Themen der Lehrveranstaltung
This seminar uses an intersectional feminist approach to tease out the profound and complex questions encoded
within its title. Such as: how do we access equality within unequal systems? How does privilege govern our access
to resources or legal agency? How have we been historically conditioned not to complain or seek recourse
and maintain the status quo? How does our gendered conditioning imbricate compulsory heterosexuality,
patriarchy, capitalism, racism and ableism, entangling us within historical inequalities? Can we ‘undo’ gender? Can
we create work environments premised on radical inclusiveness and deep, attentive listening? Can we
reframe discussions of consent through the prism of care and community? Can we centre ethics and fairness in our artistic and design practices?
Educational institutions are obligated to impart their students with the requisite professional skills that make
them desirably employable. However, students tend to have to self-learn crucial survival skills needed to navigate
working life situations, such as how to articulate their consent, how to assert personal boundaries, or recognise
when they are being exploited and subsequently seek out methods of redressal while preserving their mental health.
This seminar invites students to collectively unearth numerous manifestations of gender inequity in the interrelated fields of art and design, both of which have historically excluded women, coloured, queer and trans
bodies. It centres the instruction of feminists of colour and models feminism as an embodied ideology; a
harmonised way of living and collaboratively being in the world.
Unterrichtsform
Through the duration of the seminar, the classroom will be transformed into an active discursive site filled with
propositions, confrontations, debate, critical interventions, and shared knowledges. The relationship between
instructor and student will be negotiated through the realm of hospitality, with the roles of ‘host’ and ‘guest’
being constantly reversed and rewritten to avoid a stability of meaning and to encourage an atmosphere of
conviviality and mutual respect while creating a ‘safe space’ for students to explore their creative selves
through political dimensions. ‘Feedback’ is the key methodological principle: students will recognise at the
onset that there is a direct correlation between the energy and enthusiasm with which they approach the
course and what they receive in response. The principle of feeding, which lies at the core of hospitality, will
consistently govern the learning appetite.