Class began with Michael screening his video I Can’t Wait To See You There. The work functions as an elegy and a prayer for musician Kurt Cobain. The twelve-minute video is not only an emotional record of the effect Cobain’s music had on the artist as a teenager, but also a meditation on the subjective experience of public mourning and the ways recorded media affect our understanding of mortality.

Today was our first day with Michael Morris, an artist and educator who works in video, film, and expanded cinematic forms. Class began in the lecture room, where Michael introduced himself and shared one of his essayistic videos, Confessors. Confessors is a short, personal essay that attempts to retrace bits of lost or inaccessible family histories. The artist’s grandparents gave him a can of film marked “X-rated” without explanation, as well as an old 8 mm camera. The film was lost before he was able to watch it.

Today was our last day with the wonderful Cassandra Emswiler. The students’ goal was to complete their tile project and have the work exhibition-ready. Students were given a few minutes at the beginning of class to experiment with designs for display and plan the organization of their tiles onto a support structure.

This week T/AP began with a short lecture about French gardens, in particular the Palace of Versailles. The palace is a site of power, beauty, and tranquility, and the layout of the entire landscape was designed to reinforce the reign of the monarchy. Cassandra shared her interest in architectural mimicry of nature within built landscapes. For example, the fountains of Versailles mimic lakes, and the columns of the structures mimic trees. The palace grounds are a place where nature is controlled by the grid and all elements are orderly and restrained.