Session leaders – La Tanya S. Autry (@artstuffmatters), Charles Eppley (@eppleyca) 

The recent protests in Ferguson and other cities against police brutality demand close analysis and collective action. In particular, the role of visual culture associated with these events and within the #BlackLivesMatter movement is of immediate concern. We have designed this session for those whose interests focus on  visual culture, art history, studio art practice, art museums, material culture, and social justice. Working together in small,  topic-based groups, we will collectively address the interplay of visual culture and racialization. We will also identify resources (books, articles, videos, exhibitions, works of art, interviews, etc) and design active learning based activities to address these issues in the classroom, museum, and otherwise social or communal settings.

Possible discussion topics include: visual culture as evidence; the visual field as a racialized site; images as resistance; the blackface stereotype; and post-blackness. Identified visual culture focus will include:

• The 2014 fatal assault on Eric Garner – video recording and non-indictment
• Rodney King – 1991 videotaped beating, police acquitted in 1^st trial
• Trayvon Martin – hoodies symbol; skittles and iced tea; Instagram; Zimmerman paintings
• Eric Garner – protest signs – eyes; “I Can’t Breathe”
• Mike Brown – “Hands Up! Don’t Shoot!”
• #BlackLivesMatter and #hashtag visual culture
• Visual rhetoric of pro-police protests; “I Am Darren Wilson”

Examples of active learning activities: producing blogs; designing exhibitions and websites; Wikipedia edit-a-thons; and creating photo stories, videos, and films.

We will collect and share our findings on a publicly accessible Google doc. Participants are encouraged to live-tweet the teach-in (#CAA2015, #BlackLivesMatters, #thatcamp).
Facebook page – #BlackLivesMatter at CAA 2015

We experiment with combining art and technology in our classes at UNC Asheville.   Our projects focus on using technology for creative self-expression, and our classes include activities such as circuit bending, electric origami, microprocessor coding, 3D printing and milling.

In this make session, we will lead participants in creating electronically enhanced origami.  The project is suitable for beginners; both the folding pattern and the circuit are simple.  And the end product is a fun expression of the synergy of art and technology. Because of the hands-on nature of the session and material constraints, we will cap the session after the first 20 people to respond to this post.

Rebecca Bruce and I will both lead this session.

The start of a digital humanities project comes with many considerations, but what you might not think about are the legal complications that could arise later. In this session, we’ll work together to build a best practices document to serve as a guideline for scholars engaging in collaborative digital humanities work. Ideally, the document will ensure that deadlines, deliverables, and funds are clearly communicated, and that contract terms are transparent and mutually-acceptable. It will also address questions like: Who owns which aspects of the project? What kind of contract should be used, and what are the legal ramifications of collaborative work? With your help, we’ll make a document that solves problems.