Art & Politics in the City:
New York and Buenos Aires is a two semester pedagogical experiment requiring study in both cities – making it the first of its kind at NYU. Beginning in Fall 2019, one cohort will embark together on this physical and intellectual adventure examining how urban arts and politics intersect in the Americas. How are art and politics understood and expressed differently and similarly in these two American metropolises and why? How do shared aesthetic features of public art in the city reflect the global circulation of urban creative modes? What do we learn about local politics from looking at the art and writing on a city’s public spaces?
Led by Professor Alejandro Velasco in NY and Professor Florencia Malbrán in BA, students will draw on readings in history, art criticism, and urban studies, as well as from census and electoral data, to engage with these questions while using video conferencing to have synchronous, in-class discussions. Halfway through the academic year, each group will swap physical locations in order to create an archive of murals, graffiti, performances, and installations from within both cities.
Using a combination of mobile data collection and GIS mapping tools to document their findings, the cohort will then analyze how social and political processes like gentrification, inequality, and planning generate and reflect creative political expression. This will culminate in transnational, collaborative projects that explore what the art and writing of city streets reveals about urban life in 21st century America.
Although there have been previous iterations of this course, it has never been quite this unique! Given the breadth of material and tools, as well as the immense value in experiencing both cities, previous participants felt it was critical to expand beyond a single semester – hence the introduction of this one year cohort experience. This is an incredibly exciting opportunity for current first and second year students who delight in the intersection of urban aesthetic, social justice, GIS technology, and being abroad.
Previous course’s website and past projects here.
