Taught by: Kenzie Cuvelier & Emily Nodell
In this class, students delved into the multifaceted role of social media in today’s society. As a powerful force shaping our social, cultural, political, and economic lives, social media serves as a platform for communication, news, community engagement, marketing, entertainment, and even activism. However, it also raises concerns about surveillance and control.
Participants explored the dual nature of social media through the lens of contemporary art, examining both its liberating potential and its harmful effects. Throughout the course, students engaged in critical discussions about how to leverage social media as an artistic tool to reflect on its impact and advocate for meaningful change.
Taught by: Mayumi Tan & Anne Marie Busche, María Belén Molina & Stephanie Wan
In this class, students engaged with the complex and urgent issues surrounding immigration in today’s world. As millions are forced to leave their homes due to war, economic hardship, climate change, and violence, the topic has sparked intense global debates. From the arrival of European colonists in 1592 to the discriminatory policies like the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, the U.S. has a long and multifaceted history of immigration, often marked by the displacement of indigenous peoples.
Artists are at the forefront of this conversation, using their work not only to reflect the realities of immigration and the refugee crisis but also to challenge and reshape social and political narratives. In this class, students explored how art can serve as a powerful tool for creating counter-stories that humanize the experiences of immigrants and refugees. Utilizing a diverse range of media and creative strategies, participants learned to harness the transformative power of art to foster empathy, dialogue, and change.
Taught by: Annie Yoo & Ros Sterling Winner, Vila Gao & Antonella D’amelio
In this class, students engaged with one of the most pressing issues of our time: climate change. As rising temperatures and sea levels lead to increasingly destructive weather patterns, contemporary artists are stepping up as powerful advocates for environmental activism.
Through the lens of art, participants explored how creative expression can raise awareness about climate change and inspire innovative approaches to rethinking our relationship with the planet. Students deepened their understanding of climate change and environmental justice, while also experimenting with various media to connect their artistic visions to both local and global efforts for a sustainable future.
Taught by: Liz Jones
In this class, students delved into the transformative concept of mutual aid as an art activist practice. Together, they examined how artists have mobilized to foster community care during the ongoing pandemic, crafting innovative strategies and safe spaces to support one another’s health and well-being.
Mutual aid, distinct from charity, is about collective empowerment—uniting individuals to address shared challenges and meet community needs. In response to the COVID-19 crisis, a wave of mutual aid groups emerged across NYC, spearheaded by artists and activists. These groups have offered vital services like grocery deliveries, community fridges, rental assistance, and clothing drives, highlighting the power of solidarity in action.
Taught by: Becky Maric & Heather Brody
As we age, wrinkles, lines, gray hair, and spots are part of an aging body. In our anti-aging culture, where the cult of youthfulness is celebrated and supported by the cosmetic industry, the natural aging process is not celebrated. Instead, the messages we hear from the media and popular culture are that frailty, loneliness, decay, and mortality define old age. Contemporary artists are exploring the ways aging in our culture is a social construction and not a natural biological process that leads to a new stage of opportunity and strength. They explore the wisdom of aging as it is followed by a wealth of experience, power, wisdom, and often a triumph over social conventions. In this class, students explored how aging is constructed and how it has changed over time in our society through the use of varied mediums and artistic methods that included 2D and 3D materials, as well as interviews and other collaborative forms of creative inquiry.
The following is the curriculum map students followed throughout the course:
Taught by: Daniel Martinez & Violet Overn
Is home a place, a feeling, a set of smells and tastes, a memory, a refuge? For many, the idea of home shifted during the pandemic as many people experienced a lack of safety or security, and the lines between work and home blended. This shift in the boundaries between “work-life” and “home life” requires us to question what it means to have a home in the first place. Housing instability and insecurity – the inability to pay rent due to job loss and rising costs – is a reality for many in the United States. Artists use various media to represent diverse ideas about what home is and means today in our post-pandemic realities. In this class, students explored the concepts and experiences of home across realities of gender, race, culture, and class using diverse art strategies and mediums.
The following is the curriculum map students followed throughout the course:
Taught by: Genevieve Felsenstein & Skylar Spitaleri
One in five adults in the United States will be diagnosed with a mental health condition in any given year. Mental health is increasing among teenagers in the US and globally, with a recent study indicating that 1 in 5 teens between the ages of 12-18 suffer from mental health issues. Yet, this common reality remains hidden giving rise to many misconceptions. For centuries, artists have explored the human psyche with sensitivity and empathy. Contemporary artists address the stigmas attached to mental health and offer an opportunity to use the arts to transform and heal through self-care, community care, and caring for our planet. In this class, students explored the issues associated with mental health and wellness through the work of artists who focus on care, healing, and the creation of supportive communities.
Seen above: the curriculum map students followed throughout the course.
Taught by: Francetta Letizia & Michelle Leidecker
In the 21st century our access to and participation in media has grown exponentially because of technological innovations, corporate investment, and political interests. News and journalism, advertising, social media platforms, video games, and other media – whether controlled by corporations, public institutions or the government – are increasingly used as tools of persuasion or propaganda. Contemporary artists are critically engaging with these communication tools and new forms of media to expose the intentions and implications for new media; they also play with and creatively disrupt media. In this class, students explored various forms of visual media such as advertisements, social platforms, and propaganda art and the ways that artists can play a critical role in helping us reimagine ourselves as creative media makers and critical consumers.
The following is the curriculum map students followed throughout the course:
Taught by: Jovanny Leon and Melissa Quizhpe
Identity is a complicated combination of how we know and express ourselves as individuals and how we are shaped by and perceived through positions including race and ethnicity, gender, economic class, age, physical ability, and many other categories. Artists have always presented themselves in their work – sometimes directly in self-portraits and sometimes indirectly by including autobiographical elements and experiences. These works often critique the systems that stereotype, marginalize, or categorize people in harmful ways. In this class, students investigated the complexity of identity and the possibilities for connecting the self to the community in transformative ways through multimedia art activities that included performance and public work.
The following is the curriculum map students followed throughout the course:
