Peering into darkness: critical research practices in contemporary art & astrophysics

We were peering into this darkness, crisscrossed with voices, when the change took place: the only real, great change I've ever happened to witness, and compared to it the rest is nothing --Italo Calvino `Peering into darkness is an interdisciplinary undergraduate research seminar guest taught by IDA visiting artist Janani Balasubramanian & collaborator Afra Ashraf. Together, we will joyfully open up science as a space to interrogate social questions and personal subjectivity. Students will explore weekly research themes such as observing, ghosts, abolition, fragmentation, and fables through critical texts, guest lectures, and practices of astrophysics and artmaking. Prerequisites include curiosity and play.