Archaeology at Montgomery Place

Professor:

Christopher Lindner

Course Number:

ANTH 210

CRN Number:

90556

Class cap:

12

Credits:

4

Schedule/Location:

 Tue     1:30 PM - 5:20 PM Montgomery Place and Ecology Field Station Teaching Lab

Distributional Area:

LS Laboratory Science  

Crosslists:

Africana Studies; Environmental & Urban Studies; Environmental Studies; Historical Studies

This course concentrates on Alexander Gilson’s residence at the Conservatory, its location confirmed by discovery in 2021 of domestic pottery in the African American’s yard, along with a gardening tool. The next stage of subsurface testing aims to identify key architectural features of his dwelling and the placement of its exterior garden beds. Archival research about ornamental flora may complement our quest, through fine sifting of earth, to recover information about the plants Gilson grew for personal reasons. Reading and brief writing for seminar participation will provide information on the archaeology of landscapes. We’ll engage with land access groups in Kingston, as part of the ELAS component of the course. Enrollment limited to 12, through approval by the professor.

Archaeology Laboratory Methods

Professor:

Christopher Lindner

Course Number:

ANTH 213

CRN Number:

90557

Class cap:

12

Credits:

4

Schedule/Location:

   Thurs     1:30 PM - 2:50 PM Hegeman 201

    Fri     1:30 PM - 4:30 PM Hegeman 201/ Ecology Field Station Teaching Lab

Distributional Area:

LS Laboratory Science  

Crosslists:

Environmental & Urban Studies; Environmental Studies

Bringing to fruition 12 past seasons of carefully limited excavations, lab analysis will seek to identify, among 1,000s of manufacturing flakes, flint tools that might substantiate a theory: people from the mound-building cultures of southern Ohio visited the Hudson Valley around 2,000 years ago. We will further address the hypothesis that some firepits at the Forest residence (next to the Honey ball field behind Admissions) formed part of religious-philosophical rituals to maintain well-being. We will fine-sift earth from these hearths and other pits in search of culinary &/or medicinal plant vestiges. Our reading for seminar discussion will focus on comparable evidence of the period in southern Ohio, as regards the Adena and Hopewell peoples. We’ll engage with herbal education groups in the local area, as part of the ELAS component of the course. Enrollment limited to 12, through approval by the professor.

Of Paper

Professor:

Adriane Colburn

Course Number:

ART 125 AC

CRN Number:

90436

Class cap:

12

Credits:

4

Schedule/Location:

 Tue      2:00 PM - 5:00 PM Fisher Studio Arts 142

Distributional Area:

PA Practicing Arts  

From the use of papyrus in 2700 BC up to the present, paper has been an integral component in the creation and distribution of art and information. Paper, ubiquitous and omnipresent in our lives, is often overlooked as an artistic medium. In this course we will explore the vast technical and conceptual possibilities of this ephemeral material. This course will be designed as a laboratory for exploring techniques and uses for the material and for pushing paper “craft” into a series of thoughtful and challenging artworks in both 2 and 3 dimensions. Techniques will include large- scale collage and assemblage, weaving, papermaking, hand and laser papercutting, embossing, pulp-drawing and casting.

Printmaking II: Screenprinting

Professor:

Beka Goedde

Course Number:

ART 209 BG

CRN Number:

90433

Class cap:

12

Credits:

4

Schedule/Location:

 Tue      10:10 AM - 1:10 PM UBS Studio 1

Distributional Area:

PA Practicing Arts  

This course is a thorough introduction to screenprinting, designed for students who have taken at least one level I course previously in Studio Arts. Students work with a variety of techniques to create multilayered and multicolored images, using the immediacy, versatility, and photographic possibilities of silkscreen and stencil printing. We’ll learn fundamentals of color mixing and digital preparation of films. Early in fall semester, we will work together as a group to produce a Get Out the Vote silkscreen printing campus event. As the semester continues, we will design independent projects, printing on paper and fabric, as well as many other smooth surfaces, exploring transparent and opaque color, CMYK, applications to painting, and the matte, flattened image space. This is an Engaged Liberal Arts and Sciences (ELAS) course. Expect toolkits (ink, paper, fabric and all materials supplied to enrolled students) to total $120 for the semester.

Archives as Material

Professor:

Julia Weist

Course Number:

ART 250 JW

CRN Number:

90439

Class cap:

12

Credits:

4

Schedule/Location:

  Wed     10:10 AM - 1:10 PM Fisher Studio Arts 161

Distributional Area:

PA Practicing Arts  

Archives are rich troves of primary source information that provide access to the cultural texture of the past. Whereas libraries preserve formal works that have been produced and published, archives are stuffed with media of the more casual sort: receipts, hastily written notes, flyers, snapshots, minutes, memos, ledgers and other documentary detritus of a person, community, or institution. This material gains new meaning and value with time and allows for research and understanding into the minutiae of history. However, archives are not neutral sites. They often represent the singular point of view of a subject or group in isolation from other narratives and perspectives. They can codify a dominant narrative—through the resources of conservation and stewardship—leaving other voices harder to access or lost to time. For artists, the archive offers a site for interrogation, intervention, inspiration, and activism. In this course we will deconstruct archival practice and reconstruct it as artistic practice drawing on visual strategies such as annotating, augmenting and indexing. The course will approach core principles of archival theory as equally valid principles of compositional design: hierarchy, proximity, and pattern to name a few. We will begin with our own personal archives, move through Bard’s institutional archives as well as local civic and cultural archives. Featured materials will include photography collections, the Bard Family papers, Bard Senior Projects dating back to 1939 as well as a wealth of other ephemera and documentation of the college and the region. Students will examine the work of artists who use archival content as their primary subject matter, investigating how these practitioners transform research into contemporary art.

