In the tumultuous present moment, what role can art and art-making possiblyhave? In this program we'll engage with various pieces of art (including but not limited to visual arts, fiction and poetry, and performance) made in other historical moments of crisis. We'll place these along theory, fiction, games, and other media exploring apocalypse and apocalyptic thinking so as to better understand how art-making can be leveraged for hope, community-building, and social change. Alongside our readings, students will embark on their own art-making (visual arts, performance, game design, creative writing), developing projects that engage the current moment and the communities around them. Materials may include Danez Smith's Don't Call Us Dead, Hervé Guibert's To the Friend Who Did Not Save My Life, Thomas L. Long's AIDS and American Apocalypticism, Emily St. John Mandel's Station Eleven, Eduard Bersudsky's Sharmanka Theater, and Lucas Pope's Return of the Obra Dinn. 

Anticipated Credit Equivalencies:

2 - Cinema and Media Studies

2 - Literature 

8 - Multimedia art practices (dependent on which types of art the student practices for creative responses)