Joshua Rios

This class examines cultural and political power in relation to ideas about sound and noise. What we hear, mis-hear, do not hear, cannot hear, or choose not to hear plays an important role in social life. Those that have power have the power to decide what counts as an acceptable sound or disturbing noise. These facts make sound and noise central to issues of social justice, political activism, and public space. Sound and noise are also vital to the creation of communities of celebration and dissent ¿ in the form of the noise strike, the protest chant, or the collective sing-along, for example. Social groups produce themselves through their listening practices and shared forms of sounding out. We will read and listen closely to scholars, artists, experimental musicians, and journalist like Jennifer Stoever (The Sonic Color Line), Kevin Beasley (A view of a landscape: A cotton gin motor), Gala Porras-Kim (Whistling and Language Transfiguration), Moor Mother (Irreversible Entanglements) and Gregory Tate (Flyboy in the Buttermilk). Additionally, we will learn from a variety of types of sources including Literature, Musicology, Art, Cultural Criticism, Music Journalism, and Poetry. Along with experimental writing assignments linking related topics, key terms, and ideas to personal and social experiences, students will produce 15-20 pages of organized writing broken into drafts and revisions.

¿Past, Present, and Future Chicago¿ examines the complex and layered histories of Chicago through the cultural lenses of literature, art, music, public space, and architecture. It actively presents the city as a place where various social groups have migrated, lived in proximity, struggled for equality and resources, as well protested, celebrated, and produced art and culture. Some events this class engages include the establishment of the city through the Chicago Treaty of 1833, the Great Migration of the early 1900s, post-industrialization, the formation of historic neighborhoods (Pilsen, Lawndale, Chinatown), and the rise of House and electronic music. We will conduct periodic field trips throughout the city to enhance our readings, research, and experience-based understanding of Chicago¿s ever-present histories. Relevant artists, writers, and activists include Gwendoline Brooks (poet), Gordon Parks (photographer), Amanda Williams (architect/artist), and Frankie Knuckles (DJ), among others. FYS II builds upon the foundational writing skills students began learning in FYS I, with the introduction of more self-directed rigorous argumentation and research. Students should expect to write 20 to 25 pages of formal, revisable writing (one experiential essay and one research project, both with multiple drafts), as well as homework exercises and in-class writing. Furthermore, peer review, class workshopping of student papers, and individual meetings to discuss each student's writing should be expected.

This class examines recent social and political controversies surrounding the contemporary art world, including crises stemming from the power dynamics of gender, class, race, disability, sexual orientation, and other political commitments to international solidarity. Building on foundational writing skills learned in FYS I, students will gain historical and political context about specific moments in contemporary art when marginalized social groups and their allies have mounted protests and critiques of institutions, exhibitions, artists, and artworks. Informed by history, social theory, literature, art journalism, art history, visual studies, and other forms of study, students will become familiar with general and specific issues of institutional racism, sexism, ableism, classism, and xenophobia within the art world and how artists worked together for social change and institutional accountability. Students will engage in rigorous argumentation and the development of a self-directed research paper. Students can expect to write 20 to 25 pages of formal, revisable writing (i.e. one article and one research essay, both with multiple drafts), as well as homework exercises and in-class writing. Students can also expect in-class writing exercises with an emphasis on developing reading skills and critical analysis. Other important aspects of the course include peer review, writing workshops, draft reviews, and individual meetings to discuss writing topics and expectations.

This studio course focuses on themes, practices, contexts, and questions undertaken by contemporary artists and designers. Research Studio I is a course that asks students to begin to develop and connect their own work and ideas with a diverse range of artists, designers, and communities. This course engages with cultural institutions including: museums, galleries, libraries and archives as resources of critical engagement.

Students will undertake various types of research activities: a) collecting and classification, b) mapping and diagramming, c) systems of measurement, d) social interaction, e) information search systems, f) recording and representation, and g) drawing and other notational systems.


Assignments in this course are faculty directed, open-media, interdisciplinary and idea based. The projects are designed to help students recognize their work habits, biases, strengths, and weaknesses. Students will experience a wide range of research methods and making strategies. Critique as an evaluative process used in art and design schools, is a focus in this course. Various methods and models of critique are used in order to give students the tools to discuss their own work and the work of others.

The course Research Studio II builds on the learning outcomes from Research Studio I, asking students to continue to develop and connect their own work and ideas with a diverse range of artists, designers, and communities.

This spring the entire Contemporary Practice department will have a shared umbrella topic for our RSII courses: Contemporary Now. All RSII classes will engage with the present and what is happening right now. With the world moving so fast - a pandemic, fires burning across the US west, people marching in the streets across the globe, and the storms that seem to keep coming, it is critical we ask questions of ourselves as artists, designers, educators and cultural producers: What responsibility do we have at any moment in history? How can the diversity of our practices: research, study, making and actions, address the present and design the future we want to see?

