This course explores ‘collecting stuff’ — objects, images, video clips, etc. — as a form of personal and artistic inquiry. Over the course of the next semester, we will think deeply and critically about the things we are drawn to collect. As artist Arthur Jafa writes, collecting is driven by an impulse to consolidate things that were already ‘there,’ but are dispersed... the process of compiling things has always been about getting to what it is that I’m actually obsessed with or attracted to. We will take Jafa’s words as a directive: what are you obsessed with, attracted to, or curious about? How can collecting, documenting, and organizing become a form of personal inquiry and creative expression? This class invites you to build and explore your own collections—starting from scratch or working with a collection you’ve already begun—as a form of research.

This course is designed to support a creative practice, the shape of which is up to you. We will experiment with different methods of collecting, documenting, and presenting the collections we build. Through readings, discussions, and guest artist lectures, we will examine how other artists and thinkers use collecting as a tool for meaning-making. While projects may culminate in any number of forms — a video, installation, sculpture, etc. — this course is grounded in the artist book as a final format. Students are welcome to pursue other outcomes if they have the necessary skills and if the project concept calls for it, but instruction and support will focus on handmade book structures. No prior artistic experience is required—just curiosity and a desire to understand something about the world through volume and organization.

Over the course of the semester we will be reading and responding weekly to either a section of a book or essay, a documentary, or a podcast. Course texts include Why Fish Don’t Exist by Lulu Miller and Alphabetical Diaries by Shelia Heti. You are welcome to buy the books, or see our Canvas page for full PDFs.

Other readings, some in full, others as excerpts, are available for download on Canvas, and include essays and artist books:

Species of Spaces and Other Pieces, George Perec, The Body & the Archive, Alan Sekula, Fish Story, Alan Sekula, The System of Collecting, Jean Baudrillard, and the opportunity to flip through lots and lots of artist books (via the Fine Arts & Design Library), like Leanne Shapton's Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Mark Dion's Bureau of the Centre for the Study of Surrealism and Its Legacy, all the Sophie Calle books we can get, and more!

Video and podcast links will also be available on Canvas.