City to Studio: Transforming Urban Research

Catalog description

Can an urban artistic practice claim one’s ‘right to the city’? Can artists embed their questions into the social fabric of the metropolis, as against on the canvas or the page? How can we think of the city as our studio? How do we expand the private zone of our ‘social space’ from our living rooms and classrooms into the urban sprawl that is largely designed for transactional exchange? What happens when we step out with these questions into a diverse and complex city like Abu Dhabi that is constantly shifting its social, political, and economic dynamics while being host to a transient population? We will begin this course by conducting research at two sites in Abu Dhabi that echo a theme pertinent to the UAE: urban development vs impermanence. Employing various field research methods to collect primary research material, students will transform this research into an artwork accompanied by an artist statement articulating their themes and concerns. Students will complement their inquiry by studying a range of historic and contemporary urban based artistic practices that work with performance, public art, interventions, film, photography, text, and other media.