In RSII courses students will investigate this shared departmental thematic through the intersection of their own practice and the pedagogical practices of their faculty. All RSII classes are interdisciplinary, faculty have provided a subtitle, and a short description to describe the lens through which their class will explore the theme of Contemporary Now.

Hybrid Practices seeks to bring artistic experimentation and research-based scholarship together. In general, Visual and Critical Studies promotes academic and artistic hybridity as a way to examine the social forces that shape our lives. Many fields will be engaged, including queer and feminist theory, literature, social identity, postcolonial studies, art history, and philosophy. The goal is to support student practices by exposing them to various critical conversations related to politics (social life) and art (general creativity). This course prioritizes artists historically marginalized because of their social identities, including gender, race, ethnicity, able-bodiedness, sexual orientation, and more.
Some artist, writers, and thinkers to be considered include, Black Audio Film Collective, Glenn Ligon, #decolonizethisplace, Sky Hopinka, Park McArthur, Sunaura Taylor, Michel Foucault, Super Futures Haunt Qollective, and Judith Butler. Screenings will include a variety of videos related to contemporary art and critical theory, including ¿Martha Rosler Reads Vogue: Wishing, Dreaming, Winning, Spending,¿ Forensic Architecture¿s 'Rebel Architecture: The Architecture of Violence,' Coco Fusco¿s ¿TED Ethology: Primate Visions of the Human Mind,¿ Paper Tiger TV¿s ¿Donna Haraway Reads the National Geographic on Primates,¿ and Democracy Now¿s ¿Freed but Not Free: Artists at the Venice Biennale Respond to the #BlackLivesMatter Movement.¿
Coursework includes a reading schedule, research-supported discussions, moments of creative presentation/critique, and writing assignments that engage hybrid approaches to culture, history, and theory.

This course is designed to provide students an opportunity to gain experience as interns in professional arts and design environments and prepare for professional life after SAIC. During the semester, faculty provide in-depth mentorship and act as liaison with the internship site supporting students meet their learning goals as outlined for the semester. Through group meetings and online discussions, students engage with a peer cohort of students participating in a variety of internships. Students work at internships for a total of 140 hours (approx 14 hours per week) for the term. In addition to successfully completing the internship, students will conduct an informational interview with their employer, attend 4 class meetings and a meeting with the faculty and supervisor, complete an internship supervisor evaluation, revise their resume, and update their online portfolio, website, or professional profile.

Students are required to secure an internship prior to the start of the semester. Internships must be approved by the Career and Professional Experience (CAPX) office. Students are encouraged to meet with a CAPX advisor for assistance with researching and applying for internships. In order to begin the internship approval process students should go to https://bit.ly/35vmTTM. Upon approval, course registration is managed by CAPX.

Note that international students must receive CPT authorization prior to participating in an off-campus internship.

Internships may be in-person, hybrid, or virtual; however all four class meetings are virtual. Class meeting day and time are determined by the faculty.

This course is designed to provide students an opportunity to gain experience as interns in professional arts and design environments and prepare for professional life after SAIC. During the semester, faculty provide in-depth mentorship and act as liaison with the internship site supporting students meet their learning goals as outlined for the semester. Through group meetings and online discussions, students engage with a peer cohort of students participating in a variety of internships. Students work on-site at internships for a total of 140 hours (approx 14 hours per week) for the term. In addition to successfully completing the internship, students will conduct an informational interview with their employer, attend 4 class meetings and an onsite meeting with the faculty and supervisor, complete an internship supervisor evaluation, revise their resume, and update their online portfolio, website, or professional profile.

Students are required to secure an internship prior to the start of the semester. Internships must be approved by the Career and Professional Experience (CAPX) office. Students are encouraged to meet with a CAPX advisor for assistance with researching and applying for internships. In order to begin the internship approval process students should go to https://bit.ly/35vmTTM. Upon approval, course registration is managed by CAPX.

Note that international students must receive CPT authorization prior to participating in an off-campus internship.

Internships may be in-person, hybrid, or virtual; however all four class meetings are virtual. Class meeting day and time are determined by the faculty.

This course is designed to provide students an opportunity to gain experience as interns in professional arts and design environments and prepare for professional life after SAIC. During the semester, faculty provide in-depth mentorship and act as liaison with the internship site supporting students meet their learning goals as outlined for the semester. Through group meetings and online discussions, students engage with a peer cohort of students participating in a variety of internships. Students work on-site at internships for a total of 140 hours (approx 14 hours per week) for the term. In addition to successfully completing the internship, students will conduct an informational interview with their employer, attend 4 class meetings and an onsite meeting with the faculty and supervisor, complete an internship supervisor evaluation, revise their resume, and update their online portfolio, website, or professional profile.