Social Entrepreneurship Practicum

Professor:

Alejandro Crawford and Eliza Edge

Course Number:

ES/EUS 305E

CRN Number:

90575

Class cap:

30

Credits:

4

Schedule/Location:

Mon  Wed         8:30 AM - 9:50 AM Olin 202

Distributional Area:

SA Social Analysis  

In this course, students work in teams to develop their own ideas for non-profit or for-profit businesses that work to solve social and environmental challenges. The course combines in-person instruction with a global classroom, where students convene each week in a common zoom space to share ideas. Participating schools include BRAC University in Bangladesh, Al Quds University in Palestine, the American Universities of Central Asia (in Kyrgyzstan) and of Bulgaria, Universidad de Los Andes in Colombia, and Bard. Past certificate courses have incubated powerful social business ideas in Bangladesh, Palestine and the US.  The course culminates in a “shark tank for sustainability” among and between teams from the different universities. The course includes readings and discussion focused on social issues related to entrepreneurship: drivers of change, from decarbonization to AI; delinking growth from material throughput; urban-based innovation ecosystems; social obstacles to risk taking; working on multi-disciplinary teams; language, power and gender dynamics in entrepreneurship; deconstructing the archetypes of entrepreneurship. This is an Engaged Liberal Arts & Sciences (ELAS) class.

Framing the Election

Professor:

Jacqueline Goss

Course Number:

FILM 248

CRN Number:

90220

Class cap:

15

Credits:

4

Schedule/Location:

  Wed     10:10 AM - 1:10 PM Avery Film Center 217

Screening:

  Wed     5:00 PM – 7:00 PM Avery 110

Distributional Area:

PA Practicing Arts  

Crosslists:

Experimental Humanities

If a canon of film, video and new media exists, it includes provocative media made in response to presidential elections. Fiction and documentary works like Haskell Wexler’s “Medium Cool,” TVTV’s “Four More Years,” Robert Altman’s “Tanner 88” and “Nashville,” Jason Simon’s “Spin,” DA Pennebaker’s “War Room,” and RTMark’s “voteauction” and “gwbush.com” websites successfully capture the complex narratives and legacies of the last four decades’ election years. Designed to coincide with the months immediately prior and following the US presidential election in November, “Framing the Election” provides a structure for the course participant to capture, process, frame and produce some aspect of presidential politics in terms of one’s own personal experience. Following the chronology of the election, we will use the first two months of the semester to gather source material and consider texts produced out of prior elections. The latter part of the semester is dedicated to the production of films, videos, sound works or internet-based projects made in response to the results of this election. Works may reflect any political persuasion and take any form including documentary, diary, personal essay, fiction and music. Prerequisite: a familiarity with and access to the tools one intends to use to produce work. This production course fulfills a moderation/major requirement.

Advocacy Video Clemency (Production)

Professor:

Thomas Keenan and Brent Green

Course Number:

HR 321 A

CRN Number:

90346

Class cap:

18

Credits:

4

Schedule/Location:

 Tue      12:30 PM – 2:50 PM Avery Film Center 117

Distributional Area:

PA Practicing Arts D+J Difference and Justice

Crosslists:

Experimental Humanities

State governors (and the President) in the United States possess a strange remnant of royal sovereignty: the power of executive clemency, by which they can pardon offenses or commute the sentences of people convicted of crimes. They can do this to correct injustices, show mercy, or undo disproportionate punishments. Clemency doesn’t just happen – it requires a lot of work on the part of the incarcerated person and his or her advocates. But there are almost no rules governing what a clemency appeal looks like, so there is significant room for creativity in how applicants present their cases. In this practical seminar we will join forces with a team of students at CUNY Law School and the human rights organization WITNESS to prepare short video presentations that will accompany a number of New York State clemency applications this fall. Proficiency with video shooting, editing, and an independent work ethic are important. Meetings with clemency applicants in prison are a central element of the class. This is an opportunity to work collaboratively with law students and faculty, to do hands-on human rights research and advocacy, and to create work that has real-life impact. The class will alternate between video production and the study of clemency and pardons, emotion and human rights, first-person narrative, and persuasion by visual means. Please submit a short statement describing your abilities in shooting and editing video, and your interest in criminal justice, by May 6^th. There are no prerequisites, but we seek a class that includes filmmakers, analysts, and activists.  This is an Engaged Liberal Arts and Sciences (ELAS) class.

