Mondays 7 - 9 pm
Building160-325

What are things about?

We are immersed from cradle to grave in a world of objects - be they utilitarian or aesthetic, mundane or transcendental, singular or multiple. Indeed, one could argue that much of what constitutes our belonging to a given culture is our shared understanding of a set of artifacts - from the mouse many of us click on every day to the pair of Levis we wear on weekends. In this course, an archaeologist and a contemporary design theorist will set about decoding the world of objects through the fields of engineering, social policy, astronautics, anthropology, the fine arts, clinical psychology, ergonomics, information science, architecture, industrial design, and much more. Each week we will examine a different artifact (or two) in a spirited and open-ended conversation about form, function, and meaning. There will be several guest participants to get us thinking.

see also

>>a thematic bibliography