Students are required to secure an internship prior to the start of the semester. Internships must be approved by the Career and Professional Experience (CAPX) office. Students are encouraged to meet with a CAPX advisor for assistance with researching and applying for internships. In order to begin the internship approval process students should go to https://bit.ly/35vmTTM. Upon approval, course registration is managed by CAPX.

Note that international students must receive CPT authorization prior to participating in an off-campus internship.

Internships may be in-person, hybrid, or virtual; however all four class meetings are virtual. Class meeting day and time are determined by the faculty.

This course explores artistic, tactical, theoretical, cultural and pedagogical approaches to resisting Empire through the work of John Akomfrah, Black Audio Collective, #decolonizethisplace, Sky Hopinka, Tirza Even, Forensic Architecture, Rafa Esparza, Damon Locks, SuperFutures Haunt Collective and Santiago X. We will consider how artists, activists and scholars destabilize linear time, imagine queer futures and utopias by remixing hegemonic forms of social memory including archives, explore community-based knowledges and develop reparative counter-narratives. Structure: Readings, discussions, presentations, visits to Chicago archives, guest lectures, and development of pedagogical materials and/or scholarly/creative projects.

Group research trips include visits to libraries and collections to meet with archivists and researchers, including the following sites: the Gerber Hardt Library for GLBTQ studies, American Indian Center, Leather Archive and Museum, Edward E. Ayers Collection of native studies at the Newberry, Vivian G. Harsch, Harold Washington Special Collections and visits to informal, uncurated collections, including flea markets. Readings may include Eve Tuck, Audra Simpson, Stuart Hall, Russell West-Pavlov, Tina Campt, Gerald Vizenor, Jose Esteban Mu?oz, Arjun Appadurai, Tananarive Due, and Saidiya Hartman.

Students will engage in weekly discussions to readings, 3 written responses, conduct an independent visit to a collection and present findings. Final projects may include hybrid production: written, artistic and/or pedagogical projects, final presentation and critique.

This course explores artistic, tactical, theoretical, cultural and pedagogical approaches to resisting Empire through the work of John Akomfrah, Black Audio Collective, #decolonizethisplace, Sky Hopinka, Tirza Even, Forensic Architecture, Rafa Esparza, Damon Locks, SuperFutures Haunt Collective and Santiago X. We will consider how artists, activists and scholars destabilize linear time, imagine queer futures and utopias by remixing hegemonic forms of social memory including archives, explore community-based knowledges and develop reparative counter-narratives. Structure: Readings, discussions, presentations, visits to Chicago archives, guest lectures, and development of pedagogical materials and/or scholarly/creative projects.

Group research trips include visits to libraries and collections to meet with archivists and researchers, including the following sites: the Gerber Hardt Library for GLBTQ studies, American Indian Center, Leather Archive and Museum, Edward E. Ayers Collection of native studies at the Newberry, Vivian G. Harsch, Harold Washington Special Collections and visits to informal, uncurated collections, including flea markets. Readings may include Eve Tuck, Audra Simpson, Stuart Hall, Russell West-Pavlov, Tina Campt, Gerald Vizenor, Jose Esteban Mu?oz, Arjun Appadurai, Tananarive Due, and Saidiya Hartman.

Students will engage with artistic, pedagogical, cultural practices and histories that work through and against formal and informal archives - recombining, remixing, and reimaging collections in order to critique hegemonic forms of social memory, offer reparative counter-narratives, and create community-based knowledge. Topics include: identity, activism, critical pedagogy, creativity as a force for social transformation, decolonial methodologies. Class structure: discussions of essays, visits to collections, guest lectures, and the development of pedagogical materials and/or scholarly-creative projects.

This course is designed to provide students an opportunity to gain experience as interns in professional arts and design environments and prepare for professional life after SAIC. During the semester, faculty provide in-depth mentorship and act as liaison with the internship site supporting students meet their learning goals as outlined for the semester. Through group meetings and online discussions, students engage with a peer cohort of students participating in a variety of internships. Students work on-site at internships for a total of 140 hours (approx 14 hours per week) for the term. In addition to successfully completing the internship, students will conduct an informational interview with their employer, attend 4 class meetings and an onsite meeting with the faculty and supervisor, complete an internship supervisor evaluation, revise their resume, and update their online portfolio, website, or professional profile.

Students are required to secure an internship prior to the start of the semester. Internships must be approved by the Career and Professional Experience (CAPX) office. Students are encouraged to meet with a CAPX advisor for assistance with researching and applying for internships. In order to begin the internship approval process students should go to https://bit.ly/35vmTTM. Upon approval, course registration is managed by CAPX.

Note that international students must receive CPT authorization prior to participating in an off-campus internship.

Internships may be in-person, hybrid, or virtual; however all four class meetings are virtual. Class meeting day and time are determined by the faculty.