Spring Session

Learning a New Society: Education as a subversive force

February 2-March 27, 2015 | Urbana, IL

This Spring, the School for Designing a Society invites you to collaborate with us on Designing Education.

We maintain that human beings need to think; education is the necessity that attempts to meet that need. We find that the current system of education fails to meet the need to think. In fact, those professors who do speak out for thinking are preparing for unemployment (e.g. Steven Salaita, James Kilgore, Indigo Blue, etc).

The academic education system is a major instrument for the maintenance of a culture of silence in the current society. Rather than liberating students to create a desired future system, it brainwashes students to defend the logic of the present one. But this is untenable: we live in times where the monumental problems we face cannot be solved without critical thinking.

Can education be a subversive force, rather than an instrument of conformity?

Can we design education such that it provides us with new insight, new models, new hope as we face our own situation?

Logistics:

Can I get credit for this work with my home university?

We can work with you and your home university to see if our program can be considered a for-credit program.

Is there a cost to this program?

Yes. We intend to offer the presenters an honorarium for their work. The cost is $1500 for two months of participation. If this amount is prohibitive to your participation, then arrange with us an amount that is possible for you.

Housing

Our staff can assist you in finding sub-lease housing options in Urbana or Champaign, Illinois. Please email us to arrange.

How do I pay?

You may pay online via secure paypal account below or mail a check payable to School for Designing a Society to 122 Franklin St Urbana, IL 61801

Emphases

Microtonal Design, or Alternative Crystallizations of the Pitch Continuum No aspect of music has become more rigidified in our minds and practice than the potential of musical pitch. Out of the vast pitch continuum, we find ourselves making the same non-choice over and over again: 12 equal divisions of the octave. Are alternatives possible, and do they make any sense? Yes! Join us for an exploratory seminar at the School for Designing a Society in Urbana, Illinois. Expertise unnecessary; only a willingness to un-stick yourself in good company.

Cybernetics and Social Change Cybernetics as an interdisciplinary field of study was proposed in the 20th century by scientists who wanted to fight fascism. From this study there ensued various unexpected theoretical and practical attempts and tendencies. A starting point for this course will be the view of cybernetics as a praxis for generating radical projects. Radical: getting at the roots of a problem; changing whole frameworks. The questions of cybernetics—regulation, self-regulation? observation, self-observation? stability, dynamics?—are invited to help actively answer the questions of social change: which social? how change?

Liberation Ecology What does sustainability look like when it refuses to sustain white supremacy? What is the meaning of liberation in a civilization that cannot feed or fuel itself? The choice between ecological objectives and social objectives is lose-lose. Rather than make it, we can unveil the connections between the two sets of issues, and create strategies for change that build on those connections. This class will weave together two elements: principles of ecological design, and exploration of the relationship between real and desired ecosystems and real and desired societies.

Ongoing Composition/Performance Projects

Pester Power! A collaborative compostion made by SDaS 2013-2014, now a kid’s performance to empower adults to help them change the world.
Collaboration with writer Faranak Miraftab and her book Making a Home in the Heartland: Immigration and Global Labor Mobility We’re in the process of creating a touring program based on this book.
“My Work in the Light of Herbert and Marianne Brun” Presentation/workshop series by local and visiting artists and activists.

Who is invited?

Since we all live with the consequences of the current design of society, everyone is invited to participate in designing a different one. No particular educational background is required; the prerequisite is the desire to participate in designing a society.

Apply

To apply to participate in the School for Designing a Society, please click here and you will be contacted for a phone interview.

To contact admissions, email Melanie at applications@designingasociety.net.