Course Description
Summary
This is a 7-week screening and discussion-based seminar on the concept and look of “trashiness” in modern and contemporary media and art practices. We will look at a broad range of art practices as well as film and online media, primarily from the latter half of the 20th century and the 21st. Of particular interest will be works produced in an independent/alternative context, in conversation with “trashy” phenomena in broader culture. This course will conclude with a final work of the student’s choice – whether it take the form of writing, art, or otherwise, it should engage with the theme of this course.
Central to this course is the way "trashy" can be a cultural denigration turned on its head: used by historically marginalized artists and communities to celebrate qualities in any combination: anti-aspirational, queer, counterfeit, filthy, punk and provisional. Through looking at self-financed works and self-organized collaborations, we'll pay particular attention to a “trashy” approach to materials: substandard goods, dumpster and ruin diving, and the sharing of scant resources. We’ll also take a look at art and philosophical writings on proximate ideas of camp, body horror, drag, gore capitalism, maximalism, glitch, abjection, discards, finding beauty in the provisional. From Rammellzee to Tetsuo Iron Man, Shanzhai Lyric to Lung Leg, Los Espookys runs into the Holy Order of Roller Blades in the garden of Pink Flamingoes on their way to the Bliz-aard Ball Sale.
