Aesthetics of Care: Visual Strategies for Community Engagement

Course Description

Summary

With billions of images uploaded to the internet daily, we are bombarded by media content on corporately owned platforms from news outlets to algorithmic social media feeds and YouTube videos. How do we create meaningful independent media for each other in this current age of disinformation? What importance do physical materials such as books, zines, posters, and pamphlets still have in disseminating information and ideas to our communities? How does the art of self-publishing become a means of empowerment and an act of care?

In this course, we will trace the power of printed materials by some key artists and activists to engage communities and shape the aesthetic of movements led by those marginalized from the mainstream. Students will explore self-publishing in various forms as an accessible tool of outreach and a site of community building on campus and in the town of Bennington. An idea for a CAPA Press will be explored.