July 1st, 2008
People Watching series begins July 3 at 8pm
People Watching is a monthly film-screening series with the goal of approaching movies for their anthropological significance, over their contribution to film history and academia. The title of each film will be a mystery until the night of the screening.
The inaugural session of People Watching will feature a classic Film Noir thriller about a serial killer. The aim of this screening is not to figure out “whodunnit”, but to ponder the notion that in 1931, in a city with a population of over 4,000,000, all its residents (though often working separately) might share the unified objective of apprehending a single criminal.
Thursday, July 3 at 8pm.
This is an outdoor screening, so dress appropriately!
Organized by Helen Cahng.
June 22nd, 2008
Position #2
The following lists are collectively written and may occasionally contradict themselves. This is OK.
Questions The Public School should pose, concepts it should address, realities it should engage with, and ethics it should encourage.
What kinds of classes/ subjects should The Public School promote?
June 16th, 2008
The Public School Committee Meeting 04
New on committee! Caleb Waldorf
Thank you, John Houck
June 8th, 2008
The Public School at Farmlab on Friday, June 13
Elise Co, Sean Dockray, Chandler McWilliams & Nikita Pashenkov from The Public School committee (a.k.a. D.A.N.) will talk about the school on Friday, June 13 at noon at Farmlab, as part of Farmlab’s series of Public Salons. We will present the school; discuss how it operates; open up a broader reflection on arts education; and read the new committee position statement. [ more information ]
Photo courtesy of Farmlab
June 7th, 2008
Mythic LA, a speculative Arcades Project for Los Angeles
The Arcades Project reading group, led by Mr. James Merle Thomas, concludes with a series of proposed “konvolutes” for Los Angeles. Walter Benjamin’s collection of fragments and writings about 19th century Paris was organized into 38 folders (the konvolutes) that grew for more than a decade. The Los Angeles folders suggest a possible book for 20th century Los Angeles, which lies waiting to be written at:
http://mythicla.thepublicschool.org
Konvolutes
May 25th, 2008
How to Act Like an Animal workshop public performance
The How to Act Like an Animal workshop, orchestrated by artist Rachel Mayeri as a part of her exhibition at TELIC, had a public performance last evening where participants restaged a nature documentary.
“Jane Goodall’s Wild Chimpanzees” is a BBC Nature documentary, produced in 1996, chronicling the lives of the chimpanzees of Gombe National Park in Tanzania. Perhaps the most studied wild chimpanzees in the world, Fifi, Freud, Frodo, Ferdinand and Faustino are celebrities who have their own website and home movies. In the documentary, British primatologist Jane Goodall describes the family saga, with brothers vying for dominance, as a soap opera. Through Goodall’s eyes, we witness the construction of the contemporary meaning of “our closest relatives.”
The live performance, Jane Goodall and The Wild Chimpanzees, explores what it means to be animal, and how documentary dramatizes nature. The troop includes: Suzan Averitt, Claire Cronin, Penny Folger, Estela Garcia, Dave Johnson, Diane Lefer, Adam Overton, and Joe Seeley. This performance is one of a series of experiments developed in the 3-week workshop at The Public School, How to Act Like an Animal.
April 23rd, 2008
UFOs class taught by Scott Davis and Nikita Pashenkov
UFO Theory Continuum chart shown by Scott Davis (available at high resolution at the Davis and Davis website)
April 2nd, 2008
The Politics of Aesthetics reading list
The Ranciere: The Politics of Aesthetics (and/as an Ethics) reading group, facilitated by Robert Summers concluded yesterday. I will try and have Robert write his thoughts about the three meetings here sometime soon, but in the meantime I wanted to post an interesting outcome of the course — the supplementary syllabus (below). It quickly became clear that Ranciere’s political thought prior to the publication of The Politics of Aesthetics was better developed and his aesthetic writings since showed that he is very much in the initial stages of working through some of these ideas. When we learn that this book is actually something of an author-less assemblage, it seems very arbitrary to stop at the limits of its pages.
The Emancipated Spectator
Glossary of Technical Terms
The Aesthetic Revolution
The Politics of Aesthetics / The Aesthetics of Politics
Aesthetics and Politics: Rethinking the Link
The Rationality of Disagreement
January 25th, 2008
Open House/Richtfest
A Richtfest (or “construction celebration”) is a German tradition that is held when a building under construction reaches its highest point, but before it is finished. It celebrates the structure as an idea.
