Political Intervention through the Arts

How does thinking like an artist ignite political change? Art is the intentional disruption of existing perceptions. Creating political and social change—in relation to race, gender, education, climate change, business, and global health—requires one to think like an artist and be fully engaged in the process of discovery and invention. To better prepare humanistic interventions that develop the twenty-first-century skills of creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication, we practice art-making and interpret texts through the pre-texts methodology. Readings from Aristotle to Habermas raise questions and speculations on the effects of creative interruption on the political and social sphere. The final project is to design a collaborative-creative intervention for a political challenge. This course is a practical and urgent lesson in interdisciplinarity.