Rhetoric of the Image – Imperial Archives and Futurism: Art Before and After Decolonization

What if this has happened before? What if this keeps going on? This seminar examines two impulses of decolonial and anticolonial art: the reappropriation of colonial archives and the deployment of the Futurist imagination. Reading widely on the theory and politics of multiple and overlapping imperialisms and the histories of empire, we will examine the uses and reuses of colonial archives, especially imperial visual archives of mapping, surveillance, architecture, and scientific and ethnographic illustration. We will consider the politics of repatriation, cultural heritage, and access to knowledge in decolonial museum practices and institutional critiques. Secondly the seminar will examine the history and present of Futurist movements, including but not limited to architecture and design, speculative fiction, animation, popular film, video games, and conceptual art. In addition to reconsidering historical Futurism, including Fascist and Socialist Futurisms, we examine contemporary works of Afrofuturism, Africanfuturism, Sinofuturism, Asian Futurism, Asian American Futurism, and Indigenous Futurism, as well as the global influences of Delaney, Butler, Murakami, Dick, Atwood, Star Wars, Marvel, and others. This seminar is open to graduate students in any discipline or artistic practice researching any decolonial or anticolonial context.