Advocacy Video Clemency (Reading)

Professor:

Brent Green and Thomas Keenan

Course Number:

HR 321 B

CRN Number:

90356

Class cap:

15

Credits:

2

Schedule/Location:

 Tue      11:00 AM – 12:15 PM Avery Film Center 117

Distributional Area:

PA Practicing Arts D+J Difference and Justice

Crosslists:

Experimental Humanities

State governors (and the President) in the United States possess a strange remnant of royal sovereignty: the power of executive clemency, by which they can pardon offenses or commute the sentences of people convicted of crimes. They can do this to correct injustices, show mercy, or undo disproportionate punishments. Clemency doesn’t just happen – it requires a lot of work on the part of the incarcerated person and his or her advocates. But there are almost no rules governing what a clemency appeal looks like, so there is significant room for creativity in how applicants present their cases. In this practical seminar we will join forces with a team of students at CUNY Law School and the human rights organization WITNESS to prepare short video presentations that will accompany a number of New York State clemency applications this fall. Proficiency with video shooting, editing, and an independent work ethic are important. Meetings with clemency applicants in prison are a central element of the class. This is an opportunity to work collaboratively with law students and faculty, to do hands-on human rights research and advocacy, and to create work that has real-life impact. The class will alternate between video production and the study of clemency and pardons, emotion and human rights, first-person narrative, and persuasion by visual means. Please submit a short statement describing your abilities in shooting and editing video, and your interest in criminal justice, by May 6^th. There are no prerequisites, but we seek a class that includes filmmakers, analysts, and activists.  This is an Engaged Liberal Arts and Sciences (ELAS) class.

Argentine Tango I: Exploring Human Connection

Professor:

Supervised by Leon Botstein, Practitioner: Chungin Goodstein

Course Number:

HUM T200 LB

CRN Number:

90081

Class cap:

30

Credits:

2

Schedule/Location:

Tue  Th   1:30 PM – 2:50 PM   Campus Center MPR

Distributional Area:

None   

Tango has a rich history and a distinct culture emerging from the socioeconomic conditions experienced by African, Caribbean and European immigrants in late 19th century Buenos Aires, Argentina and Montevideo, Uruguay. Today it is danced in all major cities, and at colleges and universities, around the world. This group tutorial explores the profound human connections that Argentine Tango music and dance engender. It includes discussions of the historical and cultural context of the music and dance, and the gender politics that surround it. Argentine Tango: Exploring Human Connection introduces the core vocabulary and techniques of execution for following and leading, with all students learning both roles. Tango has no set sequences of steps that are memorized and repeated: all movements are entirely improvised. The tutorial focuses on how to make and maintain a connection with one’s own body, with the partner, with the music, in the moment. Students attend at least one “milonga” or community dance event either locally, or in NYC. No partner required. Performing Arts distribution credit may be requested by petition through the Dean of Studies office.

Mathematics:Puzzles & Games

Professor:

Lauren Rose

Course Number:

MATH 116

CRN Number:

90167

Class cap:

22

Credits:

4

Schedule/Location:

 Tue  Thurs    10:10 AM - 11:30 AM Hegeman 204

Distributional Area:

MC Mathematics and Computing  

Mathematics can be used to analyze many puzzles and games.  Conversely, puzzles and games can be used as a vehicle to explore new mathematics concepts.  In this class we will develop the mathematics of puzzles and games from both perspectives, as a means to solve a puzzle or win a game, and also as a fun way to learn and develop mathematical skills.  We will focus on the mathematics and the strategies behind puzzles and games such as the Rubik’s Cube, SET, Nim, Hex, and Sudoku. This is an Engaged Liberal Arts and Sciences course, and the ELAS activities may include (virtual or in person) guests presenters, games related events, and games sessions for local K-12 students and community members. No prior experience with the games and puzzles listed above is required.  Prerequisite: A passing score on Part 1 of the Math Placement.

Theater and Democracy

Professor:

Ashley Tata

Course Number:

THTR 254

CRN Number:

90418

Class cap:

12

Credits:

4

Schedule/Location:

Mon       1:30 PM - 4:30 PM Fisher Performing Arts Center RESNICK

Distributional Area:

AA Analysis of Art  

From the Ancient Greeks to the Theater of The Oppressed, the practice of theater has, at times explicitly, been a rehearsal for engaging in democracy. In this course we will study theatrical texts that, in performance, embody actions to further democratic processes. Some artists and texts we will engage with include Sophocles' Antigone, Aristophanes' Lysistrata, the "Roman and Greek Plays" of Shakespeare, works by Vaclav Havel, the methods of Augusto Boal and Theater of the Oppressed, The Living Theater, Brecht’s Lehrstück, the Federal Theatre Project's Living Newspaper, works created in Johannesburg's Market Theater, Delhi's Jana Natya Manch, Roadside Theater, among others. Through these readings, stagings and occassional actions, students will be asked to consider how and if theater can still be in conversation with democracy and how engaging in the one can be a practice to actively engage with the other. Not just for theater-makers this course is open to all students interested in with instructor approval.