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21A.501J | Fall 2024 | Undergraduate

# Art, Craft, Science

### Session 1: Course introduction and overview

### Session 2: Genealogies of Art, Craft, Science (I)

### Session 3: Genealogies of Art, Craft, Science (II)

### Session 4: Archaeology and Material Records of Craft (I)

- In-class activity: “Craft in the Florentine Codex”

### Session 5: Archaeology and Material Records of Craft (II)

- Field trip: The MIT Hobby Shop

### Session 6: Art and Craft in Scientific Work (I)

- Assignment 1 due: Instructions

### Session 7: Art and Craft in Scientific Work (II)

- Field trip: MIT Distinctive Collections and the Beaver Press

### Session 8: Craft and Science in Artistic Media (I)

- Field trip: Optiker exhibition at MIT Museum

### Session 9: Craft and Science in Artistic Media (II)

- Assignment 2 due: Archaeological documentation
- Weekend activity for those interested: The Honk Festival

### Session 10: Crafting the Museum (I)

- In-class activity: Make a plan! Please visit the Harvard Museum of Natural History website and write in your notebook three exhibitions you want to visit in order and why!

### Session 11: Crafting the Museum (II)

- Field trip: Harvard Museum of Natural History
- Assignment 3 due: Write-up on the MIT Museum visit

### Session 12: Health Between Art and Science

- Extra credit opportunity: See performance artist and costume crafter, Laura Anderson Barbara. Show up and write five points/notes/questions in your notebook based on the talk!
- Virtual class and guest lecture by Dr. Narayan Khandekar, Director of the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies and Senior Conservation Scientist, Harvard Art Museums
- Assignment 4 due

### Session 13: Knowing and Learning/Technology and Skill (I)

### Session 14: Knowing and Learning/Technology and Skill (II)

### Session 15: Embodied Practice in Practice (I)

- Field trip: MIT Glass Lab

### Session 16: Embodied Practice in Practice (II)

- Extra credit opportunity: “Pioneering Metallurgy: the field archaeology of historic steelmaking in southern India” (PDF), a lecture by Gillian Juleff, Associate Professor at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom

### Session 17: The Craft of Egyptian Windows (I)

- Field trip: Charles J. Connick Stained Glass Foundation Collection at MIT Rotch Library

### Session 18: The Craft of Egyptian Windows (II)

### Session 19: Starcraft: Recording/Envisioning Other Worlds (I)

- In-class viewing: Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds. Directed by Werner Herzog and Clive Oppenheimer. Color, 97 min. 2020. Please be sure to take notes on the film about details you find interesting in preparation for discussion during session 20.
- Assignment 5 due: Show and tell and write-up of your “Following Instructions” experience

### Session 20: Starcraft: Recording/Envisioning Other Worlds (II)

### Session 21: Textiles of the Future

- Guest lecture by Ganit Goldstein, MIT Computation Textile and 3D Fashion Designer

### Session 22: Politics and Identity of Craft

- Extra credit opportunity: “What We Know About the Iron Bloomery Process” (PDF), a lecture by David Killick, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, the University of Arizona in Tucson. Attend the lecture and write up a 400-word discussion that includes a summary and a reflection on one detail/argument made by Killick in conversation with what you’ve read or learned in our class!

### Session 23: Art, Craft, Science of Food

### Session 24: Health and Medicine

- Guest speaker: Dr. Amy Moran-Thomas, Associate Professor of Anthropology, MIT
- Guest speaker: Norma Flores, President of the Belize Diabetes Association
- Assignment 6 due: Your cheesemaking experience

### Session 25: Anthroengineering and the Future of Art, Craft, Science

- Assignment 7 due: Art, Craft, Science today!

## Course Info

### Instructor

- Dr. Franco Rossi

### Departments

- Anthropology
- Science, Technology, and Society

### As Taught In

Fall 2024

### Level

Undergraduate

### Topics

- Fine Arts
  - Visual Arts
- Social Science
  - Anthropology
    - Cultural Anthropology

### Learning Resource Types

assignment_turned_in Activity Assignments with Examples
auto_stories Readings
Student Work
assignment_turned_in Written Assignments with Examples

Browse Resources

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