the start of the first seminar gathering. (Participants can also ask that their enrollment credit be transferred to another seminar or SoRA program of equal or lower cost.) Beyond this deadline, we do not offer refunds.
Image: Mary Ellen Carroll, November 11, 2017
prototype 180—Phase II: Daringly Unbuilt
The choreographed destruction of the 6513 Sharpview Drive, Houston, Texas
Photograph by: Kenny Trice