Description
Abstractions of War
Instructor: Anna Neimark
Video Description: TBD
Short Description: Dozens of forts materialized the geometric abstractions of war on the American continent. In researching, diagraming, drawing, rendering, and modeling these built structures, students will engage in a close study of the monuments and their sites. Discussion topics will seek to connect abstract issues of form to their political implications, bringing the techniques of formal analysis and material figuration to bear on the contested landscape of settler colonialism. The seminar will thus seek to deploy the tools of visual representation to engage in a historical and political understanding of the built environment. Students will work collaboratively on a series of exploratory exercises alongside critical readings of interpretive texts and historical documentation. Class time will be composed of presentations by the instructor as well as the students to structure discussions of the assigned reading