Dark Matters

Instructor: American Artist | americanartist.us | americanartist.us@gmail.com
Teaching Assistant: Nabil Hassein | @NabilHassein | nabil.hassein@gmail.com
Track: Critical Theory, Fall 2018
Location: School for Poetic Computation | sfpc.io | 155 Bank St, New York, NY 10014
Time: Thursdays at 10 AM
Office Hours: Sign Up Here

Class Schedule:
Sep 13: No class – SFPC Salon
Sep 20: Software as Ideology
Sep 27: Black Gooey Universe
Oct 4: Intro to Blackness and Surveillance
Oct 11: Lecture by Melanie Hoff
Oct 18: Critical Access Studies with Shannon Finnegan
Oct 25: Biometric Surveillance of Blackness
Nov 1: Algorithmic Policing
Nov 8: No class – Showcase
Nov 15: No class – Artist Toolkit

Course Description

In this course we will consider together the surveillance of Blackness and the positioning of white as neutral within interfaces as forms of violence perpetuated by high technology. We will discuss how we all can use computational systems to create change while holding them accountable to their origins and biases. For this course we will be reading Simone Browne and other critical theorists to understand how these structures are compromised so that we can begin to imagine what an outside to them might look like. We will also use the practices of artists critiquing (and expanding the imaginary within) technology as examples of how radical imagination can be evoked through artistic practice. In the month of October there will be lectures by Melanie Hoff and Shannon Finnegan.

Expectations & Goals

• The readings are mandatory. The class will be most useful if you read the texts completely and come prepared with questions.
• Come ready to support others. We will learn the most if everyone contributes to class discussion. If you find yourself talking more than others, feel comfortable to step back so that others may speak.
• Be open to questioning things we take for granted as normal. How can we destabilize and decenter power structures considered normal to everyday life?
• This class mainly focuses on the lived experience of African-Americans under state surveillance technologies. If that does not reflect your lived experience consider how you may contribute to systemic anti-blackness.

Guiding Questions

• You do not need to respond to these. Have them in mind when reading and consider them after reading the text, see what comes to mind.

Week 1 - No Class (SFPC Salon)

Thursday Sep 13

Week 2 - Software as Ideology

Thursday Sep 20, 10 AM

Reading: Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, “On Software or the Persistence of Visual Knowledge”

Guiding Questions:

• Is there a real distinction between software and hardware or is it just semantic?
• Why and how has white male fragility been central to the development of technology?
• How often do you notice your computer or smartphone?
• What are some activites in your life that are determined by what your smartphone/computer is able to do?
• Think of your friends and family, if they were the designers of computer technology what would it do/look like?

Before Class: Please write a response to the text, this can include questions, impressions, sketches, notes or your own ideas. Aim for 300 words or about half a page in standard settings. Please add it to the Sep-20 folder by midnight the day before class.

Week 3 - Black Gooey Universe

Thursday Sep 27, 10 AM

Agenda:

• Lecture on assigned reading - 40 mins
• Artist lecture by American - 40 mins
• Break - 10 mins
• Small group discussion of writing assignment - 20 mins
• Full group discussion - 1 hour

Reading: American Artist, “Black Gooey Universe”

Guiding Questions:

• (Carrying this over from last week:) Think of your friends and family, if they were the designers of computer technology what would it do/look like?
• How do you determine when something seemingly innocuous (like changing from a black screen to white screen) is coded violence rather than a coincidence?
• Think about where members of your family were 100 or 200 years ago. What forms of technology did they use or were used against them?
• What is the role or use of abstract thinking in various labor/liberation struggles?
• Have you ever used technology that you were embarrassed or ashamed to have—broken or obsolete devices? Do you still feel the same way?

Before Class: Please write a response to the text, this can include questions, impressions, sketches, notes or your own ideas. Aim for 300 words or about half a page in standard settings. Please add it to the Sep-27 folder by midnight the day before class.

Week 4 - Intro to Blackness and Surveillance

Thursday Oct 4, 10 AM

Reading: Simone Browne, "Introduction, and Other Dark Matters" from Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness

Week 5 - Lecture by Melanie Hoff

Thursday Oct 11, 10 AM

Week 6 - Critical Access Studies with Shannon Finnegan

Thursday Oct 18, 10 AM

Description: During this class, we'll look into Critical Access Studies. Scholar Aimi Hamraie writes, "Unlike the majority of research on access, which is about persuading people to create more of it, Critical Access Studies addresses the assumptions and strategies of those already committed to access.” We'll talk about how understandings of disability and approaches to access have shifted historically, and we'll get into some specifics of access in a digital context.

Week 7 - Biometric Surveillance of Blackness

Thursday Oct 25, 10 AM

Reading: Simone Browne, "B®anding Blackness" from Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness

Week 8 - Algorithmic Policing

Thursday Nov 1, 10 AM

Reading: Jackie Wang, "'This Is a Story About Nerds and Cops': PredPol and Algorithmic Policing" (will get PDF soon) from Carceral Capitalism

Week 9 - No Class (Showcase)

Thursday Nov 8

Week 10 - No Class (Artist Toolkit)

Thursday Nov 15