CSP 27 I Ob.ject: Designs for an Improved Universe

This course investigates the history, present and future of technologies as they mediate the relationship between the human self and the perceived object. It takes its inspiration from the early 20th Century German Bauhaus and Soviet Constructivist schools of design and architecture and other “utopian” collectives who sought to resist the status quo and reinvent the physical world to build a more equitable society—from the anti-industrial Arts and Crafts movement in the 19th Century to today’s DIY. We will engage the Critical Making Studio, a student-run maker space in the Library / Academic Commons in applied activities using digital photography, VR, 360 imaging, 3D printing, and/or photogrammetry to reimagine a future world in proposals for objects of our own design. In this writing-intensive course, you will be introduced to library resources and consultation for written assignments that develop ideas and respond to the debates and debacles of world-changing design.