Session Modules

Beauty in the Streets: Atelier Populaire and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris ‘68

This selection of objects focuses on two manifestations of radical collective artistic and architectural practice that occurred in the Spring of 1968 in Paris: the exhibition Structures gonflables (Inflatable Structures), organized by members of the

From Strasbourg to Paris

This week is about the lead-up to May ‘68 in France and there are a lot of disparate factors to make sense of; though the six objects we chose are directly related to Situationism, they too reference the world of changes France was going through.
 

Strikes, Committees, Boycotts: Art and Activism in New York c. 1968

The selection comprises of a number of photographs by a female photographer Jan Van Raay taken between 1969 and 1972. They follow the protests and activities of a small group of artists who called themselves the Guerrilla Art Action Group (GAAG) in New York. The main characters in the GAAG were Jean Toche and John Hendricks and initially included Virginia Toche, Poppy Johnson and Joanne Stamerra.

Berkeley Barbs: 1968 on the West Coast

This session covered materials related to the Free Speech Movement and other protests at the University of California, Berkeley, as well as posters and ephemera from the Bay Area activities of the Black Panther Party. 

Kommune 1: West Berlin

This selection of objects corresponds to the ideological approaches and activities of protest movements in West Berlin, and West Germany more broadly, as portrayed across various print media including pamphlets, fliers, underground newspapers, and publications, from 1957 through 1972. It traces the activities of different yet related groups: Gruppe SPUR, Kommune 1, and the Red Army Faction.

London Calling: King Mob Echo, Hornsey and others

The materials span between approximately 1966 and 1978, focusing on the founding and proliferation of English countercultural publications and the later emergence of punk. 

Radical Architecture: Rome, Florence, Milan

This week focused on objects from three Italian cities - Florence: Superstudio, Milan: Ugo La Pietra, and Rome: Gianfranco Sanguinetti’s photographs of the student protests at Valle Giulia.

Panthers & Lipstick: May Day in New Haven

This session covered the events surrounding the New Haven Black Panther Trials, including May Day at Yale (1970), as well as the activities of the Black Workshop at the Yale School of Architecture (1968-69).

Forget 1968: Between Autonomia and The Movement of 77

The last session of class returns to Italy, this time focusing on Autonomia, and delved into objects like newspapers and magazines of the various extra-parliamentary groups like the Indiani Metropolitani and Lotta Continua.  This week also featured the photography of Paola Agosti and Tano d’Amico