Workshop

This class is a query on the nature of history, interrogating the relationship of the things we collect to how we construct our pasts. We explore archives broadly defined, from the contents of family photo albums to vast collections housed in libraries to the design of buildings that contain such collections. Ultimately, the city itself is examined as an archive in its own right-a vibrant collection of interrelated artifacts that records the selective presence of the past in built form. Students visit archival sites and undertake projects that consider the history, condition, scope, format, and design of archives in New York City.

Presented as part of the week-long exhibition and event series, “By Any Name: Institutional Memory at The New School.”